I Think I Should Quit Teaching

reply to post by smyleegrl


You could try to find a position at a private school, or even find a position with or start your own tutoring business.

If you're seriously considering a change of career, have you considered taking on a position as an instructor at an adult community college ?

That might be something worth looking into. This way you can utilize that education of yours, and put it to use helping adult students improve their own education levels and future employment endeavors.

That's assuming a community college is operated very differently from the public school system.

If you think you should give up teaching, maybe you should. Maybe life has another calling for you. I'm sure your a great techer, but I imagine you'd probably be great at whatever you turned your hand to.

reply to post by smyleegrl


sounds like I am listening to my dad after work but he wasn't as dramatic.

I think every job has their quirks that will frustrate you.. .. When it comes down to it, you will never find a situation where you will not find that. It is in every profession in one way or another.

So you do one of two things... you let it sour your mood and wear you down day in and day out or... you accept the things you cannot change... change the things you can, and have the wisdom to know the difference.

The later is not as exciting and does not give much for conversation or attention as the first one.

Your first priority is YOU! You will be of no good to anyone if you crack. Not to the kids, not to your son, and not to yourself. Can you take a break? Do you get the summer off? If you get some time off use it to make your decision. If you go to another school you still have to do the same things you are doing now. But in the end it is only you who can decide whats best for you. Keep ranting so we know how things are going!

reply to post by smyleegrl

My mother would have sympathised. She ran the Infants class in our village primary school.
At least she was working with greater freedom than you have. She was married to the Headmaster, who ran the other class (they were hired as a pair). She was allowed to experiment with an educational fad called "the intial teaching alphabet". The only "motivation" applied in her class was her own policy of giving sweets to the children who completed one of the series of "Janet and John" books.

She owned a book by Jane Hope called "Don't do it! (a complete guide to teaching)", with chapters on "Dealing with fractious chidren" and "dealing with fractious parents", and there's a poem at the front of the book which is worth quoting (attributed to "one of the greatest of our Immortals", but probably wriiten by Jane herself);

"The teacher stood at the Pearly Gates,
Her face was worn and old.
She stood before the Man of Fate,
For admission to the fold.

"What have you done", St Peter asked,
"To gain admission here?"
I've been a teacher, sir", she said
"For many and many a year."

The Pearly Gates swung open wide,
St. Peter touched the bell.
"Come in," he said "and choose your harp,
You've had your share of Hell."

You may find that encouraging.

Thank you to everyone who replied, I know my rant was self-indulgent but it was nice to get it out in the open.

The school I work for has been going through a lot of turmoil and infighting. I've put in for a transfer...hopefully if I can get to a new school things will improve.

I had an interview yesterday with a new school and it was wonderful. I have a few more interviews in the next few weeks; I'm hopeful that I can transfer and get a new start.

School ends next friday, then 10 weeks of summer break. Of course there's a lot of inservice training and workshops to attend, but I will get a much needed rest from the negativity that's rampant here at my school.

Someone mentioned moving up in the chain of command. That's a nice thought, but I do not want to go into administration. I would not be effective in that job.

Teaching college is a very real possibility. We have a small community college here, but they only hire on a part time basis. If they have an opening I will apply.

I think I just need to refocus and take a look at the long goals. Getting my PhD (eventually) and teaching university and doing research on brain development and learning. Sadly, I'm on a temporary hiatus from this schedule because my son's new therapy bills are quite expensive and of course he comes first. But I'm determined, and even if it takes ten years, so be it.

Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate the kind words and thoughtful responses. Hugs to you all.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Start a non profit organization that solely focuses on really teaching kids. There are plenty of like minded teachers like you out there. Why not utilize the same money that is restricting you, to benefit you. Trust me, us parents will really appreciate it. Start a blog or an Internet campaign to recruit like minded individuals to your cause.

Dr. stan monteith covers all these changes in the education system extensively
(and has been doing so for some time now)

..download some of his radio shows?

Sorry, wrong topic. I had two separate windows opened and wrote in the wrong one.

Deleted

reply to post by smyleegrl


I notice that green is the highest color, meaning you don't really have a category for 'excel'. This is basically socialism. The metality of "Bringing everyone to the same level" ignores the fact that some people cannot achieve, and it penalizes high achievers with the same status/rewards as everyone else.

Such a system is deeply flawed. It's just not going to work. Life is not like that. I agree, get out of the system, and apply your talents where they will be rewarded, not just recognized as a cog in some great machine that can only produce similarly sized widgets. There are plenty of industry jobs that can utilize teaching talents without being constrained by such a system. If we had this educational system in place at our countrys founding, we would likely no longer be a country.

This is why we send our kid to private school, and do whatever we can to afford it. It's not the best solution, but it's better that the public educational system by such a far margin that there is no comparison. There are still those in each 'system' that won't achieve, and some that are so far above others in natural and learned talents that they stand out - that's called true diversity.

I have taught since 89. Administrators are paid to be clueless. I just left teaching. I was in a school system in a southern state where they wanted me to Not cover 3 things: Vocabulary, Grammar, and Rome; by the way, I was teaching high school Latin. I left because I was assaulted, from behind, by a student while I was covering two classes. I ended up in the urgent care. The school informed me that since he was an adolescent and not an adult, they were not responsible for medical cost or worker comp for the time missed. The student was not disciplined for his action as well. This might have interfered with his right to an education. This is how the schools teach responsibility, and we teacher get blamed for this.
Mark Twain said," God created idiots for practice, then he made school boards". The man was a genius!

reply to post by smyleegrl


I'm sorry to hear you might quit. If I recall, we have talked about this in the past. I believe you're a wonderful teacher, well from what you tell me Red tape is used every where these days. So much so it's hurting what ever industry it's trying to help including teaching.

Just like me as a child my son has trouble concentrating in class. Everything distracts him. We had to go to meeting with the teacher and ask her to put him in front of the class. The reason was that it helped me quite a bit so I figured it couldn't hurt. Well we had a MAJOR discussion about it. It believe it shouldn't have been a major discussion. Where was I going with this?..... Oh! yeah. The amount of rules and regulation, red tape and what not is a big turn off for good teachers such as yourself. Teaching stops being a career and becomes a job which is a shame. IMHO teacher start loosing interest in their students because of this and just want to get the day over with.

All I can say is keep you head up. You're a strong, intelligent women if teaching doesn't pan out I'm confident you'll find other avenues the suit you just as well.

Have a great day Smylee

PUUHHHHLEEEEEAAASE DO NOT QUIT.
You have put too much effort in to education to just give it up.
The U.S. needs you - as a parent of a teacher I hear what you are saying.
As an outsider looking in I can say that the top down - teach this - is not the way to go.
Teaching should be about teaching and not assessing.

Your sound off makes me glad to think that most (hopefully) teachers are like you.

my suggestion:
Work to change the current - world view.

p.s. - I realize I have not constructed my sentences in a technically correct way - no assessment necessary - I am 63 years on the earth.

I agree with the sentiments of others that if teaching is your passion (and it sure sounds like it is) then perhaps a change of venue would help relieve a lot of stress.

You've said that you've always enjoyed teaching, and now you don't. So, a root cause analysis is in order. What has changed that is making you feel this way?

Your administrator sounds exactly like the kind of idiot I was recently ranting about - he will go down in flames all on his own, don't allow yourself to be dragged down with him.

It may sound corny and perhaps a bit overused/cliche but a lot of us dumb kids do remember the teachers who have made an impact on our lives fondly.

When I was in grade school, I always loved science class. Our teacher was a bit eccentric but he really loved the subject matter and had a way of making it interesting. So, for a class project, we were asked to explain what crystals were, how they formed, and provide a demonstration.

Most kids took the easy route and just used some colored sugar water and a string. One or two got all fancy and had their parents special order some pretty neat stuff to show off in class.

Being stupid, I got the idea in my head that I was going to use table salt. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Well, sure, why not? Salt forms crystals too, right? I've seen them in shakers and on the highways in winter. So I had it in my head that I was going to grow some huge salt crystals and impress everyone with my scientific acumen.

A couple days goes by, and I notice that most of the class are comparing notes and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over their crystal confections. I'm still sitting here, alone, next to my pathetic little jar, and all that has happened was a bit of evaporation and a slight haze forming on the inside of the jar.

"Doesn't look like anything is happening there, does it?" Well, no. Maybe it just needs more time. A week has now passed, and everyone who had already been ready to present has done so. Then my turn comes, and I have the demeanor of Charlie Brown with a rock in his Halloween bag.

Apparently, nobody else in class (aside from our teacher) knew about the whole "you can't grow salt crystals like that you silly boy" thing. Instead of leaving me on the spit to roast, he had come prepared and explained to myself and the rest of the class why my experiment did not work, the importance of the scientific method, and why our failures are important since it is how we learn.

He gave me an "A".

I will never, ever forget that man and how much he had helped me. This is just one story about one teacher by the way, a teacher that I'm sure sounds a lot like you.

"ATS, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of trying so hard, caring so much, and getting kicked in the face over and over. I'm going numb, emotionally, physically, spiritually. And that's a bad thing to be...numb."

Wow you took the words right out of my mind! I feel the same way about my job as a police officer. Also my current position is a School Resource Officer so I am around teachers all day. I can completely understand what you are going through.

It has caused me to re evaluate what I do for a living. Most days I dread the thought of going to work. Also when you're off work you are not really "off" work. The stress continues when you aren't even on the clock. It is enough to drive a person insane.

The worst part though is when you do something that you know is good and people (public,supervisors) still find some way to criticize you for it. I know you know what I am talking about.

Alls I can say is try and realize you are having a positive impact on your students life. Try to ignore all the negativity that you receive. Tune it out. Do your job for 1. your students and 2. yourself.

Trust me I know it's not easy. I struggle with it everyday. I will keep pressing on until I can't do it anymore. I hope you do the same.

Good luck.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Maybe try teaching at private schools? You'll see better wages, better funding, and more caring parents, overall, most likely.

reply to post by smyleegrl


New school might help!!! New situation, hopefully less red tape and bs.

Teaching was one of the ideas I had for a career, but when I started learning about education being a weapon, brainwashing, indoctrination and etc, it scared the hell outta me... steered me cleeeeear away from teaching.

I'm still not sure what I want to do. Its hard to find a meaningful job that doesn't contribute to some general wrongness in our country... even in hospitals, sadly.

If you sign an agreement to donate your organs in the event you take a turn for the worst, the hospital won't treat you properly in the hopes they'll get to harvest your organs after they allow you to die. That's the kind of thing I mean.

Corruption seems to be in every corner.

Good luck to you, you seem too good for the public school systems.

We need more kindhearted teachers like you. You really care about the children and their progress and that is beautiful to see, not all teachers have that ability.
But if it is making you unhappy and frustrated you need a change, I really hope that you get that other job and that it's going to make you happy again. People tend to forget that you live to be happy and not to work.

I'm sending positive thoughts your way, goodluck!

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Greetings, ATS!
...I get to read and hear about how public schools are indoctrination camps that are dumbing down the population, and I'm part of the problem. I read something like this every damn day. I'm either not educated enough (masters + isn't enough I guess) or don't care or am intentionally zombifying the children of America to fulfill some elitist agenda. ...

So YOU'RE the one?!!!!
I've been looking for you.

Cheer Up... Join the rest of us.
There's not an occupation I know of...that is less despicable or despised, than...another...BY SOMEONE.
You think - "I want to make a difference!"
And...after all your hard work, you find that, if your first, middle or last name...doesn't sound like "Charmin", you won't get that paycheck, anymore, that your family needs...to survive.
You'll have just as many people deriding you as a psychiatrist, as you do as a teacher. Except...more will be willing to go to all extremes to find a way to sue you...once your pockets get a little deeper.

...I'm tired of it. I'm tired of trying so hard, caring so much, and getting kicked in the face over and over. I'm going numb, emotionally, physically, spiritually. And that's a bad thing to be...numb.

Yeah - I don't know about that... After a while, if numbness doesn't take over, you'll just pass out from the pain.

Anyway - I don't disagree with you - at all. Just wanted to (at the risk of redundancy) give you some perspective on...the alternatives.

...I want a job that makes a difference, I want to help people...

I want to be a hero, too. After a few failed brain surgeries, however...they won't let me try anymore.
But, Good Luck with your ambitions... I'm sure you have a better chance at succeeding than I did.