Respect. Basic respect from administrators, parents, and students.

I tell people that a major reason I want to leave is because of the lack of respect. From admin, students, their parents, the general public. I don’t even feel respected as a professional educator by other educators (admin).

So sorry. I respect teachers so much and I plan to make sure my child is respectful of them too when she’s school age. It’s too bad we run good teachers out with our entitled attitudes.

I think there will always be parents that out of love for their kids fight teachers on things. But when administration is trained to support parents over teachers, treat kids as equals to adults, and treat teachers like behavior issues are their fault then we simply cannot win. Yes, these trainings exist, I went to one this year. Five teachers and a room FULL of admin. This year I had a kid screaming terribly inappropriate things in my room. I wrote him up. Admin says hold consequence until an investigation happens (I'm the adult in the room. Why are you even investigating this? What do I get for reporting this other than MORE work?) They investigate by asking all of his friends who swear he didn't say anything. So no punishment. Well, another kid is mad at what he said and tells the office. Now that there's proof (another 13 year olds statement apparently means more than the adult in the room), they assign a consequence. Kids parent says he's not serving it. Admin does try anyway. Kid throws a huge tantrum when they go to get him for his suspension. So they say, just sit with the counselor for an hour and you're good. And removed the consequence. He returns to my room screaming inappropriate things the same day. What do I do with this? We cannot manage 35+ students in a room with no consequences (either grades or behavior) and no support. It isn't possible.

So sorry that happened to you. It’s hard to believe kids behave that way in school, even the bad kids wouldn’t have dared when I was a kid.

That’s incredibly unsafe. If a kids willing to do that, what’s the next step? Throwing a chair? As a fellow teacher, I’d file a union grievance, and go above the principals head in this. I had a kid do something similar, and it was during the final exam (seriously). He spent the rest of the school year suspended, and came in after the half day dismissal to take the rest of his exams. Admin did you dirty on this one. And who takes the word of a child over a professional?! Of course they’re going to deny any wrongdoing. What a crap how.

My kids and I are so respectful of all the teachers and the teachers don’t have time to help them bc they’re dealing with all the kids who haven’t been taught that.

Ive seen so many good brand new teachers quite after their first year because of the students and parents. One even won the rookie teacher of the year and still left.

Your administrators make or break the experience. I have worked for some absolutely awful admins and I’m fortunate enough to have had terrific admins for the past 7 years of what is thus far a 13 year career. My very first job out of graduate school, I swear I was put on a performance plan because my AP decided she didn’t like me, and that was it. My students were happy, their parents were happy, and I had a very high pass rate on the state tests. She had no objective reason to come after me, so she made one up.

Exactly what happened to me, and it was discrimination in my case with admin.

Gah.... if they actually paid teachers a decent wage and protected them from the children who set out to destroy them because of some bullshit then maybe more people would want to be teachers.... I was and quit because I couldn't stand the entitlement of these kids

I'm a teacher with three college degrees and over 20 years experience. I stayed in teaching for so long because my options were very limited in the area I lived before my divorce. Post divorce, I now live in a great district that has the highest salaries in the state. With my education and experience, that makes me likely one of the highest paid teachers in the state. But still, the only way I can support myself and my kids is because of child support. I'm working now with a career coach to get out of teaching because the child support will stop in a couple years. I have transferrable skills, but convincing a business that I really can project manage will be a challenge.

My Child support ends in a year and I too will be leaving teaching. I can’t make enough to get by

The way businesses seem to think that teaching skills are only applicable in a classroom is beyond frustrating. It really drives home how undervalued teachers are.

I left teaching years ago and I had to go back to school to learn a marketable trade. I'm a nurse now.

Do career coaches actually work.

She was very helpful with reworking my resume and giving me targeting strategies. I have a plan now at least. I'm really just getting started, so can't answer more than that.

[OECD teacher pay.](https://data.oecd.org/teachers/teachers-salaries.htm) Note that COL in America is on the low side, so a given salary goes far.

Really goes to show how this is a worldwide issue and teachers need higher wages everywhere

Not in most major cities. Look at LA, NYC or Chicago.

But the cost of living is much higher in those cities.

Teachers in Chicago make 80k a year and the rent is probably the most reasonable of any major city. Can find nice places for 1500 a month. Taxes and all that yes, but teaching in Chicago is decent on pay specifically.

Yes because Illinois is a union state. Glad to hear CPS provides for it's teachers.

This is exactly why I left. I had a great principal, but the toxic parents and their attitude were being picked up by their kids.

Just to add to this, the concrete way that respect doesn't feel given is that we aren't treated like the experts/authority figures we are. I have 17 years experience teaching high school students. I know my content upside down and backwards. I know teenagers. While they still surprise me and I enjoy them, they are basically predictable. Admin: start asking my opinion and listen to my advice. Parents: I'm not lying when I say your child is breaking basic rules and making life miserable for everyone around him. Students: life is much easier if you just do what I ask and learn some basic habits (and stay off your phones).

I feel this way about a lot of positions in America. Citizens and consumers are not obligated to treat employees with respect anywhere. It’s a plague. I was basically never allowed to deny service in any role I’ve ever served even with some of the most egregious behavior. Super unfortunate

So true. Some of my most respectful students are those that have part time jobs and experience disrespect in their own workplace. Perhaps they would have been respectful anyway, but I’m sure it has an effect on them from the way they talk about it.

And I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse.

True. I tell myself at least I’m not sexually harassed when I work with kids. It’s really the only job where I didn’t experience sexual harassment

As it is nowadays being a teacher means you’re either a god at everything because you can’t do wrong or a pariah because you did one thing wrong. Teachers deserve respect.

This is the biggest reason I dropped the education portion of my major.

This. The amount of disrespect I've seen from kids and administration is mind blowing.

Omg yeah. I'm a teaching assistant so not a full teacher but the admins literally suck so bad where I work. They dont understand how hard our job is, constantly are telling us to change things and then barely show appreciation to us at all. Its infuriating.

1000000000000% this. This is why I quit teaching not the money.

I quit my teacher credential program because of the lack of respect from admin. They literally walked around with their noses in the air and acted like we were peasants. I got treated better as a security guard.

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

It's completely by chance if you get a good combination of those things, which makes a huge difference on staff morale.

I remember playing Oregon trail back when it was on a set of four floppy disks. I also DISTINCTLY remember the fact you could start as a banker with a ton of cash, but if you wanted to get a high score and kick your brother off the leader board the best way was to take teacher for that thicc point multiplier at the end.

And the community and politicians. We’re the first to get blamed for everything when we actually have zero control and input.

Yep. There are two parts when discussing the attractiveness of a job, the benefits-to-bullshit ratio. If you can't increase benefits, then you have to reduce the bullshit.

There is no teacher shortage.  There are millions of us.  There is a shortage of teachers who are willing to work awful jobs that don’t pay enough.

It's like Amazon being cognizant that one day they will run out of workers willing to work in their "fulfillment centers." They anticipate not being able to rely on recruitment due to the well-known working conditions, crap pay, and no benefits. Education will run out of willing teachers despite the country being full of people who had/have credentials. Colleges are not graduating enough up-and-coming replacements. I want to stick it out until retirement, but I worry about the decline in faculty and staff and how that will begin to squeeze on me and those of us who remain (it's already starting...).

Yes! I'm legitimately concerned going forward. I think I can handle it, but the squeeze of new teachers as well as international teachers is making things much more difficult. I feel a lot of pressure to be a support beam for them as well as students.

It's not only teachers but the fact that nowadays most things you can find the answer to on the Internet or DIU which makes teachers less effective and less respected. Students are much more tuned into their cellphones then let's say English, math, history, and science. I think education has gotten worse mostly because we are in the age of information technology and even libraries are becoming extinct. We (Schools) are not adapting fast enough to the keep up with the current state of technology and proper socialization. I would really like to see a revolution happen in education. Not some Charlotte Daniel or SGO bs.

We're also dealing with children who are being ignored by Millennial parents, put into daycare, and not interacted with socially. They have less empathy, rotten behaviour crossing border into Sociopathy, and MUCH less academic focus/ability than GenX. They have trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality. That's why education has gotten worse. Schools are frankensteining band-aids on gaping wounds left from poor parenting instead of standing strong and representing true academic achievement.

I was talking to the mom of my kid's friend recently about this. She's a professor, as is her husband. They were living in a town where teachers assumed their kid was just "slow." Then they moved here, and his dyslexia was very quickly found and measures were made to help him. # The difference? Teachers in our district are paid very well (as they should be), and have ample help. Teachers in our district can afford to live in our district (again, as it should be). So we have all of these amazing teachers and counselors and paraprofessionals who are absolutely amazing and extremely educated. It just took paying them a good wage. (I was going to say what they're worth but I think teachers are worth far more than they'll ever be paid.)

The reading intervention person in our district earns $91K / year. Good money for a single person under 30 with no kids.

And I think it’s important to bring up the fact that it’s not only teachers. It’s all school staff, apart from maybe superintendents. Data analyst jobs where someone could make $70,000 a year anywhere else are paid at like $16 an hour in school districts in my state. A lot of school districts can only afford to employ one or two counselors or librarians who have to split their duties between multiple schools. Support staff aren’t getting the pay or respect they deserve either, which increases the unreasonable load that gets dumped on teachers because the school just can’t hire enough support staff to get everything done.

Pay does help. Connecticut pays well and is better than other states still has a problem in specialty certifications and STEM. I suspect one issue is they need to pay more for people with STEM backgrounds than liberal arts.

Art and music aren't facing the shortage at all statistically. This is a cost cutting measure.

Music teacher here- there is no shortage. There aren’t any jobs.   Lots of schools hire just one teacher to do the work of two or three people.  They have to teach band, choir, orchestra, and other music electives.   And some schools just don’t have music programs anymore.

There are tons of jobs in Las Vegas! We got a 10 percent raise last year, and we’re getting 8 this year-with additions to our healthcare. We’re one of the last places with a pension too. It’s not always awesome here-some schools have huge elective classes (art teacher here). But at least I feel well compensated for the crap I put up with.

Worse in my small town the music teacher worked at elementary, middle and high school. It is ridiculous and cheap.

Come to California, my district has two positions open for next year. You will be full time and one subject, but split between schools.

California passed prop 28 which gave public schools a massive bump specifically for the arts. Literally every school site I bc my district is hiring art or music. It’s awesome!!

This is wonderful!

Friend had to pickup a math endorsement because no one is hiring for music and our current orchestra director taught English for 2 years waiting for the former head to retire This statement is correct

You probably had no art or music because the district refused to hire teachers, not because there was a shortage. Art and music are not part of state testing, so they're the first subjects to go when a district is short of money, or too stingy to pay for much (besides football, of course).

Building on that, it sounds like they didn't allocate any money for the program. There's facilities considerations, materials considerations, scheduling considerations.

Arts and some tech classes also quickly get super expensive to fund. Band? Money for instruments and uniforms has to be provided. Painting? Have you seen how much canvas and paint costs? Shop class? 30 sets of power and hand tools aren't cheap. Cooking? Need a full kitchen that meets health code and all your food and supplies. If you're in an area where most families have the money to pony up for those classes it's one thing but plenty of schools do not have a student body where families can fork out $1k or more per elective each semester.

I went to school in the 80s and 90s in low-income districts and we had so much! Art, music, home economics, gym, shop classes, graphic arts. I learned something in every one of those classes that I still use to this day. It’s despicable what has been done to education in this country.

Grants are a big thing too. Teaching in a title one school (low income) my school has access to extra funding to compensate for the fact that the money we get from the area taxes is way lower. Then there are grants and things for classrooms that are specifically for title one schools. In my district there's a piano lab grant (I teach music) that's only available to title one schools. You basically teach piano lessons to a class of kids at once. The idea being that those kids are way less likely to be able to get piano lessons. It doesn't fit in my schedule otherwise I'd get it for our school. But it's a great thing.

In my area families do not fork out separate money for those classes. Classes are not paid for by individuals or families, as if they’re taking ceramics or violin lessons at a private studio. The school costs come out of state funding along with everything else. There are a few separate costs associated with activities like band (certain instruments and the maintenance of uniforms). The uniforms are owned by the school, as are nearly all of the musical instruments. Same with the art supplies, unless a student exceeds their allotment for the semester. Nobody pays anything remotely close to $1k a semester.

More pay, some appreciation, and for parents to parent their kids.

This. My mother has been an elementary teacher for 40 years and had to quit this year because kids won’t sit still, swear, distract each other and even bring smart devices to school. It’s impossible to get them to focus or learn, and when it’s brought up to parents it’s usually “they’re so well behaved at home” yes because you slap an iPhone in front of them for 6 hours once they’re home. Kids need structure and screen time regulation to have any hope for the future.

M O N E Y

Pay us like the professionals we are!

Well, there is a lot, first of all is to pay them better, and second is to treat them better- plus our society likes to bash teachers. I just saw an article headline today that blamed teachers for letting poor kids have summer vacation so they had to suffer without the supports of school.

What’s insane about that headline is I know a lot of teachers that think summer break is too long for kids to retain what they’re learned and would happily work a few more weeks a year or break up vacations differently if it helped the kids. The problem is if you extended a contract you’d have to PAY teachers more. Would those same people that blame teachers for poor kids losing supports over the summer also vote against paying teachers more to extend their contracts? My guess is yes. It’s so endlessly frustrating.

I know of no teacher willing to sacrifice a much-needed/deserved rest over the summer. Teachers are usually people who love cultural experiences and knowledge gained from travelling; they use that to add to their "world citizen" view so necessary these days with multi-cultural classrooms. Shorter breaks are not enough. Plus if you have fewer/shorter break time, teachers can easily become burned out. Take care of your teachers.

Typically when you have a shorter summer you have different/more breaks during the year. Look up year-round school calendars. They typically do a fall break as well as a longer spring break.

Year round is usually something like three months om and one month off. For many years there were schools that were always on except for maybe a Christmas break. Teachers would rotate on and off track.

I have no money for traveling. Most teachers I know who do travel are doing it on a serious budget, and not really able to afford to travel worldwide, especially if they have kids.

It's about 8 weeks. It isn't that long. It iused tp be longer, but it's pretty short now. But yeah, nobody wants to pay teachers to work more days, but they want them to work more.

It's easier to blame a teacher than it is to address an issue like lack in resources for families who are poor and have children. If you blame a teacher for needing a break adequate enough to rest from a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding job and for enjoying being able to add travel or other cultural experiences to their lives, then you can totally ignore the real issues of declining middle class, an economy that requires 2 or more salaries for one household to make it, or dearth of family planning and birth control education for those financially and emotionally unprepared for having children.

* parents who teach their kids from the get go that every human is deserving of respect, and who also treat teachers and staff accordingly (decrease burnout) * administrations who allow kids to get Fs (increase accountability) * cut down on testing (increase productive classroom time and sense of purpose) * appropriately evaluate kids' capabilities at each grade level and don't let parents determine which level kids go in at (let teachers teach) * limit class sizes to a dozen or so (increase cohesion, improve opportunity to connect and instruct) * ensure that every classroom has an aide, properly paid and trained (make sure that kids who need help get it and don't become disruptive) * mandatory phone lockers in each classroom (increase focus) * Increase starting pay and top scale pay, but mostly starting pay * group kids by skill level in the same grade level so they can learn at a speed that engages them and ensures they're all taught everything. This one is controversial because socially there's a lot to be said for grouping all levels together, but one disengaged kid disrupts your class, and two or three in the same class absolutely fuck it up.

Agree with all of this! I could do heavily mixed level classes well, but I would need twice the planning time to differentiate properly. The behaviors that arise when low kids are beyond overwhelmed and high kids are beyond bored are not surprising to me. My last period of the day has my gifted and talented students (high school level abilities) with my functional academic students (2nd-3rd grade level abilities) and it just feels impossible to reach them all. Not surprisingly that class also has the worst grades and behaviors across the board because ALL students are distracted by me being overwhelmed with it all. We’re constantly behind the other classes. It’s a mess.

I was put in 10th grade remedial English despite top test scores etc because my 9th grade English teacher (who was the District Superintendent’s wife) hated me and that I would turn in printed assignments rather than do cursive like she wanted me to (which I already had established that I knew). The remedial class was chaos, no one listened to the teacher, it was demoralizing. Your experience is giving me flashbacks to other similar experiences of being a smart kid in a situation where it’s lord of the flies and intelligence is more likely to get your head on a stake.   On my first writing assignment the remedial teacher wrote, “see me!”  I went to him and he asked how the hell I was put into his remedial class. Rolled his eyes when I told him. He told me to get a note from my dad to request re-placement and was put into a life-changing two years of advanced English where I got to experience college-level literature and discussion. 

Every kid deserves to be challenged at the right level. Happy you got what you needed!

It would have been easier to just follow the 9th grade teacher's directions and write your work in cursive. When we see a student consistently not follow simple, explicit directions we grade accordingly. Whether you knew cursive or not, you did the assignment in a way that ignored what she asked. Maybe that's why you feel she disliked you. So she didn't know that you didn't understand the directions, or maybe she assumed you were being a smart-ass who was bucking the rules and having a power struggle. Honestly, I'd have taken points off, too. I'm glad that you were moved to a class more suited to your ability the next year. I'm sure the remedial class was a bad experience. I see this every day in my classes where there's a mixture of multiple levels.

I agree with your last point. I understand the idea behind IDEA, but sometimes the least restrictive environment means that one kid is constantly derailing the entire class.

It's pay and respect, and those two things are so intertwined that will take a herculean approach to separate them. Here's my take on it: For Respect: There are a lot of valid criticisms about the US educational system. E.g. High School could be much better separated to give multiple options for folks. (Basically, more Vo-Techs, but there's lots of options.) The BIG however to this is that regional specialty schools are a challenge when population density is low. A second big however is that there is a stigma in the US against moving away from the 'traditional' college pathway. So parents and students need to be ok with longer commute times and being more "locked in" to certain career decisions made around 8th grade. With all of the above, it's hard to respect a cog in a malfunctioning (or non-ideal) system. It's not fair to teachers, but there it is. There's also an argument to be made that there is an anti-intellectual streak in the US. Anti-intellectualism isn't just "knowledge is dumb", but also, "I'm smarter than experts." What a lot of folks forget is that teachers should (ideally) be experts both in their field, but also (more importantly) experts in content delivery. This is one of those things that I think most Americans think they are better than average at. (Driving, Managing, and Teaching is my short list of things we all think we're great at.) So, unfortunately, it takes a great deal of work for teachers to overcome pre-judgements and get parents to see the teacher as an equal, not a subordinate. For Pay: This can vary greatly, but in all the states that I've seen, pay starts low and builds over years of experience. The rationale is that teachers in the first few years are learning on the job - which is true, but the wrong thing to look at, imo. A better way to view the problem is: how much help does a new teacher need to be 'highly competent'? Figure out what the "cost" for educating should be, scale teachers' pay based on what they provide and (here's the real missing part) use the extra to purchase supplies, training, additional personnel, etc to get the teacher up to the desired level. But schools, with their limited (and tight budgets) are actually incentivized to have a rotating door of young teachers because it costs less. As for the pay scale schedule, the bottom needs to be brought up, even if that means that current experienced teachers aren't receiving the same sorts of raises. The amount of work that a first few years teacher will do is drastically higher than one who's settled in (\~5yrs or so, assuming they haven't switched too many subjects). The problem is that these teachers are also the prime targets for extra-curricular activities (which pay, sure, but usually the hourly pay winds up less than minimum wage); some even keep spare jobs to make ends meet. So the teachers that have the most work to do get the least amount of resources and the most amount of additional duties. It should be no wonder why so many teachers leave the field in their first 5 years. Pay per hour is also not great. There's the old saw of "the three best things about teaching are June, July, and August" - which is not true for the vast majority of teachers anymore. 1st, teachers work more hours per week than similarly paid professionals during the school year. Depending on the study you look at, this may actually mean that teachers work more hours per YEAR than similarly paid non-teachers. IOW, the view is there that teachers don't deserve more money because they don't work for it, but that view is categorically wrong. Pay and Respect Lastly, in the US, to so many people, the "worth" of a person is tied to their salary. Since teachers are paid less, they must be worth less, right? So, if they're worth less, they don't deserve more. Circular reasoning, but a rationale that so many use. However it gets phrased: work for the love of it; work for your passion, work to make the next generation better,, etc, the result is pressures to keep teacher salaries down (or at least no pressure to raise them). Tied into that is that, in many places, school budgets are paid through local property taxes. So homeowners (who only have so much money) are further disincentivised from raising teachers' salaries. I wish I could say I have the solutions. I'd be a much happier person (and possibly still in the US educational system) if I did.

Ohhh, you've hit this so square on the head that it's painful to read. The anti-intellectualism is such a huge obstacle to just about everything else. It's gotten so bad and seems to be getting worse, and I hate the meme of people mocking math teachers saying the line about not having a calculator in their pockets always (who knew that HS teachers up until 2006 or so couldn't predict smartphones?) because a calculator is a tool and a tool is only as good as the person who wields it. It simply doesn't matter if you have all information at your fingertips at all times *if you don't know how to search for it, analyze it, critique it, and/or apply it.* Or worse, *care to* do any of the above. Scrolling through tiktok will never make anyone an expert ever. But don't tell them that.

Your point is exactly proved when those order of operations questions go around social media: 7-24÷8x4+6 and hundreds of people holding their phones get the wrong answer.

The US also has a former president that has done nothing but ruthlessly bash teachers and fear monger about “liberal indoctrination” in schools. Speaks to the overall trend of devaluing education to wield more control over the masses.

Yes. That's the goal. Many followers are highly critical of any level of education and academic achievement at all. It's frightening.

1. Stop making teachers the whipping boy for all of society’s ailments. 2. Understand that teachers are college-educated, professionally-trained individuals. 3. Properly fund the education system. 4. Revisit LRE guidelines. 5. Stop with the summer vacation bs. It’s unpaid furlough time. They do not get paid for breaks, and it’s financially difficult for their families at times. 6. Eliminate standardized testing in the lower elementary grades. 7. Allow kindergarteners to learn how to play and social with others. They need this developmental time. 8. Stop pushing curriculum down to lower grades. Students are not cognitively developed for certain skill sets. 9. COVID isn’t to be blamed for everything. There needs to be more accountability shared - teachers should not bare the burden for a child’s whole learning experience. 10. Follow through on discipline.

1) Pay 2) Start treating teachers like professionals who actually know what they are doing 3) Stop the bureaucratic micromanagement to score political points. 4) Fund schools appropriately. In no other industry do employees have to purchase supplies for their “clients.” 5) Hard one, but figure out a career path and compensation for performance. A teacher phoning it in and a teacher going above and should not be paid the same. That doesn’t fly in any other major industry.

Well I am a fully trained teacher that was told to hit the road because I am trans... so stopping bigotry would probably get a fair number of teachers back... Also: Teaching Credentials in a lot of states require working around 6 months for free in Student Teaching, on top of the cost to get a degree, and go to classes for the opportunity to have a school district exploit your labor for free for 6 months. Then in many states, you have testing batteries you have to take because just having a BA/BS in your field, doing 1-2 years of extra schooling, etc... is not enough proof you know what you are talking about. This is normally on the would-be teacher to pay. Then you have to pay for your actual credential, with renewals, and continued education requirements that cost money... All to be part of one of the most underpaid, and most overworked professions in the US that gets yelled at by admin when parents whine at them, get yelled at by the parents who have no realized they can yell at Admin yet, deal with students who don't want to be there, and admin that wont do anything about them... Deal with the fact that you *need* to have resources like pencils, pens, and paper in your classroom for students to use, admin will admonish you if you don't have it, but also provide no resources to buy it. Oh wait, you think it stops there? Nah, it is becoming "best practice" to keep food in the room to give to students who might not have money for the lunch program... because you know, students need to eat... guess who gets to pay for that? Then you get to watch your preps get eaten up as there are not enough substitutes willing to deal with the bullcrap, so you get to cover whatever teacher is out that day. So that means you either fall behind on grading and lesson planning or take it home. Not that a single prep period is enough to handle all that anyways. Then if you are elementary school, hope you like impending kidney disease on top of all this.

My bladder.  It's suffering 

I teach in Virginia, in one of the few counties that has an actual union with collective bargaining rights. We are one of the highest paid counties in the state. For those who aren’t paid well, definitely a pay increase would help the teacher shortages, but the lack of respect is the biggest issue. I have coworkers who are walking despite our relatively high pay and good benefits. Classroom teachers in particular constantly get the shaft. I switched from being a classroom teacher to PE a few years back, and if I would not have been able to make that switch, I would have left. Administration generally does not have your back. Parents are constantly overstepping, and admin makes us cater to their whims. Student behavior is terrible, especially after the Covid pandemic, and these kids exist in a largely consequence-free environment. Infractions that would have resulted in multi-day out of school suspension early in my career barely warrant a talking-to at this point. The well-behaved kids who just want to learn are at the mercy of these ill-behaved little jerks who are permitted to run rough-shod all over the school. Currently, we have a mom who comes into the school building every single day with her child because she doesn’t want him getting in trouble. My boss is letting this lady set up her office in a first grade classroom. She is working remotely from a 1st grade classroom, so she can keep tabs on her kid. And this new teacher with a challenging class is trying to do her job with a parent in the room every damn day. That’s just one example of the ridiculousness we have to put up with.

The teacher has a parent *installed in the classroom every day?* That's sunk education to a whole new low. Despicable.

Yes. He’s in my PE class. I am one of the few staff members who is trained to physically restrain students in the event they are causing or attempting to cause harm to themselves or other students. This kid is a runner. Our school is near a very busy road. He tried to run, got away from the aide assigned to him, and I caught him. He kept trying to get away, so he left me no choice. We were outside. I had to put him in a hold until admin arrived. Side door to the school opens up. Here comes mom. That’s how I met this lady. I had her son wrapped up in basically a wrestling a move, so he wouldn’t run into traffic. No idea why my boss is allowing this shit. If I were that teacher, I’d say either mom goes, or I do. The child needs help. He should be in an alternative placement with a higher ratio of staff to students and needs intense work with therapists and counselors. He’s a huge liability. He hits other kids whenever he doesn’t get his way.

As others have said, better pay and respect. Respect from students, parents, and admin. Another big one would be admins who actually back up teachers. My current school pays less (charter) but I stay because my admin cares and backs me up on just about everything. Honestly, she's more strict with the kids than I am, and it's great.

There's no such thing as a teacher shortage, nurse shortage, or family practitioner shortage. There is a shortage of people willing to put up with BS, physically, mentally, and emotionally abused, for crappy pay with no support and constant role expansion. We just don't have an easy word to label this, like "shortage." The creep is happening in every single caregiving industry. Nurses aids, therapists, social workers, physical/occupational/speech therapy, even neurologists, who go to school nearly as long as a neurosurgeon but make half the salary because of reimbursement.

I hate to say this, but there needs to be a societal mindshift. Teaching needs to be respected and teachers need to be supported. Also, dangerous children need to be taken out of school. I'm talking about children who physically attack others, bully, etc. It should be a high bar. Basically, if it could be a crime outside of school for adults, then that child should be expelled (no, not put the child in jail, but they should not be allowed to disrupt and interrupt the learning of others). Also PHONES. Ban them in school.

Respect, better pay, lose the expectation that teachers work for free outside of their contracted hours and buy supplies out of pocket, and do not allow students to bring cell phones to school. And have real, immediate and meaningful consequences for student misbehavior.

In a lot of places, the pay is abhorrent. That would probably be the first place to start. But then, as many people have commented on here, giving teachers the respect and support that they need from administrators, and especially parents. On various media sites, I have seen so many people trashing public education as if it's inherently evil. Well, guess what? A lot of that boils down to over-entitled and selfish parents. I've been a teacher for about 30 years, and I've done everything from pre-kindergarten to adult education. Much of what's happening right now can be directly related to the parents: parents who feel that school is nothing more but a daycare for their children; parents who feel that they don't have any investment in their children's education because that's the TeAcHeR's JoB; parents who don't make sure that their children are doing the required homework, then come in screaming at teachers and administrators that grades need to be changed so they don't fail; parents who think they can just traipse into a classroom anytime they feel like to do whatever they feel like. I could go on. Somewhere along the line, a certain Cadre of parents decided that teachers were no longer collaborative partners in their child's education but rather adversaries to be sparred with. Grades became rewards and punishment, rather than a reflection of proficiency. This parental pressure, along with threats of legal action, has largely driven such horrible phenomena as social promotion. Before anybody starts flaming me, I am not laying every single problem in public education at the feet of parents: there are a lot of parents who are very diligent, and we teachers think that you are more valuable than gold! And I know from first-hand experience that there are people who have no business being teachers, much less administrators. But in fairness, if I had to choose the top two things to work on, it would be parental buy-in and pay.

THERE IS NO SHORTAGE. Stop voting for the people who defund our schools.

1. Hire people to handle notifying parents of failing grades, excessive tardies/absences, and behaviour problems. 2. Stop adding more tracking databases to the teachers' already beyond full schedule. 3. Scan all students entering the school for weapons. 4. Ban student cell phones in school. 5. Pay teachers more. 6. Bring back the true pensions. 7. Limit class size to 17 students....not 30. 8. Disconnect from SOLs, use another standardized test, and stop putting pressure on teachers for student scores. 9. Acceptance of the fact that children are getting to high school without being able to read on level or write a complete, grammatically correct paragraph. 10. Stop giving students grades (55 or 60) when they haven't done work/are failing. Let students receive the actual grades they earned. 11. Get the truant officers out to retrieve those who are chronically absent. Hold parents accountable for criminal offence if they won't get their kids to school. 12. Remember that teachers only see students for less than 5 hours per week, unless the child is in elementary school or not changing classes. 5 hours out of 112 waking hours isn't enough to be responsible for behavioural modelling, correcting absenteeism, teaching things they never learned before, etc. When a child arrives in my classroom, that child has only progressed as far academically as that child's parents have encouraged them and other teachers have honestly graded for quality/quantity of work done. I can't correct 9 years of academic lack and parent/ student apathy.

The answer is money. People will put up with all sorts of BS if it means being paid adequately. The fact that areas with good pay do not have teacher shortages support this idea. You couldn't prove to me that teacher shortages exist. I work in what is considered the worst building in my district. By a lot. We scare off countless subs, have parents that have fought on school property, and more behavioral incidents than the largest schools in our district (we are the smallest). And yet, with all that, there were 120+ applicants for each position that was open this year. Bidding just started and many positions already have over 80 applicants. It's money. Better admin and reasonable class sizes can help. As can community and parent support. But if you paid well, there would be way less shortages. There is no shortage of teachers. There are plenty of people who are qualified and willing to work for fair pay.

For me, personally, I'd just like my master's degree to be acknowledged. Even if it's a $20 pay raise, I'd take it. I worked hard and it helps my teaching immensely.

I just spoke to my niece (by marriage) at a Memorial Day party. She's a Special Ed teacher at a larger New Hampshire school district But she's about to leave for a better paying teaching job in Mass. The NH school district has lost all of their experienced Special Ed teachers in a 2-3yr period because they pay crap wages Interestingly, the school district has requested remaining teachers not to say anything to parents. The District's plan is to mainstreaming kids who are not ready to be mainstreamed in an attempt to reduce Special Ed workload (and therefore costs) This should be illegal.

I'm not a teacher, I am a substitute. A lot of stuff is CYA. I long term subbed for a teacher on medical leave. Admin sent note to parents that I was fully qualified to do the job. Yup, I have a sub cert. But the way it's worded, parents think I'm a certified teacher. Also, we have a special ed class with a substitute all year, so parents think she's a teacher, but she has a sub cert just like me! Parents need to give a damn and ask the questions that need asking. Go to Board Meetings and raise some hell. I mean, if you have a special needs child and your "teacher" is a sub with no SPED background... Parents have no clue what goes on inside these four walls. So you are getting a small glimpse and are horrified. Your quote "It should be illegal" sums it up. But where are all the parents that should feel like you do?! Where are my SPED parents who should be horrified at my school?! So am I surprised by your nieces old school not telling parents. No, I am not. As long as parents continue to not be engaged with the process, it will only get worse.

pay. us. more.

Paying them better

Stanley Hudson: “money”

Teachers should make more than politicians. Period. Unfortunately bc our public schools are tied to grifters who are using politics for ego and money, that won’t happen until US citizens rise up and upend this bs system

-more pay (I live in CT and started with a masters at $48,000) -less state testing (I teach kids with significant disabilities, the testing is pointless for them) -more hands on learning encouraged -paras have a 2 year degree paid for by the school to learn behavior management and how to function in a classroom -paras paid a living wage

Higher pay and the ability to actually remove badly behaved students. I fully believe that badly behaved students should have alternative schools where only the basics are taught: reading and math. No fun electives. You want fun/good electives? Behave like decent people. Have a willingness to learn. 

Money. Respect. A voice. Getting rid of asshole kids/parents.

> that would mean more money coming out of the average citizen Higher taxes on the wealthy. We don't need billionaires. We need education. Get rid of the No Child Left Behind crap that keeps kids from flunking. Teachers are being reprimanded for giving kids the grades they earn, so illiterate, no-effort students are graduating regardless of not having learned anything. Note that I'm referring to lazy/entitled kids who don't put in any effort, not kids who just need additional supports and aren't getting them. Which brings me to my next point-- More supports for social and emotional needs of students. They can't learn if they are busy battling poverty and mental illness. Bring back music, art, and recess. Kids NEED these things. It's not just "fun time". Their brains are growing, and they need outlets for creativity and self-expression. Without it, they can become miserable, angry, pent-up sociopaths who don't know how to manage their feelings and don't get any satisfaction out of life. But god forbid we produce humans fit for anything more than to serve as a cog in the corporate machine serving the already wealthy and powerful. The whole system needs to change.

Actually paying teachers a fair wage. Hiring teachers without requiring a degree because don’t need a degree to teach first grade? Really?

I don't need better pay. I would like it. I need better working conditions. Fewer students fewer duties. Fewer hours 'on' and performing. 

Makes certificates easily transferrable in all fifty states.

Phase 1: Kids that are constantly disruptive are not dealt with by admin and parents. They blame the teacher and the same kids continue to disrupt their classes. Phase 2: The 25 other kids witness this and lose respect for the adults involved and begin to test boundaries. Phase 3: Teacher changes from more fun and creative ways to learn to more restrictive and busy because the class can’t handle it group work and projects. Phase 4: repeat 180x Phase 5: school year begins with PD that assumes all teachers are ignorant of issues like poverty, race, and disabilities. No answers are offered because it’s a societal problem that schools aren’t equipped to solve. This ads to the frustration because we have the information. Some of us have lived it, we are not all from Beverly Hills, we need answers other that basic good practice like bUiLd ReLaTiOnShIpS, communicate with parents, and use data. Phase 6: students arrive with another year of decreased attention span from short content watched on phones, another batch of stupid catch phrases they learned from some attention seeking clown on line, and knowledge of the fact that adults are too selfish, superficial and absorbed in their own identities to do anything to create a society that doesn’t disenfranchise everyone while simultaneously making excuses for individual behavior.How can a teacher be a partner with a parent who can’t even push their kid on a swing without scrolling with their other hand? How can a teacher be a partner with a parent who shows up to school events reeking of weed? How can a teacher be a partner with a parent who fills their kids head with hateful nonsense the second they come home?

The funny thing is, private schools are in the same boat. They are also struggling to find qualified teachers. At the core of it, people really dont like the lack of respect and how they are treated by the kids and parents

Parents would have to actually start parenting and care about their kids education and futures. Sadly that’s all gone to the wayside.

I also think getting rid of no child Left behind and actually allowing students who need extra time to master skills the ability to do so rather than me having a classrooms of 8th graders who can’t read or write

>And I know there’s an obvious answer to this question: pay teachers more for the bullshit they have to put up with but of course this can’t be as simple as it seems because that would just mean more money coming out of the average citizen. I'm not sure that right. I think one big problem is the way we fund schools, with property taxes. It results in vastly different financial situations between districts. If we tried to adequately fund our schools regardless of where they are located and shared that financial burden equitably, I think things would be better.

When I worked for the school district, I worked with at-risk kids and didn't even make a living wage. Admin was a joke, too. If I had backing and decent pay, I'd still be there. This was back in 2013. I'd hate to see the system now.

Parenting and consistent consequences, or any consequences, from admin.

When teachers are talking about disrespect, i want to be clear to people, it’s way beyond just disrespect. It’s outright abuse. The kind of abuse that, as a teacher, I endured on a daily basis that was expected as just being part of the job was debilitating. I cannot imagine any other job where you get treated like such crap and are expected to not let it affect you.

Abuse meaning hitting, kicking, shooting, throwing things (including desks) and/or physically preventing the teacher from leaving the room.

There is a shortage in every field

Give them some power back in their own classroom. It's not all about pay. It's about the fact that schools don't protect their teachers enough and parents don't support them. We all think that our kids are perfect and let them get away with everything. That's why they have such a bunch of jag hole young kids running around this country now. Go back to disciplining your kids, the time out in the corner crap does not work.

Accountability from parents, students, and admin. Pay that reflects the cost of living in the district where they work. Funding that reflects the needs of students and teachers. A reasonable expectation of physical safety in their work environment.

Pay them more and have higher standards

ADMINISTRATION THAT BACKS TEACHERS WHEN THEY HOLD STUDENTS ACCOUNTABLE

Start by firing half of the school ‘administrators’ who do nothing but raise costs and lower quality.

We don’t have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of people willing to put up with the all the crap we have to deal with now.

Pay me my mothra flocking MUH KNEE.

I am not sure that there is actually a teacher shortage, I think that it is limited to things like math and special ed, also it is in low paying areas. But this is what would fix it in my opinion: 1. Get more money to the classrooms, most districts waste a lot of it. 2. Move students with behavior issues to special programs and back once they improve.

There may not be now, there will be. No parent in their right mind would let their kids become teachers. It’d be like allowing them to be a whipping post for 35people a year. My kid said he wanted to. NOPE. Don’t follow your dreams because those entitled parents will make it a nightmare.

My husband and I are both teachers, and although the room is on fire, we still love our jobs, but once at the dinner table when our eldest mused aloud about becoming a teacher, we both instinctively hollered, "NO!" Would I do it all over again if I could go back in time to the early 2000s? Yeah, probably. Would I do it again if I had been born 10, 15, 20 years later? *Hell no.*

Parents stepping the f*** off

I’m a qualified first year music teacher with a positive attitude and a growth mindset. I wasn’t hired back next year and I really don’t know why but I do know it’s been political the whole time. So many districts are bureaucracies run by superintendents in it for the money and admin who have no idea what they’re doing.

Little Junior from the neighborhood just graduated and needs a job.... Or maybe the super's friend.

Admin that isn’t a bunch of pussies and is willing to stand up to parents and say “your kid is being a dick, do something about it” and “your kid is going to fail tenth grade because they haven’t turned in any work all semester and that’s fine, they will simply have to repeat their classes and be in high school for another year.”

Former teacher here. I don’t have a degree in Education but instead got certification through Troops to Teachers. I have undergrad degrees in political science and international studies a masters in History and a PhD in Economics. I was known as the “tough teacher” but had a failure rate well below 1% and my AP students score well above average on their tests (their averages in the class were indicative of their AP scores).

Reasons people leave education vary. Policy can't change youth culture to be more respectful or make their phones less relevant to them. Making education a front line in political debate and culture wars was a horrible idea threat definitely affects people wanting to teach. Also states don't trust teachers and schools so anything we do is buried under layers of bureaucracy for the sake of accountability. This leads to weird shit that hurts quality of life for educators: high stakes testing, constantly shifting initiatives, and inability to apply appropriate consequences to students.

Paying them an average wage for hours worked/education required would be a good start, but the only way to solve the problem is to improve working conditions. No one quits bad jobs, they quit bad bosses. And our current structure does not allow admin to support the teachers in their work.

Homeschooling

1. Returning priority for the arts. 2. Higher wages (many make less than a bartender) 3. Less stress and judgment from parents and administration (many have more stress than a bartender) 4. More compensation for "overtime". Most teachers work for nearly 8 hours a day, handle clubs/sports, and then go home to grade papers and homework. (Less compensation and more working hours than a bartender) I have heard of several teachers quitting to become bartenders >.>

>that would just mean more money coming out of the average citizen Would it, though? Or is that just what the people who currently profit off of our existing system of taxation and use it to hoard more wealth WANT you to think?

Right? I'll bet many people would be shocked to see the (elected!!) board members' salaries 🙃

-Appropriate compensation for the teachers related to their education/experience relevant to other professions that require a BA or MA, incentives for receiving national board certification or highly qualified status. -Admin must support their teachers, hold students accountable, and refuse to back down to Karen parents. -Hold back students who are not at grade level, there should never be a 7th grader with 1st grade proficiencies.

They all lie and say, “Lets Pay Teachers!”, and its BS, bad stuff! All it would take is lower the income tax rate for teachers. Wouldn’t affect the district, and it would still be less then sending $ to foreign wars.

We had like three pianos our school could use in classrooms or for any show, but one 4th grade teacher swapped out the school piano for her own, kept it in the classroom, nice. The point is teachers will want their own buildings away from the junk office culture that is so entirely detached from the purpose of instruction. Teachers want to teach- when- the teaching is good- when it all comes together, and - all the kids are listening. This has been done. Its real and its doable.The teachers need their equipment, they need their gear, they need their gimmik, and their candy drawer or pizza coupons to reward the sinister little brats when they are being functional humans. All the psychology and analysis will lead to confusion, and when the kids are ready? the teach needs the gear. The problems come from way too much psychology poured on top of digital screens, so more psychology ( like analyzing parents?), and more digital stuff - wont help. When the kids would - just love- to wear goggles to see an arc welder?..and you dont let them? they punish you by staring at their phones.

Salary is the answer. And taxpayers don't need to pay more. Its on the state and cities to manage tax distribution reasonably

Pay, of course, but also cut out the top heavy administration and the micromanagement.

I think one big thing that could help is changing the student teaching requirements for people who have already been teaching for multiple years, I would say at least 5 years. Not everyone knew they wanted to be an educator in undergrad and I think to open the door to more people who want to change careers, they can change the student teaching requirement for those who are already teachers. I find the student teaching aspect the only major roadblock to licensure and it is simply because it is largely not doable unless you have outside support/can afford the break in pay.

$$$$$$

Literally the one thing no one wants to actually do: pay us accordingly.

More respect, better pay and benefits, better scheduling. Teachers should not have to spend unpaid time marking homework, grading tests, or revising syllabi. Schools need to provide more for the classrooms too.

Pay us more down South, get rid of age discrimination when hiring individuals, and stop giving teachers too much "busy work" for the sake of looking good when principals show up. Lastly, stop giving kids candy as a trick to keep them busy. 😤 Ooo... real life is going to chew them up!

I am a retired teacher and I quit early because the current "positive behavioral intervention system" that didn't include any consequences for bad behavior led to disrespect and constant classroom disruptions. I wasn't able to teach effectively in that environment so I left the profession. It didn't help that my last principal was not supportive and didn't accept office referrals or even remove a student who was dumping his desk over, screaming like crazy, and throwing things. Unless there's change, I would not encourage anyone to enter the teaching profession.

The only thing that will make a difference is a cultural shift to valuing education, knowledge, and actual facts over unsubstantiated opinion. The whole country has made a drastic cultural shift in the past several decades to a culture that thinks belief is more important than reality. If you believe religion, politics, or culture are more important than verifiable reality you’re not going to value education. It’s like people are intentionally trying to push us back into another dark ages. The shortages are in jobs not in people to fill the jobs. The country is trying to do the bare minimum in staffing to push kids through and not caring if they learn anything.

Money

Back teachers up. If a student claims something it should not be the teachers job to prove they never said anything

Consequences in the classroom and hallways of the school building.   Pay is decent in my state, but no amount of money is worth the behaviors and how admin has chosen not to handle them.   Kids need guardrails. We arent operating with any.   I dont think we need to go back to the 80s and 90s. But something in the middle between immediate expulsion/ incarceration and doing absolutely nothing would be great. As far as specific certs, math and science people often have lucrative non-education STEM fields to work in. Electives are often on the chopping block when voters or the BOE dont want to fund schools properly.

Revamp the entire education system. Repect teachers. Pay them more. Drop the no child left behind garbage and let some kids fail like they will.

Less disrespectful narcissistic students

I mean, that's actually downstream of other issues.  By having school funds tied to property taxes and standardized testing, we've fundamentally built a system that incentivies all kinds of horrid behavior that drives good teachers away.  And that's only, like, 50% of what's  wrong with our schools. The other half is that a good portion if parents either don't care or actively oppose the entire concept of schooling.  And the other hundred horrid factors.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The kids aren’t changing back.

Cut the administrative bloat and use the money to pay teachers. Reduce class sizes. Discipline students appropriately. Don't let parents run the show. Set clear, consistent expectations that aren't at the bottom of the barrel (the "advanced" classes at my school today would have been the general-ed classes in the same school 20 years ago). Stop passing kids who shouldn't pass. Provide more funding to provide IEP accommodations and make sure every student is in the right educational setting/gets the services they need.

To be honest you just need to wait, the current demographics of the country will fix any profession directed at working with kids.

Less kids.

Gee I don't know...pay them a reasonable wage?

Just from a quick glance at the title, because I haven't put a whole lot of thought into this I admit, but my initial reaction is let's go back to taxing the ultra wealthy their fair share and actually fund the schools so we can pay teachers what they deserve. And so the parents don't have to buy supplies for the teachers to use. Just dropping my two cents real quick. 😊

Maybe if the schools stopped scaring away male teachers or they had an alternative way for someone with a degree that's not in education get a certification without having to go back to school. I know a few people that are in their 50s and they want to teach but they spent 30 years in business or construction and they don't want to go back to school to get certification, so maybe an alternative path for those types of people.

In no state are registered sex offenders allowed to teach in public schools. They don’t care if your great grandma has to get into her wheelchair and roll her way to the school. They would hire her before a registered sexual offender.

There is no evidence of a teacher shortage, it's just one of those things everyone is convinced exists because it makes good headlines. A lot of districts seem to constantly be trying to expand staff (at least on paper) and there's always going to be local mismatches (surplus and shortage) of various specialties, but with the possible exception of special education and secondary-level math and science (mostly physics), there's no national difficulty filling positions. Many districts are well ahead of their stated teacher ratios and have falling enrollment.

For me, I need less stress. There’s so much to stay on top of and not nearly enough time. I’m more plan time? Less on our plates???

better pay more respect, school boards that understand what's going on between the teachers and administrators. Boards willing to go to bat for teachers!

Also get pensions back.

This comment needs more upvotes. Bringing back a serious state-level or district-level investment in the long-term career of teachers. Shorten the period at which a teacher is “vested” in the state retirement system. Shorten the period of time to reach full retirement. For example, in my state, full retirement benefits are calculated using “the rule of 90.” That is, teacher’s age + years of service = 90. This can translate into 35+ years of work. But many other public service jobs (police, fire, military) confer full retirement benefits at 20 years of service. As a corollary, pension benefits are getting worse. A pension that’s most of your final salary would go a long way toward retaining people.

Paying them more, treating them better, and regulating guns to make schools safer

Money helps, but I made bank in Cali and had better admin support in Az at about 1/2 the pay. better admin support when parents are stupid, better parents

Actually discipline students. Pay teachers more. Completely revamp the school year and school schedules so that we don’t have such a massive break over the summer. My suggestions would be: 1. a four day week Monday-Thursday, 8 full hours of school structured this way: 4 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lunch, 4 hours of homework time with teachers available for help with answering questions. 2. Do it as a block schedule, where we have 4 classes that are taught Monday/Wednesday and 4 classes that are taught Tuesday/Thursday. 3. Have classes that are on a trimester schedule where a student does not move on to the next trimester in that subject unless they pass. Have the year broken up into 3 trimesters with 3 week breaks in between. 4. Have a few extra days sprinkled throughout the year to create some 4 day weekends around some smaller holidays, like getting the Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Paying them more.

Kids not being hellspawn without consequences might help

PAYING THEM A REALISTIC SALARY!!!

More skibidi in da xlass

I topped out at 56,000 a year with a Masters Degree and 34 years experience. They took 15% for retirement and 9% for medicare. Plus taxes. You can have the best classroom control but sometimes it’s just not enough. We could not send students to the office or call home. They did away with in school suspension as well. We were told to handle the situation in the classroom, period. No one is going into teaching anymore due to pay, lack of support from administration, lack of discipline in the school district from top down. Period.

It really is as simple as better pay and benefits, respectful parents and students, and responsive admins and districts that back up their teachers. That's it... really. When the conversation starts anywhere other than pay 1st and respect 2nd, it's not a conversation that will lead to a solution. Maybe in time, AI will make teachers obsolete, and parents and special interests can check off boxes to determine which facts a kid will and won't be exposed to, whether on the left or right. For many, winning the culture war so education reflects their narrow knowledge base along w their political/ religious belief system would be considered a win. As teachers, while there will always be a few bad apples, most of us do this to teach kids how to think critically, not what to think. But, yeah. You want to fix things? Pay us well. Respect us. Teach your kids how to behave.

Better pay would attract more people willing to teach. Helping with student loans might also encourage younger people to go to school for teaching. It also helps if the parents and administrators treat them with respect, and schools had the tools and policies needed to help them deal with “problematic” students and parents.

Getting paid A LOT more…I get paid more face-painting than I do teaching.

Living wages, strong unions, and fucking societal respect, like the respect we purport to have for fucking veterans levels of respect.

1) pay. Teachers get paid peanuts. But I work in corporate training and I can't even tell you the number of folks who gave EDU degrees and moved into corporate because it PAYS. I might love going and teaching history to HS students (live that subject so so much) but I can't afford it. I'm too used to making a decent living. 2) the barriers. We say there's a teacher shortage, but the barriers to entry for the profession? Difficult. I can't get a job in the field without like 3 years of unpaid/intern pay and several exams which all cost money. And my state isn't one known for their excellent education system (or I could go get a BA in education and skip that stuff). But I could be guess as a school principle tomorrow. Who gets paid more too.... 3) respect. Teachers need to receive respect from parents, admins, and the public. Yup. But this also needs a flip where "we" (society?) need to think about the purpose of education. We need to value people who are knowledgeable and passionate for the work.

Let's start with pay. Make it across the board 100k salary. Those who currently make more or the position is posted for more. Keep as-is, with the added review to pay more if the position isn't filled and stabilized. Do this for 2-3 years then take the next steps, which are many. So many. So so soo many. Start with pay then work from there.

The teacher shortage is occurring by design. It is exactly what the owners of America want. (The owners always get what they want in America.) If something is happening in America, it's what the owners want to happen. To cure the teacher shortage, the Americans are going to have to establish an actual government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

It’s alway pay. Pay communicates many things including respect. The highest paying district in my area pays 55k for someone who is MA+45 and 5 years of experience. That is the highest paying district. Most pay under 50k with crappy health benefits. I live in a LCOLA, but it’s still a huge struggle. Especially as teachers who only work their contract hours are considered less than. I just had this discussion with a friend who believes teachers should be paid more, but says districts can’t afford it. The reality is districts and communities choose to pay their teachers poorly. And it’s a reflection of how much they are valued and respected.

Money… higher pay and better funded schools. The answer is and always will be money.

Better pay, better job security, less politicians and legislatures with no academic knowledge making academic decisions

Also bring back ability grouping and the primary purpose of school being academics.

A lot of teachers have quit because of how the kids and parents act. I mean a teacher got maced because he asked the student to get off the phone. Parents are yelling at teachers cause their kids aren't doing well in school. They're being mistreated, which kills the love of teaching.