Over the last couple of years, teachers all over the US have been quitting their jobs. Not only are they quitting because of low wages, but also exhaustion and constant disrespect from students.
Low income areas and schools
According to the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), 74% of elementary and middle schools have been reporting difficulty in hiring teachers for special education classes. In addition, they report high school teachers being hardest to hire for that area at 69%.
Districts with high poverty rates are struggling the most. ABC News states, that schools in high-poverty rate areas are only 43% fully staffed, whereas in schools with low-poverty rates, 59% is fully staffed.
Working conditions are also a lot more challenging in schools with high-poverty rates, raising the stress and burnout amongst educators.
Low salaries
A poll done by the National Education Association shows the average annual salary for teachers in the US in 2023-2024 was about $70,500. The N.E.A. states that that one in three teachers attribute their stress to not being paid enough.
The N.E.A. emphases that the issue is rising rapidly. Currently, many teachers can’t afford to live in the area they teach.
“I generally do think that teachers are underpaid for what we do,” a teacher at John F Kennedy Memorial High School states. “We are 10–month employees. It’s non-stop from the first day of school until graduation. Y’know, for those two months of summer time, everyone’s like, ‘Oh we’re off for two months,’ but we’re also not getting paid for two months.”
Gender expectations affect female teachers
Female teachers are more prone to “job-related stress and burnout,” Fortune Well from Fortune Magazine states.
“It’s not a job where you go home and it’s done,” a female teacher from JFK states. “There’s tons of work being done behind the scenes, it’s very exhausting. [The most stressful part is] paperwork, there’s a certain amount of grades that need to be put into the computer. The constant buildup of paperwork that your mind [is aware of and it] constantly goes, and you kinda produce like an anxiety [because] it’s always on your mind and in the back of your head.”
Teacher’s takes on disrespect
A teacher at Woodbridge High School states that stress she encounters is often from the disrespect of students.
“[Disrespect] is the most challenging part of my career actually, to see [the] lack of respect and low manners to no manners at all,” A Woodbridge High School teacher states . “They use bad language and push each other into lockers, but the worst part is that they don’t follow school rules and procedures.”
Many teachers face disrespect from students, and not necessarily from the ones they teach. Educators may face verbal harassment in the hallways, and many are subject to gossip and ridicule outside of the classroom.
A teacher recalled when a student “got right into [their] face” and said, “Listen, [expletive], open up the bathroom.” After the incident, the teacher requested an administrator to come assist in the situation.
Another teacher from Woodbridge High School recalled a story where she spoke up and attempted to “redirect” students that were habitually late for class.
According to the teacher, the students began to talk back and argue about how she shouldn’t care what they did, while also trying to intimate her by, “looking her up and down.”
“One of the students suddenly turned to me and criticized my attire, my shoes, [and] then started to call me ‘sir,’” she states. “This was the hard part to swallow, and I tried not to react.”
Later that day, the same group of students found the teacher again in a different room. They begin to make fun of her, repeatedly calling her “sir.” The teacher decided to write the students up, claiming that she felt “unsafe” while completing her duties.
“In moments like that, you question the place where you are and question why it happens, why people and young people are so mean to each other, so mean to strangers.”
Along with students, teachers go home and experience outside hardships and have other work to do. Their lives are as important as the lives of students, but they sacrifice their mental health and love for the profession for students, who unfortunately may not see the trouble educators go through.
