November 14, 2003
When Teachers Quit
Don't let that title fool you -- I'm not thinking about quitting at all. I do think all teachers (especially those who are skilled as practitioners in some field, like writing or scuba diving) entertain the fantasy of going back on the job market or tossing in the towel, particularly when facing institutional malaise, but that's not why I'm posting this. I stumbled upon an interesting article in a recent issue of Education Week, which featured a round up of articles about teachers who left their jobs, exploring the reasons why. It's called "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now: Teachers’ Perspectives". Although it was relatively short, I found it a distressing look at life in the teaching trenches at primary and secondary ed institutions. Distressing and sad. Teachers are too often taken for granted by those they serve, whether above and below them. And since some of my students are entering into this profession, I worry with the same sort of anxiety that an Army field captain must feel, about the battles they will inevitably face.
There was nothing about college teaching mentioned in the essay, but I was reminded (as I am, time and time again) of my former MA graduate advisor (a fantastic author and great friend), Lance Olsen, who boldly resigned from the University of Idaho (and probably academia itself) out of a growing disatisfaction with the "entrepreurial spirit" approach to education and the McDonaldization of the MFA creative writing program where he was working. "Learning to Wish More," a memoir about his resignation, appears in The Electronic Book Review's focus on Reforming Creative Writing Pedagogy.
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Comments
Took me awhile to get to Kaplowitz's article. What a nightmare! Yet another example of our sue-happy, paranoiac culture elbowing common sense out the door. School policy not to break up a fight? That teacher probably would have been sued for doing nothing, too, if one of the two kids had died. We're living in a crazy world.
Yeah. We should sue somebody for it. Or get psychoanlaysis.
I read your post and the article Dennis Jerz mentioned. I work in a PreK-8th school in a community suffering from poverty, drugs, gangs, and crime. I know exactly why teachers leave in droves--frustration, inabiity to feel any sense of control over a difficult situation, and the terrible feeling that they just don't matter in the bigger scheme of education. But what makes them stay? Supportive faculty and staff, love of learning, a strong internal locus of control and commitment to the bigger picture. As you discuss in your latest post, teachers also NEED time away from their jobs, to refresh their commitment and their spirit, and to follow their interests, so that they can remain vital role models for the students they teach. This job isn't for the faint of heart. As for me--I'm too stubborn to let apathy and incompetence push me away from my calling.
Sorry to come so late to this discussion. I'm enjoying reading blogs from college profs of composition, yours especially. I live in Guilford County, NC. I teach 8th grade "language arts" in a private school for learning disabled kids, and I have many friends and relatives in the public schools from administration to teaching to speech therapy. I am appalled by what goes on in the public schools, by the daily emotional assault my friends both endure and witness. I suggest you freshman English teachers pay the local high schools a few visits. Your metaphor is apt. It IS sending them into war. Maybe instead of waving goodbye, some of you ought to get out into the field and at least watch.
Sorry to come so late to this discussion. I'm enjoying reading blogs from college profs of composition, yours especially. I live in Guilford County, NC. I teach 8th grade "language arts" in a private school for learning disabled kids, and I have many friends and relatives in the public schools from administration to teaching to speech therapy. I am appalled by what goes on in the public schools, by the daily emotional assault my friends both endure and witness. I suggest you freshman English teachers pay the local high schools a few visits. Your metaphor is apt. It IS sending your students into war. Maybe instead of waving goodbye, some of you ought to get out into the field and at least watch.
During the dot-com boom I briefly entertained fantasies about heading out West to California, but my wife didn't want to live in an earthquake zone, so my fantasies remained fantasies. I have tremendous respect for high school teachers, though I do sometimes get frustrated because so much of what I have to do in freshman composition courses is deprogram the students who have been programmed to think that they deserve an A for writing a good summary of the essay they were supposed to read. But when I read an article like Joshua Kaplowitz's "How I Joined Teach for America—and Got Sued for $20 Million," I thank God for those hearty souls who stay in secondary education.