Teacher Shortages - The “B” Word and Low Salaries

A survey conducted by the nonprofit research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, found that fewer than 1 in 5 Americans would encourage a young person to become a K-12 teacher.

“B” is for Burnout. If you say this as a teacher, it’s almost as bad as saying the “D” word during a marriage… almost taboo to say, not to mention putting a negative outlook on the job one is trying to do as an educator. Unfortunately, I have said it myself, and it is a word being turned into a reason why many don’t want to return to the classroom. 

Have you ever taught a post-pandemic classroom of unhinged five-year-olds that have had no social experience because preschools were closed during their toddlerhood? Elementary teachers are stressed to the brim, running around like mad chickens due to a lack of support staff and aides. The education sector has been unsteady the past few years, with principals scrambling to assign emergency licenses to educators outside of their subject area, or to those who have little or no experience in a classroom. However, schools make due with what they can get, and sometimes it leaves primary teachers without any support in the classroom. 

On top of losing 20% of public school students after 2020, the education sector also lost an estimated 730,000+ teaching positions. It is no surprise that this drought of teachers has tossed budgets around in districts while officials decide which positions to keep and which ones to axe¹. Many educators have retired to do something that more closely follows their hobbies. Some teachers are waking up in the wee hours of the morning in the U.S. to teach English from their screen to children halfway around the world, some are private tutoring, and a handful I know have left the profession to be farmers in rural areas. 

It’s a problem that I don’t know how to answer: School districts are in need of teachers and support staff that possess the skills and the patience to facilitate in today’s classroom. Behavior management is not for the faint of heart, where the students know quite a lot, and are not afraid to speak their minds. 

Teacher pay is lagging, and many argue that if education positions were paid more significantly, retention would be easier. Educators in Germany and the Netherlands can earn up to six-figure incomes and have some of the highest retention rates globally. Of course, each country is unique to their political norms and taxes are allocated accordingly. It is not surprising that American teachers are quitting in droves due to mismanaged education funding which never ends up footing the bill. This dilemma leaves administration in a frenzy, and more importantly, does not serve our students. 

For Grammar Lovers:

1. 'Axe': The Current Champion

“Despite Noah Webster’s firm conviction on the matter, axe has prevailed as the dominant spelling for most of the years since he deemed the spelling improper. Ax had some good years in the late 20th century, but evidence from multiple corpora shows that axe has once again taken the lead as the 21st century makes its way through its third decade.

Some major publications in the US do prefer the shorter spelling: the Associated Press, Time, and The New York Times all favor ax over axe. But the longer form prevails overall.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/03/19/teacher-shortage-crisis-explained/72958393007/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/ax-vs-axe-difference