Huffington Post: A Warning to Young People: Don't Become a Teacher

I have been teaching for only seven years, but most of those seven years have been spent in temporary contracts, covering leaves and as a Teacher-Teaching-On-Call (TTOC) or as many in North America call, a "sub" and I know many colleagues considering going into teaching. While I love my job and would not trade it for anything, it is a continual challenge for many reasons this post talks about:

"That framework is being torn down, oftentimes by politicians who would never dream of sending their own children to the kind of schools they are mandating for others.

Despite all of the attacks on the teachers, I am continually amazed at the high quality of the young people who are entering the profession. It is hard to kill idealism, no matter how much our leaders (in both parties) try."

This article is written from an American teachers perspective, but still rings true to teachers here.

A Warning to Young People: Don't Become a Teacher - English Teacher Randy Turner writes a piece for Huffington Post:

Nothing I have ever done has brought me as much joy as I have received from teaching children how to write the past 14 years. Helping young writers grow and mature has been richly rewarding and I would not trade my experiences for anything.

That being said, if I were 18 years old and deciding how I want to spend my adult years, the last thing I would want to become is a classroom teacher.

Classroom teachers, especially those who are just out of college and entering the profession, are more stressed and less valued than at any previous time in our history.
They have to listen to a long list of politicians who belittle their ability, blame them for every student whose grades do not reach arbitrary standards, and want to take away every fringe benefit they have -- everything from the possibility of achieving tenure to receiving a decent pension.

Young teachers from across the United States have told me they no longer have the ability to properly manage classrooms, not because of lack of training, not because of lack of ability, not because of lack of desire, but because of upper administration decisions to reduce statistics on classroom referrals and in-school and out-of-school suspensions. As any classroom teacher can tell you, when the students know there will be no repercussions for their actions, there will be no change in their behavior. When there is no change in their behavior, other students will have a more difficult time learning.
 

Read the rest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/a-warning-to-young-people_b_3033304.html