I hate to see anyone give up when they love their work. When you read this essay, however, you will undertand why the pressure got to be too much for this teacher.
Do you think we could persuade Bill Gates and Eli Broad and Arne Duncan to read it too?
Maybe they could help figure out how to keep people like this teacher in the schools. We need her.
We don’t need people taking potshots and making her job harder.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m not sure they would understand. They have ignored us so far.
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Understand? It’s not a question of their understanding, it’s a question of caring, a question of humanity, a question of ethics.
And, as these three have shown–time and again–they lack these three very human qualities, which is what teachers have in droves.
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I am planning my escape within the next five years. Other than the TFA temporary type, why would anyone consider teaching as a career? They are destroying the profession and who will they blame then?
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I left after 32 years. Luckily, I have my pension. For now. I sub, and I love it. I get all the joy of teaching, and none of the stress. I wasn’t ready to quit teaching, but I was ready to be finished with the BS. I am also teaching pre-service teachers at the nearby university. I have faith in these young adults. They have a great deal to share with their future students. My prayer for them, is that they find a job, with a principal and administration that still believes in its teachers, and the knowledge they have to share. I pray none of them get a job where I used to work.
I keep in contact with several teachers who are still there. Teacher bashing by building principals and the upper administration there continues. The building I taught in had 95 and 92% passing rates on the state tests, but the very small percentage that didn’t pass was made up of special needs students and students of poverty. Note that there were less than 300 students in the entire school, grades 3-5. Many of the special needs students were also students of poverty, so they were counted twice for what we were doing wrong. We were told we didn’t know how to teach. We needed to differentiate, and there was one and only one way to differentiate. Because we didn’t differentiate that one way, we were bad teachers. Now, in my research, I find that every expert on differentiation openly states that differentiation encompasses many different approaches. I never did get an explanation for that.
Many of the special needs students weren’t allowed to receive services, because they were functioning at their IQ level. There was nothing that could help them. Still this year, the superintendent is chastising the special needs department, because they are utilizing too many aides for the students. But it is imperative that their test scores increase. He has no suggestion for how to make that happen without extra support staff.
This can’t go on forever. We have to help those entering the profession, to withstand the abuse of the politicians and some administrators, and to seek support from each other, as well as the seasoned teachers with whom they will teach.
Teaching is a great career choice. We have to find out why those who make the decisions about education don’t stop and think before they act. We expect that of our students. We should be able to expect it from our leaders.
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Nancy, thank you for sharing your story. I hope to teach for 4 more years and retire when I am 65. I never used to think about retirement. I love teaching. I must admit, however, some trepidation about this coming school year. Connecticut just passed education “reform” legislation and teachers will now be evaluated, at least in part, on our students’ test scores. My district is one of the pilot districts. I am offended by the use of what I consider “junk science” to evaluate my colleagues and me. I feel bad for younger teachers who will have to deal with this just as they are beginning their careers.
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There’s adequate understanding in the reform industry regarding the real value of dedicated public school teachers. Those teachers know the students coming to them, know the struggling families they serve in the increasingly exploited U.S. economy and the communities that have been victimized. Those teachers are nurturers, supporters and informers that could create skilled participants in our democracy, The people pushing reform are not fools. They know what the de-funding of public schools and the rigid control of educating the lower economic strata means. Democracy is not their friend. Their reform is about dictating who will be allowed to learn what, and how we can measure and evaluate who is complying.
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I taught in Washington state for 37 years. I had 165 students a day in junior high and recall only too well the challenge of grading essays and projects. And while I faced challenges, I never faced anything like the gauntlet down which this teacher had to walk, just to do her work.
I wonder if history will ever accurately note the incredible resource that was so callously squandered by a free society when it turned aside from free, universal, public education and the corps of American teachers whose dedication could not save it.
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Sadly, Ms. Konahim’s experience speaks to working conditions across a range of professions, not only teaching. It is difficult to find lasting work that (a) pays decently, (b) is interesting and meaningful, and (c) leaves one with time for one’s own life.
When I lived in San Francisco (I was taking time off from grad school), I worked as a counselor and case manager for runaway and homeless youth. The work was compelling–I often think back on it and on the youth I counseled and the situations I encountered. It didn’t pay well; my salary rose to around $27,000. And it was emotionally grueling. Though I didn’t take work home, I didn’t have much energy for intellectual or social activity afterward. (I ended up playing a lot of music–that was a good thing.) The turnover at the agency was high, and I, too, left after one and a half years. (I have a friend who has worked there as art director and art program coordinator for 23 years. He has my admiration.)
By contrast, I worked at a Web software development company that payed quite well. Great perks, lots of food, quiet atmosphere. You could shuffle around in your pajamas if you wished, and there was very little to affect you emotionally (except for the pressure of the job and the waves of layoffs). On the other hand, this job became your life. You were supposed to be there until late in the evening and to log in from home. It was interesting work (I enjoy programming) but not really compelling for me. I didn’t care deeply about that software. So, after a year I decided it was taking up too much time for what it was worth, and I left.
(In between the counseling and programming, I returned to an old job that was mildly interesting and that left me time and energy to write my dissertation. That job–in electronic publishing–involved fairly rote tasks, though, and to make things interesting for myself, I wrote programs. That led to the programming job.)
Teaching is my favorite line of work, of those I have experienced. It draws on my range of interests; when teaching philosophy, I draw on math, languages, literature, and history. The pay is much better than the counseling pay was. However, the emotional demands are high, and you work many hours, without ever being done. You take work home with you, work on evenings and weekends (and over vacations), and still are not “done.”
I taught Russian for two years in graduate school and then ESL and theater for four years in the public schools before taking a break to write a book. After completing the book, I returned. I teach part-time now in order to reserve time for writing (and quiet lesson planning). For this I take a pay cut and lose out on vacation pay, but for now, this allows me to do what I value. I love my work; I teach high school philosophy (three separate courses in Rhetoric and Logic; Ethics and Aesthetics; and Political Philosophy–with close to 300 students in all). How long I can afford this financially, remains to be seen.
So, the larger problem lies in our workplaces overall. Jobs that pay decently exist. Jobs that hold interest and meaning exist. Jobs that leave you time for your life exist. But all three? A rarity.
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A little correction: I have 259 students at this point.
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