EricHoefler.com

So TMAO’s post about his decision to leave teaching has made some waves on various blogs. I’d like to offer some personal perspectives (which he’s not asking for), but I’m not interested in second-guessing his reasons. I’m pulling some quotes from his post as a jumping-off point to respond to a few of his comments and to express my opinions based on my experiences … nothing more. I hope he’ll forgive me for using his words to organize my own.

For point of reference: I taught in Prince William County, a large and mostly-affluent suburban school district.

On Being Supported

I’m not sure the people who proclaim the not-supportedness could even articulate the nature of this not-supporting or how it could possibly be rectified.

I felt unsupported in my job, and I can articulate a number of ways this is so: over-crowded classrooms; administrators uninformed about what the teachers they supervise even do; unfunded initiatives; teacher recommendations about school decisions, county curriculum, and county tests routinely ignored; parents’ desires trumping the conclusions of teachers; etc.

To be fair, there were also a few ways in which I was supported, but that side’s the short stack.

On the Pay

I’m paid pretty darn well relative to my peers, and certainly well enough for an unmarried fellow whose biggest expenses after rent continue to be whiskey, books, and college loans.

That’s great for teachers in their first few years of teaching, but it’s not a model for a successful profession, and it doesn’t help keep people in the profession, especially when people continue growing up and doing things like getting married, taking on mortgages, and having kids. The set pay scale with its small steps and the minimal raises from additional degrees is a recipe for a young workforce with little depth. Couple that with tenure and whoever does stay has little reason to work hard to improve performance. Which is exactly the system we have.

On Being a Good Teacher

I’m not happy unless I’m being the teacher I see in my head, but the process of finding that guy and living as him no longer makes me happy.

Teaching is (or should be) a profession, and professionals should feel that drive to become effective in their field. Unfortunately, there are so little external reasons to do so, and so many external hindrances, that it’s made absurdly difficult for teachers. The students make it hard sometimes, too (see below). Still, teaching is a profession … but it’s only a profession, not social-work, not surrogate parenting, not volunteer-work (despite the condescending commercials and “just work harder” films).

Much of the difficulty here is how much teachers must rely on themselves to first clarify what the ideal should be and then find ways to realize that ideal in practice. That’s another part of what teachers mean when they say they’re “not supported.”

First, there’s no set of professional standards that are commonly recognized. Also, there’s no support (or driving force) for teachers to keep moving toward that ideal.

For example, my school offered $300 a semester for continuing education. That’s about one credit. And the majority of “inservice” offerings were a joke. I’ve never understood why public education does so little to support the continuing education of its teachers.

Here’s another example: the administrator who supervised and assessed my performance as a teacher had no background in my discipline, rarely observed me more than once a year for half an hour, and couldn’t discuss, with any real competency, best practices in relation to my curriculum. Teachers in the same discipline were as stretched as I was, with no common planning time, and so with limited ability to help each other improve.

On Being More Than a Teacher

the kids are, in the words of Don DeLillo, “an open wound of need and want.” There is no free time, no mental energy, no chunk of your finances that cannot be poured in that gaping [wound] like the most potent of Hydrogen Peroxides, a pouring that fuels the kind of consumption that only reinforces the pouring, justifies it, encourages it, emboldens future pourings and the expansion of the pouring into a variety of other areas.

Which is also what I think is meant by the assertion that teaching should be a profession, not a calling. It’s also why the complaint that teachers cannot and should not be responsible for all of this is legit. Teachers are there to teach … or should be. I don’t mean teachers should be heartless, or shouldn’t take the needs and concerns of students into consideration, but teachers can’t heal these open wounds and still teach all the things they’re required to teach. Teachers end up trying to fill wounds that they have no business and no real ability to fill. This is a societal problem, not solely an educational problem.

Best of Luck

I’m always conflicted when I hear about another good teacher leaving the classroom. Part of me is saddened by the loss students in that school will suffer but probably not realize. Part of me is hopeful that the teacher may find identity and fulfillment somewhere else. Part of me is angry that the system keeps grinding up effective teachers and forcing them to leave what should be one of the best professions around.

I still miss teaching … sometimes painfully so. I’ve never missed the educational system. Not once.