Who Knew I’d follow My Family of Teachers Into the Profession I Hated!

Some people would say teaching is in my blood and that I am destined for the job. I strongly disagree with this for many reasons. 

In my family, there are many teachers. My mom is a special education teacher, and so is my grandma. One of my aunts teaches 4^th grade and another takes health classes for nursing students. However, when I graduated high school in 2012, I knew that teaching as a profession was not for me. I knew, once I left high school, that I would never want to step foot in any other public school classroom ever again. At the time I graduated high school, I didn’t even want to attend college. I felt forced into the decision by my family who all flew in from out of town to attend my graduation and started handing me cash for college expenses.

People don’t realize that they have such power in the words they say and in how they choose to communicate with their peers, whether that be through kind and thoughtful words or hateful and judgmental insults. The never-ending bullying that I endured throughout my childhood in the public education system turned me away from continuing my education in college, and it was the deciding factor for not wanting to be a teacher myself.  A real shame, because I later learned I have the potential to be a straight-A student and actually enjoy learning new things. 

I go back to school

Unfortunately in 2017, at the age of 23, I was forced back into school — this time, working as a special education paraprofessional. I was a lost soul who was severely lacking purpose and direction in life. It was simply a job that paid money, and that it was all anyone cared about. 

To be a teacher, you have to have the right personality to deal with all the bureaucracy in the schools and among the staff. But you also have to have a real passion for the job to deal with the many challenging behaviors from the children; I severely lacked both qualities. Added to that, there’s the lack of proper compensation for all the hard work and effort you put into doing the job. It became evident to everyone involved that I did not want to do it. 

In July 2020, I decided to go back to school, because I did not want to spend the rest of my life working jobs I hated just for a paycheck. I didn’t want to be just another number at a job who was reminded every day that I was easily replaceable. I wanted to do something meaningful with my life and be properly compensated for it.  So, I enrolled in an online degree in an elementary teaching program. Yes, teaching! 

However, it was for a very short time. Later in December of 2021, I decided to change my major after being screwed over by yet another school district.

Working in the schools was a lot like being stuck back in school — a feeling of being forced into school, just like in my childhood. 

There are also cliques of employees at every single school and district, and for someone who never fitted in properly in school, even as a child, work easily became a monumental disaster. Not only were the students at these schools now name-calling me. Yes, hurling pet names at a fully-grown adult!  The staff, and my colleagues, started calling me into meetings and pointing out everything I was doing wrong to bully and harass me. 

Many of these districts got rid of me for stupid reasons that weren’t even justifiable. The nerve. They simply didn’t like me and so chose not to invest their time in helping me become a better employee. It was a no-win situation and I eventually felt like an epic failure. 

I saw admin staff send us educators running for the hills

People are saying that there is a teacher shortage, but from what I am seeing, the shortage is of teachers. The shortfall lies in the way these districts are run and run down by staff and administrations. That is, sending many teachers running for the hills and fleeing the profession in outrage. 

As teachers, we want to be appreciated for our work and to be properly compensated for the immense effort we put into the work, especially with the rising cost of living. We want to feel safe at our place of employment and not fear for our safety every day. We also want to be rewarded for our efforts with respect, and not to be belittled and bullied by supervisors on a rampage.

The public education system is severely broken. I say that instead of trying to force change within the students, educators should first look in the mirror and ask what they can do to help create a better working environment for their employees. 

Because when employees don’t care, students can’t. The teachers burn out, they don’t love the material, they don’t love the interaction with the students, and they don’t address or maybe punish — okay, guide — students who misbehave. Isn’t that enough for you to give up the art of being a teacher?