Not a surprise that there is a teacher shortage. We lost a lot of great teachers, because of the state of our education system in the United States.
Many of the physical school buildings where I live are relics of the past. Built in the early 1900s, these buildings were built:
- Without the need for handicapped accessibility (retrofitting is expensive and doesn't eliminate all issues)
- Without Cafeterias
- Without classrooms that have enough electrical plugs for computers
- Without enough bathrooms for the current school population
- Without the ability to easily add good ventilation, modern heating and cooling systems
And then we didn't maintain the buildings, because one day the buildings would be rebuilt. We have been asking teachers (professionals with college degrees, master's degrees and beyond) to work in buildings where it is over 80 degrees in the classroom for the first month and possibly the last six weeks of schools. How many accountants, lawyers, scientists, journalists, politicians that work for months in a building where your "office" is above 80 degrees constantly? How many other professionals do you ask to work in a classroom where you need to wear your winter coat every day in the winter because the classroom heat is broken and hasn't been fixed?
We don't provide teachers with enough teaching supplies. We ask the PTO's and the parents for paper, markers, pencils, paper towels, tissues and hand sanitizer for the classroom. Then we expect the teachers to purchase supplies during the year. The teacher asks for classroom books, art supplies, rugs and other comforts. And then when that teacher leaves the district, the teacher takes the supplies, because it is his/hers. It isn't the district's. The teacher paid for it.
And our behavior towards teachers. Apparently it is okay for a student's parent to berate a teacher verbally in this country. Happens all the time. Parents demand that the teacher change a grade. Parents demand the work when they take the student out of class. Parents demand and don't ask and listen. We aren't treating our teachers fairly. We don't follow the Golden Rule.
More great teachers are going to leave the industry. My daughter's female physics teacher left teaching for private industry where she gets paid better and has better working conditions. She was an amazing role model for the students in this high school.
How do we make the education world a place where the best and brightest want to be?
