It may seem counterintuitive, what with reports of high stress rates and empty classrooms. Yet teaching remains one of the very most trusted professions in every nation around the globe, including the United States, and teachers still rate their lives better than most other occupations. If you’re looking for the right next step, take a look at teaching.
First, let’s disabuse ourselves of the bugaboo of the mass exit of teachers. It isn’t happening. As this piece in Five Thirty Eight makes clear, backed up by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer teachers left their jobs between April and August 2021 than did so during that same time prior to the pandemic. “While some districts are reporting significant faculty shortages, the country overall is not facing a sudden teacher shortage,” writes the Five Thirty Eight author, Rebecca Klein. Remember the Great Resignation, especially among women? Also, remember your or your children’s school, where most teachers are women? Klein points out that it’s noteworthy and a good sign that teachers have bucked the larger trend of women leaving the workforce.
So what’s causing it? The same things that might inspire you to teach.
Read the full article here.
