Teaching is a Dead-End Job: Part II
If you are committed to leaving teaching, there are ways out. There are other leaky boats waiting for you at the dock. You can try to get a different job, in or out of education. It stands to reason that something within the broader field of education would offer better prospects for the aspiring ex-teacher.
But being a teacher doesn’t automatically make you an attractive candidate for any ol’ job in education. It is important to remember that remaining in education as a principal, curriculum writer, trainer, non-profit program manager, or district bureaucrat is a change of career. It is not a lateral move and it won’t necessarily be a move up. You will be exiting one career in order to enter another that happens to be in the same field. Working at a gas station does not qualify you to work on an oil rig. You may well have to go back to school, take a pay cut or start at a lower level than you had expected. And that’s if you are lucky. After all, how many ESL Program Coordinators and Assistant Directors for Social Studies Curriculum Development do you think they need downtown?
Anybody moving from one career to another will likely incur some transaction costs. The whole enterprise will be more difficult when unemployment is high because employers will have a broader pool to choose from in filling vacancies. It is more likely they will have no reason to try to imagine why a school teacher could do this job when they can hire somebody who actually has done this job.
In addition, the longer you have been a teacher the more difficult it will be for you and your prospective employer to imagine you doing something else. For the most part, the skills and experience you have gained as a teacher are good for one thing only. (It starts with a ‘T’ and rhymes with ‘eaching’.) And, if you’re like me, your circle of professional contacts slowly becomes filled pretty much with just other teachers. These people may be your friends, but they are useless if your networking goal is to someday stop teaching. Make sure you stay in touch with the people you know who got out.
In addition, rightly or wrongly, employers will form an opinion of you and your abilities very quickly because they have a clear, if flawed, idea in their heads of what a teacher is and can do. They might not care much if you are on the Planning Committee for the Winter Holiday Festival Program, started an after-school science club, “develop and implement curriculum”, or organize the best field trips ever. Their impression of your profession was formed long ago and is drawn mostly from what they remember from high school or watching movies and TV.
Perhaps you seem like a Mr. Kotter-type; funny and affable. Your earnest, vulnerable and compassionate spirit may fill the room like Robin Williams in Goodwill Hunting or maybe you’ve performed miracles like in the white-lady-in-the-city movies. Maybe you seem a little like that weird teacher with the long hair on Freaks and Geeks; the no-nonsense dick, Mr. Hand, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High or a sadistic asshole from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Favorable or not, these impressions will have nothing to do with the work of the job for which you are applying. The worst case scenario is that they see you as a high priced babysitter.
What knowledge or skills could this person possibly have that I might in any way be able to productively deploy in my office?
What can you say to that? You’ll have to be very smart and deliberate about talking yourself up and being creative about it without sounding ridiculous. One of my greatest fantasies was to tell a prospective employer that running a classroom is a lot like running a business. It’s like running a business where half of the employees are either morons or hate their jobs. And most of the rest are simply unqualified. But I can’t fire anybody. In fact, I spend most of my time trying to convince my worst employees not to quit. My goal every day is to make sure that everybody feels good and believes they are working hard and doing a great job even if they suck.
Are you kidding me? It’s a miracle we get any damn thing done at all. I am a modern management genius.
Mr. Teachbad
PS — Here’s something funny from our friends at The Onion.
I’m going to start taking a night class to become a Pharmacy Tech. I’ve gone back to school to finish the pre-req’s for a Master’s program I’m interested in so being a tech gives me a chance to work a flexible schedule and earn a livable wage. Subbing full time would pay about $19,000 a year, and my blood pressure is 170/110 with a heavy dose of depression. I used to make $45,000 a year (with $11,000 of tests for spontaneous stress-induced abdominal pain and GI bleeding) as a teacher. There is capital involved. And no, not everyone loves you when you go to a job interview…instead they usually demonize you for leaving the profession…a profession they themselves probably couldn’t handle.
If only they knew the half of it….
It can indeed seem discouraging at first for all the reasons you’ve mentioned above. However, I think that’s why it’s crucial to work on building your resume in ways beyond teaching BEFORE you start job-hunting. A couple of tips. When thinking about the career you’d like to go into, also think of things you can do that would build your resume in that field OUTSIDE the classroom. If you have a union, you can do a LOT of non-teaching-related things through your union…leadership positions, communications work, political advocacy, etc. Otherwise, consider community groups, nonprofits that need volunteers, etc. Throw yourself into it, get involved, keep track of EVERYTHING you do outside the classroom. Then, when you put together your resume, make a skills-based resume rather than a chronological one. This was the most helpful advice I got and it helped me land my new job which is WAY better than teaching. A skills-based resume highlights the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired and/or displayed both inside and outside of your professional experience…so THIS is where you can highlight your role as union steward, your political advocacy work, the newsletter you wrote for a community group, etc. The best part is, all of that will show up BEFORE the employer gets to your work history and/or degrees, which are all the way at the very bottom. So you get to show them why you are capable of doing this job before they have any reason to doubt you might be (i.e., by seeing that you have a degree in literature and have no professional experience outside of teaching). And hopefully by then you’ve impressed them with your extracurricular experience enough that they’ll take a look at the portfolio you’re sending along with the resume.
It worked for me. You have to be patient and diligent and willing to cast your net wide. Depending on the new career you want, you may also have to go back to school–but only if it’s a career that requires you to have some kind of professional certification. Otherwise, I am convinced that you can do it on your own without going back to school, as long as you’re willing to put in some effort on the front end.
When I left teaching five years ago, I started my own tutoring business. I live in a big city and used my connections at the schools in which I worked as an elementary teacher and literacy coach. I work with elementary-age children, but math teachers are in high demand. My husband and I are much happier since we left teaching. We make a little less, but we’ve simplified our lives and LOVE every day!
Obsolescence is built into it, by design. It’s cheaper to get another baby sitter or burger flipper or whatever. Do you think they REALLY care about your unique insights and experience? Unfortunately, your real job as a teacher is to make admin’s life easier by creating as few fires as possible. You could teach the wrong curriculum and be terrible at it as long as the kids and parents support you. So keep a poker face and inflate grades.
The students really do mostly suck and I place the majority of the blame squarely on their lazy-ass, creativity-crushing, blind convention-following parents. Do we know if your excellent message is reaching young people considering teaching? Because at this point, the best idea is to never begin going down such a path.
I feel bad that everyone’s coming down so hard on teaching as a profession. I had a bad experience in teaching and have made many critical comments on this blog. Many commenters’ experiences they’ve shared are similar to my own. But, it’s awfully depressing to think that the entire profession is just not worthwhile in any way. I think of the pleasure I get from learning new things and I do remember teachers I had that helped foster that in me. I can’t believe that kids are just universally turned off to math,science, literature as a recent development. I mean, it often seemed that way to me in my classes, but I have to say that I probably just didn’t have the “magic touch” that simplifies difficult concepts and sometimes even makes them appealing to young people. I mean, I was always fond of saying it’s impossible to make math as appealing and accessible as video games, but looking back, I really didn’t even try.
Kids need good teachers. I think schools are often run poorly, but I’ve seen a lot of teachers seem to keep their head above water despite that. It’s really not for everyone, and it’s quite possible that a minority of the population is really temperamentally qualified to do it.
“I mean, I was always fond of saying it’s impossible to make math as appealing and accessible as video games, but looking back, I really didn’t even try.”
It’s hard to stimulate the minds of children who have been over-stimulated by immersive video games, CGI-heavy movies, and YouTube. If whatever you do in the classroom does not relate to blowing things up, casting spells, or acting like a moron and busting your nuts while skateboarding, then the kids get bored with it… Kids will either enjoy learning math, or they will not, just like any other subject. Being creative with lesson-planning has only a mitigating effect. I’ve noticed that my best students are kids that simply like learning, however the material is presented to them. They love the creative lessons more than the note-taking lessons, but that’s because it gives them a chance to immerse themselves further into the subject. The kids who hate learning don’t care what you do. They only worry that you don’t assign too much homework to interfere with their video game playing.
J,
That comment was both insightful and hysterical!!! Very funny stuff. Yes, the kids who hate learning do not care what song I am teaching them or how. It could be Back in Black with a side of cupcakes and some of them will simply not put forth the effort to learn it. Parents who hate to learn tend to have kids who hate to learn to. A culture of loving to learn would be nice and the learning haters ought to be the exception. We are not quite there, methinks.
We are coming down on the profession of teaching because it is less and less about what the name implies. It really is no longer teaching and should be afforded a different nomenclature.
In respond to Mr. Teachbad’s post and the reply by Caline,
I would concur that it’s not easy BUT it IS possible to find something other than teaching.
I’m experiencing it all now. I think the best change I’ve made is to my resume. Though I have Special Education Teacher listed, I listed the MANY administrative duties which we all take/took part in. We create and send many reports, follow up on emails from administrators and parents, create goals, attend and contribute to meetings, etc etc etc.
I’ve already had other employers mention that they have had other career changers in the form of teachers. Remember, with over 50% of teachers leaving within their first five years (and others leaving after that too), it’s not uncommon for employers to experience a teacher who wants a change.
I already learned this from a handful of interviews (nothing I ended up wanting though).
I also make it a point to mention the lack of growth opportunities as a teacher. The average employer is well aware of this.
Anyway, it IS possible. Just be realistic and expect it 1)to take time to find something decent 2)to be a considerable pay cut (depending of course). I’m well aware of this which helps with being patient even though I want something else fast.
I quit before I had something else, so for me it’s a tough process….but well worth it! My business I started did not pan out but I’m not deterred. ANYTHING but teaching and I know I will be happy.
And yes, the sooner you get out the better. No question about it. I “wasted” many years in this crappy “profession” BUT it could have been even more years. It’s like digging your own grave. STOP AND GET OUT NOW.
I have to say that I really love teaching. Well, to clarify, I love TEACHING, which is very little of what goes on in most public schools today. But when you have a class that you connect with and the class goes well, there’s no better feeling. Also, the day flies by since there’s never a dull moment, and the little (few and far between) moments when you see that you’ve really helped a kid make most of the bullshit worthwhile. The problem is all the bullshit, the unrealistic expectations, the bullshit, administrators, the bullshit, the blaming of teachers for all of society’s problems, the bullshit, the new standards and rubrics and mandates, the money you know they’re wasting on consultants and teacher evaluation systems and how even when you know your class went well and the kids learned, they give you an “unsatisfactory” because of some bullshit! If it wasn’t for the bullshit, for me anyway, it would be a pretty good job.
agreed.
reading this makes me so thankful that my daughter’s amazing (dcps) teachers have stuck around, and i hope hope hope that i, other parents, our school’s great admin staff, wonderful principal, and kids have let them know in every way possible how much they’re appreciated. and i’m so sorry that wasn’t your experience…
If you are a really, really bad teacher you can always become an administrator. I’ve had many of them in my teaching career. They appear to be the majority at this time at PPS. I retired, it’s better than staying in teaching if you can afford it. The career I loved turned into shit. That’s life.
I am a sub- been doing it with a credential off and on for 4 years. i have a credential in social sciences- and am halfway done with a math credential. on monday i start a new career- as an electrician with a local union…..why? i have to eat.
i will miss those little boogers…i truly loved my students.
Today was it for me. I moved to a new school to try something new. I was made promises of good classes, wonderful students and no micromanaging. Instead I got the exact opposite. Now I have students in groups, not good students, bad students complaining about me and telling lies. Administrators who believe the lies and assistant principals who are doing everything to get me in trouble. I am an NBCT and for the first time ever in my 16 years teaching, I am being marked “developing” on observations. I tried to quit in mid-year and thought I had another job, but all of a sudden I didn’t and of course the position is still open. I feel like I am screwed and no one seems to care. I keep getting beat down and told how bad everything I am doing is, but I was always so wonderful before. I fear quitting due to money, but I am so stressed and hate everyday. If you are a new teacher, get out! It is only getting worse! Parents and students rule the schools.
I hear you. That was me four years ago. It says a lot after sixteen years that they mark you as developing. It says that they have subjective metrics. They also have no moral compass although there is plenty of lip service paid to ethics. Quit and join the peace corps if you can.
I just don’t want to do it anymore. The anger has dissolved me into nothing. I used to believe that inspiration was the key, but when 12 year olds laugh at other’s pain, when they pretend to shoot you because you asked them to change seats, when they gloat that they made a teacher cry, there is very little to keep one afloat. Some days I do just sit at my desk. I feel guilty. That was never me. I detested the uninvolved teacher. Now I am one. I detest now that I ignored my daughter the night before because I was working on a lesson I thought would pique student interest only to have the students destroy my materials the next day in their carelessness. I detest now the lost moments with my family because I stayed at school till 8pm. I detest the arguments with a husband who feels I dont give him attention. I cannot balance this career with the life I so desperately want to go back to.
Get out now. Its not worth your personal life.