Longtime teacher and administrator confesses why she does NOT want her daughter to go into education.

Once a teacher enters a school that is struggling to meet state standards, she is caught in a cycle where she’s forced to prove she is good enough to be in the classroom. 

She must answer why historically under-performing students are not performing well on district benchmarks. It is her charge to ensure that students’ personal issues don’t flood the classroom and disrupt the day’s lesson.

Teachers are told it is their low expectations for students that are responsible for subpar results. All this stress and strain leads to teacher burnout and low teacher morale. Inevitably, many can’t withstand the unrealistic charge to do more with less – whether it’s staff, funding or other resources.

If my daughter does continue her education career, it’s my hope that she and other novice teachers are strong enough to take a chance to serve our most needy students. But we owe them the respect of speaking of the realities they face. We must empower them by giving all teachers a voice. It is our obligation not to allow our politicians to continue to short-change our students and schools. Who is teaching, what is being taught and how those key elements are being funded is the formula for producing an effective teacher in every classroom. Money does matter. We must advocate for fair school funding.