American teachers 'race' to quit their jobs

Low salaries and high pressure are causing American teachers to leave the profession in droves, despite previously having to wait in long lines for jobs.

Betsy Summer, a family and consumer science teacher at a northern Virginia high school, quit her job last year after 14 years in education . She couldn’t handle the heavy workload and the pay.

“Every day you have to prepare a ‘performance’ before class, like you would in a circus or a theater. It’s not really sustainable,” she said.

Ryan Higgins, a geography teacher in Texas, also quit his job two years ago due to a lack of support from his superiors, along with poor student behavior.

"I am a 9th grade teacher but my students' minds are only at 7th grade. I cannot teach them," he said.

Public school teachers in the United States are quitting at an increasing rate. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of February, the number of public school teachers who quit their jobs compared to 10 years ago increased by more than 20%, from more than 72,500 to 94,000.

The education sector has 247,000 vacant teaching positions, but only recruits 155,000 people.

According to a survey by management consulting firm McKinsey of 1,800 teachers, principals and staff for the 2021/22 school year, about 42% said they left their jobs because of salary and benefits. The average teacher salary is about $66,000, lower than many other industries and occupations and has not increased much in decades.

Meanwhile, 31% quit because of work pressure. The remaining three reasons were happiness, leadership and flexibility in the workplace.

Experts also note that many other jobs are attractive to teachers because of low unemployment or the ability to work remotely. In addition, some teachers say student behavior has worsened, especially since the pandemic, making their jobs more difficult.

Many school leaders are facing a double crisis: a shortage of teachers and a struggle to recruit new ones. Nationwide, the number of teacher training students is expected to be between 400,000 and 440,000 between 2014 and 2022, but that is still far below the 2009 level of more than 680,000, according to a report from the Center for Education Policy Evaluation and Analysis, released in early March.

“Right now, there are not many applications for teacher positions in the state or nationwide,” said Paul Pack, principal of an elementary school in Virginia, who said the school could not find teachers for two openings this year.

In North Carolina, Superintendent Whitney Oakley said it has long been difficult to recruit math, science and special education teachers. Now elementary school teachers are in short supply.

There used to be so many primary school teachers that there were long lines. "That's no longer the case," she said.

Doan Hung ( According to WSJ, NEA, BLS, Mckinsey )

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