Your Story
There are countless former teachers whose stories have not been told. What drove you out of education? What do you think are the problems in public school that work against keeping creative, talented teachers in the classroom? Or, why are you teaching? What motivates you, and what detracts from your important work?
You can leave a comment on this post, or email me at whygreatteachersquit(at)comcast(dot)net. Add your voice and be heard!
http://changetheworldwithservicelearning.com
I left teaching in the United States after 10 frustrating years and now teach at an American school in the Middle East. I make more money, have small classes with (mostly) very respectful students and have great administrative support with very few headaches. My income has nearly doubled. I don’t pay any income tax. I travel to exotic locations three times a year, and I save more for my retirement than I ever could have back home. I love my job, get paid well and will have visited five continents by the end of this year.
I encourage every teacher education student in college to abandon the U.S. educational system. They don’t deserve you. Go where the future lies, go where you are appreciated and compensated appropriately. Teach internationally.
My story is posted at my website, http://www.armchairactivist.us, just one of many stories of educators poisoned in their own schools by toxic substances. In my case, pesticides were the culprit but there are many other threats to the health of school occupants.
An indoor air quality policy is a must in all facilities but mine was reduced to a useless piece of paper when a pesticide company and the owners of the building rented for school use consented to the use of sprays without our knowledge and consent. Misrepresenting their actions, I became disabled and was delayed in obtaining an accurate diagnosis for ten months until I finally had the building tested.
Teachers are mandated reporters for violence against students. We also need to become well versed in assessing environments which are abusive to the health of occupants. Teachers have a very high incidence of auto-immune diseases when our biggest danger ought to be nothing more than paper cuts!
Barbara Rubin