Why Are Teachers Quitting? Inside America's “Most Vulnerable Profession” | Amanpour and Company

Staffing shortages, burnout, funding cuts, and debates over the curriculum are adding to the pressures on America's educators. In her new book, bestselling author Alexandra Robbins followed three teachers to see how these issues are changing the way they work. Robbins joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the state of teaching.

Originally aired on April 10, 2023

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Major support for Amanpour and Company is provided by the Anderson Family Charitable Fund, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim, III, Candace King Weir, Jim Attwood and Leslie Williams, Mark J. Blechner, Bernard and Denise Schwartz, Koo and Patricia Yuen, the Leila and Mickey Straus Family Charitable Trust, Barbara Hope Zuckerberg, Jeffrey Katz and Beth Rogers, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation and Mutual of America.

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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.

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[polarpalmwv]

I taught for 23 years - leaving 3 years ago due to a complete mental breakdown. Let me tell you. The hell that teaching is WAS ALWAYS THIS WAY FOR MY ENTIRE 23 YEARS. This is nothing new. For every 4 days that students are in class, teachers need one FULL DAY of uninterrupted time for planning and grading. No meetings. No 'PD' (and the PD is 95% AWFUL AND IRRELEVANT). This is in ADDITION to a daily lunch OF AT LEAST 40 MINUTES DUTY-FREE and a daily planning period to do the necessary daily tasks. Classrooms need to be FULLY STOCKED with books, learning materials, and consumables (such as pencils, paper, tape, glue, crayons, markers, colored pencils, facial tissues, dry-erase markers, etc...). At present none of this is happening anywhere in America. There is nowhere near enough time during a planning period (and in many schools 1 planning period a week is lost to a required meeting) to prepare and organize materials that are immediately needed, grade student work, and plan quality lessons in the time provided. NO WHERE NEAR ENOUGH TIME. This is why most teachers work at least 2 extra hours each weekday as well as half or all of the weekend. And the reward for all of this? You can't even afford to buy a house in most areas.

[dctrevett]

Teachers/professors are in an abusive relationship, and you don't stay in abusive relationships. The lack of respect for the teaching profession, and education in general, is sickening.

[unbreakable]

My father taught for decades and saw the changes in education. He left teaching in disgust, mostly because parents stopped supporting the schools and would complain about the grades their children earned and wouldn't discipline their children for acting up. But he also didn't like the changes to the curriculum that lowered the quality of the classes he taught.

[orffrocks]

with all due respect…this just skims the surface of what (we) teachers are experiencing. Not to mention the challenging children and nonexistent parenting.

[healingasthmaacasestudy]

The educational system is built on unpaid teacher time.

[dawnsturman]

I taught for thirty-six years and she is right on with her assessment of how demanding it is to be a good teacher. Talk is cheap, we need to find away to support teachers. I won awards, but that didn’t help with the day to day stress.

[andreadaerice]

After just one semester in a high school, I will never, ever, return to teaching in K-12. Everything she said is true...and more. My heart breaks for teachers.

[kens]

My sister was a teacher as was her husband. She had a masters degree and was working on a PhD. They both were working in a restaurant and had a working farm in order to make ends meet. My parents gave them the land they lived on, but they financed the home they built there. It was very hard for them to make ends meet with just their paychecks as teachers. Somewhere in there she contracted a virus that destroyed her heart, she died as a result of that. During the school year she was continually sick, so teaching for her took a toll on her health. She was not the only teacher there who was exposed to viruses that threatened their lives. Now with these political pressures and guns-school shootings, I wouldn't ever want to be a teacher.

[lindylee]

Retired early due to demoralization because of impossible workload and lack of administrative support not to mention difficult parents and kids with severe behavior problems. It’s sad when a job you once loved ends up feeling like it’s killing you.

[davido]

Where I live in Canada the average teaching salary is $81, 000, and health benefits, and a good pension. Teachers deserve a good salary because their job is important; they shape minds and lives. America is in serious decline.

[truthbot]

Teachers are quitting because they don’t want to die.

[createone]

Just an excellent interview. I am a retired Canadian teacher, and, while our pay is better — I was making $70, 000 in 2009 — and many social pressures in the U.S. are not relevant in Canada (school shootings, politics in schools for instance), teachers in Canada still endure crippling workloads, inadequate assistant numbers, absence of teacher-librarians and guidance counsellors, bad parenting issues, and insufficient funding for materials.

[marialipscomb]

I left teaching in '21, and I have 4 credentials, and a master's degree. After what I experienced during the pandemic, I realized we weren't really valued for what we do. Parents were ugly to us, demanding we open our classrooms so they could send their kids to school. They had no care about teachers being exposed to the virus, teachers have families too, and many have elderly parents. They didn't care, they wanted their babysitters back. It was bad enough the amount of our money and the time that we spent on the children. I just had it, I miss the children but I don't miss their ungrateful parents.

[Donley]

My main reasons:

1. Student behavior - there is no accountability.
2. Unreasonable work load.

No amount of money could make me go back.

[Sophiedorian]

‘We are leaving because we are tired of the adults’. True that is.

[hopenow]

Preach! I taught for 30 years. Had to teach for multiple schools— High School and college adjunct at the same time. Sometimes 5-6 different preps. In SC mostly— never made more than $38k. I honestly think the Right wants the public school system to collapse.

[JuJu-vg]

My son’s tutor is a full time teacher. She tutors on the side and works at a restaurant as well to afford to live! They don’t get paid enough and it’s shameful.

[mhausenfluck]

I've been a high school teacher for 26 years. Schools are definitely under-funded. It's getting harder and harder to find qualified people to fill vacant positions. Where I live, in the Seattle area, the price of housing is astronomical. Fortunately, my teacher's union (with help from the state) was able to negotiate much better wages. Beginning teachers earn over $50, 000/year and veterans are making over six figures. This has helped to mitigate the loss of good people and to attract new ones, but it's not enough. I can't imagine how bad it must be in some of the states where teachers are paid starvation wages. There is no more important profession than teaching. Period.

[theFORCEismyallie]

I believe that teachers are just as important as doctor, nurses and other essential workers in our society. They should be adequately compensated for their work. They shouldn't have to beg for school supplies and support.

[Calcifurr]

I started teaching this year and only lasted 2 months. I was absolutely miserable. There were so many student behaviors, I did not have any admin support, I was staying up until 10pm everyday to prep for lessons. I really wanted to like teaching and was extremely passionate about helping the kids learn and succeed, but I could stand the toxic environment anymore.