US facing 'catastrophic' teacher shortage

Dr. Monifa McKnight, superintendent of the largest school district in Maryland, discusses the shortage of educators across the country.

[iliumboy]

There is NO such thing as a teacher shortage. There IS a teacher shortage for the salary you want to pay them. Why do you think there is no such thing as a CEO shortage?

[texasabbott]

It’s not rocket science. It needs to be spelled out for lawmakers over and over until they get it into their head: Pay them more, more respect in the classroom and from the public, less paperwork and more planning time, less testing and more teaching.

[marielmolina]

Until teachers receive the respect and pay they deserve, this will continue to happen. People forget that teachers make all other professions possible…someone had to teach you to know what you know now. Praying for our education system and most importantly for the students who are negatively affected.

[marcoslykcomt]

There is a shortage of teachers because of a shortage of respect to educators. Politicians with a little bit of knowledge or nothing about quality education contribute to make the problem bigger and bigger for ages. Lack of support from School leaders and School Districts can cause that seasoned and rookie teachers leave the profession in no time. Let us change the picture with solutions!!! What a task, is not it?

[doctorwilliams]

I retired in 2019 after 26 years. Teaching is not worth the pay, safety, and professional expectations. Countless people who are hired will leave or be terminated within a few years years. Sadly, this is our new reality.

[katelee]

I have seen this coming well before the pandemic. Teaching is a hard job. Teachers are over worked and underpaid. I know of teachers that start their day at 5am and get done at midnight if they are lucky. There is not work life balance. They have to worry about their safety. If I had to be worried about getting attached at work and didn't have a way to defend myself. I wouldn't go to work either. I wouldn't take that job even if they paid me $100, 000 a year. Things were different back in the day. Teachers worked 8-3 and they stayed for a couple of hours to grade papers and do lesson plans. They went home and had a life. They did not have worry about getting attacked at school.

[Kapotts]

The #1 reason teachers are leaving is NOT due to pay. It is due to inappropriate student behavior. Until we address this, no one will want to teach.

[PhuongHuynh-qmth]

There’s no shortage of people who wants to teach. There’s a shortage of people who wants to be disrespected and underpaid

[profscarlett]

More money for the teachers! I’m a teacher and I make way less money than my sister-in-law. She, in sales with just a BA makes over $100, 000 and I with a Masters Degree make roughly $50, 000.

[SRR]

Perhaps if they PAID TEACHERS like they do social media 'influencers' and/or celebrities in our society, then we'd have more teachers

[Hanna_Marie]

It’s honestly dangerous to even be near a school these days, plus the pay is nothing, and these kids are wild

[ocoss]

She’s proud of that 98%, but how many of that is retainable? It sounds like they hired quantity over quality.

[shantelane]

As an educator it’s not just the KIDDOS!

Parents/caregivers need to take a hard look at themselves. I say this as our families have purchased over 80 items from our school wishlist. Can’t do that? They volunteered their time and put classroom furniture together. How are you sharing in the responsibility of the village?

It’s pulling teeth to get parents to SHOW UP for their children.

[kristenalmonte]

Only profession not treated as one. Teachers are not respected mostly by their leadership & politicians.
Their training, and expertise is questioned annually. They are not valued & overevaluated. Teaching is not an invitation to kick an adult around. Either you learn to adequately support them or you will not see them at all.

[kays]

In WA state a superintendent got a 27% raise after 1 year hired and the teachers got no raise at all… that’s why. People are fed up!

[thebookishkhmerican]

I wanted to be a teacher before, but my parents discouraged me and told me that teachers are not respected and don’t get paid well. I ended up being an ESL teacher a few years ago for 2 years. I really enjoyed the job although it is hard work and the work doesn’t seem to end especially with lesson planning. There is no work life balance and dealing with behavioral issues in non-ESL classes is not fun, but it is rewarding when you see your students learning and that breakthrough moment when they understand the information. Teachers really need to get paid a lot more for the endless work they do and have benefits with that pay. I have always admired teachers and some of them have been my mentors through life. Teachers need to be more supported and respected and they are an integral part of our communities. They deserve that. Teachers should not have to be dealing with tons of paperwork, behavioral issues and angry and irresponsible parents. Their job is to be a teacher.

[darksoulenvoy]

Yea, no shit. Americans have spent the last several years screaming at teachers “if you don’t like it, QUIT!” and a whole bunch of them did. Whoops 🥴🥴🥴

[BFRIZZLE]

They should get paid better for what they put up with.

[dorothyyliu]

teachers need to be paid more. period.

[thespiderman]

I feel sorry for anybody going back to teach…..there is also a substitute teacher shortage and supporting staff shortage. So if a teacher needs to call out of work all the teachers will have to split classes and sacrifice the lesson for the day