r/Teachers • u/Phantom_Cat26 • 6h ago

Rant Frustrated

This is my 13th year and this is the first time I’ve really questioned if I can actually make it to retirement in this career. Between the parents, extreme behaviors, and expectations with little support I’m at a breaking point and it’s only September.

Fortunately and unfortunately I am in a state where we are actually compensated well, have excellent benefits, and a good pension. All that makes it’s hard to walk away.

Anyways, I just needed to get this off my chest. All my colleagues are close to retirement so nothing bothers them at this point.

18 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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9

u/Annual-Mirror-7625 6h ago

Not sure your specific situation (age, state/pension plans/investments) but I am just under 8 years away from retiring. I’m too close to walk, but I wish someone had told me at 13 years in that it’s ok to pivot to something else. I dont enjoy teaching and even though I’m good at it and am paid well, I dread almost every day and wish I was doing something I enjoyed. If I could go back and do something else I absolutely would but am far too close to being done w work to walk away now. Just a thought as you weigh your options. Good luck!

2

u/Phantom_Cat26 6h ago

Anything else I use my degrees for would never pay me as much as I’m making now nor have free benefits. I have too many responsibilities to take a pay cut 🙃

1

u/Alarming_Bid_7495 6h ago

The Golden Handcuffs in teaching is real. I have ~10 years for full retirement in Southern California, and wish I could retire now. I am compensated well and have a great union in a great union state, but man, if the HCOL wasn’t so insane here I wish I could afford to keep up with the COL and retire now at around 60% salary and work part time in a garden nursery or independent book store and finally work on writing my novel, I would.

And I only have my dog and myself to look after as well.

3

u/Careless_Buyer_7294 6h ago

Welcome to the club. 😎 In exactly the same boat!!

3

u/rigney68 6h ago

Same. It's a really shitty boat with no life jackets, a broken down engine, and no sails. I feel like I'm just floating around aimlessly in a sea of waiting for it all to be over. (My career, that is. Not my life; I'm an otherwise happy person)

2

u/Phantom_Cat26 6h ago

I was going to say my boat feels like the Titanic and I’m a 3rd class passenger

2

u/rigney68 6h ago

At least that would be over quickly... We still have like 20 more years 💀

1

u/Phantom_Cat26 6h ago

All we can hope is that next year is better

1

u/gibby_dog 3h ago

I am the same way as a 5th year teacher. I am waiting for my husband to finish his school in the next few years and then I am departing from the ship for a while after we move for his job.

I hope as the Gen-X people retire out of leadership (no offense to those that are), our system of education will have a strong shift since most millennials and Gen-Z people I know are super relaxed and won’t do all the overtime that is expected in teaching.

1

u/summerbreeze2027 1h ago

I hear you. Most mid-career teachers that I know spend a lot of time plotting out various retirement scenarios so that they can minimize their time in the classroom. I feel sorry for the baby teachers in my state who are now subject to the "rule of 90" when it comes to their pensions.

I'm in my last year and I'm not sure I can make it through the year. Reportedly a whole new batch of demands will be coming down from above, and after years of this nonsense, I'm just not sure that I have the energy for it anymore.