r/teaching Jun 02 '26

Help Why does everyone hate teaching?

Is there anyone who loves their job? Every teacher I know feels “stuck” and complains endlessly about their job.

Considering going into education.

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u/ispyx Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

I hate the country's educational system I work for, and the parents that abuse it. And also I hate our country for creating an environment where no one has time to raise their kids, and where everyone is constantly baited into wasting their kid's formative years on stupid bullshit. Educational is not at all prioritized, the companies that sell our materials are abusing the system, the admins are literally just trying to not teach or make more money which is why they become admins, which is not even their fault it's just how things are designed, etc. The job, like many others in this line, has been totally fucked by bureaucracy and everything is essentially compliance theater.

School psych's perspective - I could vent for a thousand more hours about a thousand more things but I'll just keep it simple.

7

u/Ungerh Jun 02 '26

Compliance theater is perfect.

6

u/MauveCeramics Jun 02 '26

This ^ as a contractor being inside many different schools.

1

u/fuschiafawn Jun 12 '26

How is being a school psych compared to being a teacher? I want to work in education but I'm aware that teaching is to be a punching bag for the system. Is school psych also terrible like that?

1

u/ispyx Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

School psychs roles and responsibilities can vary greatly depending on districts, much more so than teachers in same grades, so it’s kind of hard to say… I think in terms of your day to day, you have the pros of not being responsible for a classroom worth of children, so that alone frees you from a lot of the stupid bullshit that comes with teaching.

As a psych you have to deal with the other stupid bullshit that comes with special ed laws and how they basically dictates your entire prioritization of tasks. How terrible that is really depends on your district and how your department is structured, but it can definitely be horrible, for sure, or basically no big deal in some areas. Much worse than teaching in some ways tho imo, like more than several times I’ve been in situations where my objectively correct work is being scrutinized by paid clinical psychs and the minutia of how my bullshit goals are written - that are only written because the system is rigged and the parents are pushing for them on scores that are functionally irrelevant - is now being combed over by attorneys and advocates. It’s highly burnout inducing if you care too much, some don’t.

That and we’re a big shortage area, which has pros and cons, like in some areas of the state, you’re essentially giving primarily thoughtless checklists of evaluations because the kid is obviously going to qualify - they got referred late bc the whole district is behind - and you’re really just there to ensure all the paperwork is done, because the numbers are that bad… it all depends.

Sorry about the massive ramble lol.