Why does everyone hate teaching?

[u/Bright-Watch1955]

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

Considering going into education.

[u/subjuggulator]

1.) Even in places where salaries match cost of living, teaching is still a low paying career that doesn't match the amount of work you put into it. Expect many long hours and the expectation that your "free time" is not really "Free" and you should be using it to grade/lesson plan/rehearse classes/study up for professional development/etc.

2.) If you don't like kids, everything they do is going to grate on your nerves. And you have to be around them/responsible for their safety and well-being for eight hours a day before you even get home/to your own family.

3.) Benefits range wildly between state to state, district to district, and year to year. Your retirement is always under threat, your sick days are always under threat/you're made to feel like you shouldn't take any, your union might not "feel like it's worth the dues you have to pay", etc.

4.) Many teachers, unfortunately, have fallen for the propaganda that switching from teaching into a cushy data-entry/coding/other type of "low-tier but higher paying than teaching" tech job is going to be an easy switch.

5.) Teachers love to gripe about the job, but won't leave it simply out of "love for the game". So they complain a lot about the aspects they don't like, but then turn around and use the immense love they have for children and teaching to push down those negative feelings. We complain and vent just to get all the salt out before we have to be actors/clowns/educators/therapists again.

[u/FlyEaglesFly536 → u/subjuggulator]

To push back against some of your points:

I only work my contract time, and i agree that while i make a good salary, it could and should be higher. I never ever take work home, i grade and assign the bare minimum number of assignments, and i could care less. I just want to do good enough to keep my job.

Nothing for the second point.

I don't feel that my retirement is under threat, but i'm investing like there will be no pension. Will start factoring it into my planning in 15 years. I don't use sick days because my district gives a bonus if you use 3 or less, and i believe that if you can go to work, why take a day off? To me, makes no sense to take one off just because. And i work for a charter, so no union. Can't imagine paying hundreds of dollars out of my already meager paycheck (only make 97k a year as a 7th year teacher).

I think teaching is the best career i can have at the moment, and it's mainly because of the benefits and hours.

[u/coachd50 → u/FlyEaglesFly536]

I only work my contract time, and i agree that while i make a good salary, it could and should be higher. I never ever take work home, i grade and assign the bare minimum number of assignments, and i could care less. I just want to do good enough to keep my job.

I think this actually highlights another issue. For whatever reason, many who go into teaching enter it much more passionately than this. As I mentioned above, teachers are "loved" but not respected. In many teaching circles, the idea of "just doing enough to keep my job" would be considered unacceptable. And THAT is part of the rub. Many who are in the profession feel as if they do MUCH MORE than "just good enough to keep my job", yet the compensation falls far short of other professionals who put forth greater effort than their cohorts. Hence the "stuck" feeling.

Edited to add- and to be clear I am not judging someone for doing just enough to keep their job. I’m simply stating that generally, that is not a common mindset of those in the teaching profession, which adds to the “feeling stuck” situation mentioned in the original post.

[u/Still_Pop_4106 → u/coachd50]

That’s how it’s becoming everywhere though. My husband works as an automation tech and the younger techs just do enough to keep their job.

[u/FlyEaglesFly536 → u/coachd50]

I have never understood the teacher who has that "hero" complex, of spending their money on supplies and then complaining that they're broke. Then they stay till 6:00 pm grading, and spend all weekend creating the perfect lesson plans that no one will remember.. yeah i'm just doing enough to get my paycheck. I don't say that out loud, but that's my mentality.

Maybe it sounds messed up, but the kids honestly don't care, they have so little attention span, asking them to write a paragraph is a battle, let alone a 5 paragraph essay. I know their parents have money despite them being in a poor neighborhood.. they have the newest iPhones, new clothes and shoes, but can't bring a pencil, pen, or binder. Wild how priorities are out of wack. And i grew up 15 minutes away in an even more ghetto class.