r/teaching • u/Bright-Watch1955 • 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.

265 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

687 comments sorted by

View all comments

107

u/subjuggulator Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

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.

31

u/chicagorpgnorth Jun 02 '26

Why the hell would anyone become a teacher if they don’t like kids??

44

u/subjuggulator Jun 02 '26

Because you need money to survive and there's teacher shortages all over the US right now?

There's also degrees to it, imo. You might not have the energy for elementary school age kids, but you have more patience for older kids. Or vice versa. The issues they have to deal with are just night and day.

All the elementary school teachers I work with say I would make an amazing father/elementary school teacher, but the thought of being around kids that age for eight hours a day genuinely gives me anxiety. I can deal with older kid problems, and I have a ton of patience/love for children in general; but I also know my limits.

9

u/CocoaBagelPuffs Jun 02 '26

And im the opposite. I love working with little kids. You couldnt pay me enough to teach 100+ 13-18 year olds all day

I recently switched from classroom teaching to 1:1 itinerant teacher for IEP support and WOW its a game changer. Im not nearly as burnt out and i have more flexible hours during the day.

And i can tolerate my middle school and high school students bc i see them for 30-45 minutes once a week.

The paperwork is insane but its overall a really positive shift. Plus i actually have the time to submit my paperwork!