When I graduated from Stevens Point in May 2012, I found myself nestled within a group of younger educators who I felt confident would impact classrooms for many years to come. For five semesters I interacted with many of them as we journeyed through the class offerings of UW-SP's School of Education. It was my pleasure to have gotten to know them personally, learning their reasons for wanting to teach. At that specific time in my life I would have given my right toe find a way to bring the entire group into a school setting, if only to see their strengths for collaboration and rigor come to fruition in a place where we, as educators, would thrive off one another. Of course it was just a dream and represented a false reality of life.
One by one fellow classmates found placements throughout the state, and I was excited for their prospects of making a true difference in education. Due to my circumstances with age and the area of the state where I resided, I was likely one of the final placements within the group of my comrades. In fact, I recall that time in July 2012 when I voiced my impatience with the process within a blog post which stirred an inner fire in my attempt to one-day reach the classroom. When the opportunity presented itself, I became a kid again, knowing that a life-long dream would become reality at last.
Despite the physical distance between each of us, I made a concerted effort to track the whereabouts of many of my Pointer alumni, anticipating news of ways they were impacting the younger generation. But rather than learning about excitement, I discovered just the opposite occurring. One by one they stepped away from the classroom, moving in other professional directions altogether. One into insurance, another to factory work, one to law enforcement, and others scattering into the traditional workplace. It's a trend I've witnessed personally of late too many times at BDHS as good, young teachers choose to leave their classroom in lieu of better opportunities. These are well-grounded individuals who I considered to be excellent educators, suddenly doing an about-face in their young careers.
What is happening to our stock of young adults who are leaving classrooms? At the same time, what is driving so many good, experienced teachers to an early retirement? No doubt there is a unique set of circumstances which drive the decision making of teachers as both individuals and a collective. Some problems are unique, while others have a common theme.I recognize that everyone isn't cut for the demands put on today's teachers. There are issues of classroom management and student drama, social media, paperwork, standards testing, communicating with parents, in addition to lack of direction and poor support provided by administrators. In many ways education is truly at a crossroad right now, a quagmire at best, whereby the talent pool is being depleted at an alarming rate.
I have opinionated thoughts about ways to improve the system so a new generation of teachers feel valued in what they do, but these actions take time to institute. In the meantime I cherish the time I spend with my students, watching them grow with both curiosity and intellect.
