If you know a teacher, you’re probably well aware of how hard they work. Each day, they have to educate a number of students—who may not always be perfect angels—all on top of being known for not having the greatest salary and getting up way earlier than the human should. It’s no wonder some come to their breaking point.
Meet Jessica Gentry, a teacher who recently went viral for her jarring words about how stressful life was for her as a teacher. It was so stressful, in fact, she had to do herself a favor and quit. And she promises, it had nothing to do with her pay.
In her Facebook post, which has nearly 300,000 likes, she offers five solid reasons for why she had to leave her teacher life—and how other teachers might be feeling too.
The first talks about how parents these days don’t take responsibility for their kids’ actions. Jessica would constantly hear about how “the kids have changed,” but in her eyes, it’s society that’s changed. Jessica has dealt with everything from tantrums to kids flipping tables—and she believes it’s because school is the first place they’ve been disciplined.
“Parents are working crazy hours, consumed by their devices, leaving kids in unstable parenting/coparenting situations, terrible media influences… and we are going to give the excuse that the KIDS have changed? What did we expect them to do?” she writes.
Secondly, Jessica couldn’t take how technology focused learning has become. “Kids already can’t read social cues and conduct themselves appropriately in social settings,” she said. “Let’s toss more devices at them because it looks good on our website.”
That leads her to her third point, which is that she was forced to take two planning periods a week to get trained on certain technology approaches for her classroom. “Render that time utterly worthless when it comes to ADDING to the quality of the instruction,” she explains.
It’s not just the school, it’s the parents, too. Going off her first point, her fourth talks about how teachers are never allowed to hold parents accountable for their actions—even if they’re being totally unreasonable. For example, “I was cussed out by parents who wanted to attend field trips but missed the THREE notes that went home—and when they did attend a trip, sat on their phone the entire time,” she explains, among other examples.
Lastly, Jessica had to quit her job because she couldn’t bear to see her kids in the state they were in and not being able to do anything about it—“watching them come in…dirty clothes…chaos at home…and knowing they need more than you can give them in a classroom…it breaks you,” she writes.
Jessica is not the only teacher who has ever felt this way. In fact, part of the reason her post went so viral was because other teachers could relate.
“It’s the same over here, and it’s why I’m on a break from teaching,” one teacher from England wrote. “It’s so, so sad how it’s changed, and assessment had become more important than the kids.”
“Society has changed but we need are parents involved!! God bless the teachers! It does start at home,” another wrote.
You can read Jessica’ full post here.
This really makes us want to hug a teacher today! Are you a teacher? Did you know the trials and tribulations many teachers go through? What do you think of Jessica’s message?