I feel a little bit better. This is my 2nd year teaching. I just started teaching first grade, but before I taught kindergarten. I moved to a brand new charter school and am totally fed up. We don't have all of our curriculum in yet. I have 26 kids in my class, one of which is completely rude, disrespectful, and loud. When I called his mom the other day all she said was, "Oh he has a hard time sitting still, hahaha." I do not have an aide. We have not even received our books yet. I am making very little pay. Plus, I have been having to watch the kids during lunch and recess time. The only time I get a break is when we have specials. Also, they wanted all the teachers to offer an after school club. They just sent home a sign-up sheet for the kids today, and expect the teachers to be ready to teach their clubs on Monday, which will be when they send it all back. There is a teacher already talking behind backs about how the lower grade teachers have no control over their classes. I don't understand why people don't just help out instead of starting politics straight off the bat.

I do have several kids that are polite, cheerful, and caring, bless their hearts. I also have several parents that are helpful, nice, and easy going. Most of my colleagues are awesome to work with. Even with some of the behavior issues that arise, I understand that the kids I teach are only 6 or 7. I am just having a really hard time with the school I am at, the hours I put in, the meager paycheck, and disrespect that arises.

i feel sorry for all the teachers that hate their profession
i hate teaching with a passion worst job ever
i would rather sweep shit and eat it than teach i have volunteered and the disrespect of the children is unbelievable but only did it as something to do definently not going to be considering it as a career lucky escape if you ask me
and my advice to teachers in the job that don't like it GET OUT AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!

I have to say it and maybe after I say it I'll feel better. I HATE TEACHING HS. This will be my 8th year as a Spanish teacher. Last year, I decided to leave elementary school after 6yrs all because of money. I got hired as a middle school/HS spanish teacher at a different district earning 10 g's more. I enjoy teaching middle school BUT HS I HATE. My schedule is crazy. I start in the HS for three classes in the morning then in the middle of the day I hate to drive to the MS school. I don't mind the drive it's only 10 minutes and I get to leave the HS.
High School is tough. I go back to work the 1st of September and I'm dreading it. I don't know what I'm going to tell them yet. I just hate the whole feeling of it. I had a miserable year last year. I was called a F***ing bitch... I'm not scared of you. F***ck you. In my 6 yrs I was never called anything like that. Kids were actually afraid of me and respected me..... but I was in a elementary school..... Sometimes, I feel I should of not left elementary. The truth is the grass in NOT greener in the other side.
I would of never called a teacher that ... ever. Words hurt ...... I just don't want to go back. I want to stay home with my kids. I really Hate this job.
I'm a happier person in the afternoon when I'm in the middle school. Please pray for me on September 1st. I can't even complain much because I'm non-tenure. I would love it if they just gave me MS all day.

sad, and drepressed,,, Rebeca

These threads are all very refreshing so I thank you all for your comments- especially the teachers. I'm a spent force and I only teach 0.6 each week so I have to deal with probably just as much shit as a full time teacher but without the permanency and full pay etc. I come from a good family and perhaps this is what makes my job terribly hard. Fifteen year old kids can't even say thanks anymore. They snatch worksheets out of my hand as I distribute them. They let paper fall to the floor and look me in the eye for ME to pick it up for them... They have bad breath, unwashed clothes and smell like cheap Lynx deodorant all day long. They blackmail you with a pathological understanding of their 'rights' in the public school system and at the same time they would not have the patience or literacy skills to write down their grievances in a basic letter and submit it to the administration. Everything is word of mouth, 'rights' to respect ME ME me etc... To the parents- stop smoking crack and concentrate on the BASICS with your children at home. Be good to them, keep them clean, have them go to bed on time, force them to play sport and do their homework at a young age. I'm no 'baby boomer' but hey, it's time to go back in time and have kids sit in rows and keep them busy up until their little heads hit the pillow at night.

My life has become a living nightmare. I have been a teacher for seven years. The first year I cried every day. How many professions can you name that THAT IS A COMMON STATEMENT? Why, oh why, didn't I quit right away? I would give anything to go back in time and quit after the first day. If you are a new teacher, PLEASE DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE.
How many jobs could you say that it is commonplace to be called a ^%$#@ bitch about three times a week? Students address me in a way that I have never addressed anyone in my life. In my last two schools I was adored as a model teacher. One of the few who could handle the kids in very bad area. Although I still hated it. My stomach would be tied up in knots all day, every day. I'd work 4 hours every nite and 9 hours on Sunday. All so the kids would try to listen to headphones and text on their phone all hour, and talk back constantly.
At my new, suburban school I thought it would be better. BUT IT'S WORSE. I have never been so disrespected in my life. I have had students say disgusting sexual things to me and the class laugh in response. I have had students who got in trouble threaten to come up to the school while they were suspended and do violence to me. The ass. principal warned me to look over my shoulder. I have had students falsely accuse me of being a racist just to get out of a detention. Absolutely disgusting. I hate this job and I hate teenagers. I hate their wild dogpack mentality. I HATE HATE HATE HATE teaching. I am currently desperately applying for jobs as a secretary or bank teller to get the hell out of there. I can because I recently got married. I'm ALSO TRYING TO GET PREGNANT SO I CAN QUIT AND STAY HOME.

I actually feel the same way you do. This is my first year of teaching, and I HATE IT! I actually considered getting pregnant while making love to my husband last night so that I could stay home too. I'm tired all the time because of preparing materials, reading curriculum and the constant paper work. Also, this is the second week of school for us and my principal has been in my classroom 7 times already. I'm a nervous reck!

School is about to start and i have nightmares. I hate teaching. I hate where i work. In 2008 I was the teacher of the year. At a new school in 2009 my principal attempted to have me fired, but i am tenured and she had no right. This year i have to go back there. I am dreding it. I feel the need to tape conversations because the adminstration is filled with lies. Yes i have difficult, disrespectful pain in the ass students but that is to be expected. You do not expect adults to be the same way.

Dear Living a Nightmare,

I have been where you are. To be honest, get yourself an ELL endorsement. Get a class of immigrant kids. You would be amazed. Sad to say but in the USA, many kids have no respect for others and that includes at community college. They are just as solipsistic there. Yes, teaching is the worst job in the world...until...you teach kids who are born somewhere else besides the USA. I can't help it. That is just the experience I have had. For four years I had kids born somewhere else. It is NICE.

im just out of college and been temp teaching, and i dread going to work, i count down until the next set of holidays. Each morning i awake with anxiety, that is not what i want in a job! Teachers basically have no life and dont get the respect they deserve.If anyone knows of any good career changes let us know!!!

OK.. so I know there's heaps of comments here already about how we hate teaching, and this one will probably be lost within the endless criticism already posted, but I'm hoping this will be therapeutic for me...

I hate teaching.

There.. I said it. After almost 8 years, I have come to the realisation that I hate teaching. And whilst for some people this revelation is an eye-opener, to me, it scares me stupid. What on earth am I going to do now? As an English teacher, I'm sure there's many opportunities, but what.. I have no idea.

To all the parents reading and becoming more and more annoyed at us teachers whining about how much the job leaves us dissatisfied.. please understand that YOU'RE not the parents that frustrate us. It's the ones that think it's ok to swear at us in person and over the phone, the ones who openly tell their kids that teachers only teach because they can't do, the ones who refuse to buy their children the textbooks thereby making learning almost impossible, the ones who give into their child's demands for the latest trends in clothing/piercing/tattoos/games/hair colour (etc) all of which are clearly stated as against the school rules, who then have the audacity to file a complaint against you for following up on school policy...
It might not be YOU, but after years of such treatment, there is a breaking point.

Students too, are slowly crushing our spirit. How many times do instructions need to be said before they are followed? I work in a secondary school (in Australia) where we are supposed to be preparing students for life after school. How is that possible when schools are artificial environments where teachers can be treated so poorly?

I recently started a new school, in the hopes that this may refuel the passion I once felt for this amazing job.. I have 16 year old girls who won't listen to me, and have said the reason they don't like me after 3 lessons is because my shoes were boring!!

One would think that support therefore should come from admin.. well sorry folk, that's not part of reality! Schools are weighed down by too many rules and regulations where the rights of the disobedient, disrespectful students carries more weight and authority than those students who want to work, and those teachers who genuinely love their job.

To those students reading these posts.. You're probably not the problem either. If you're taking the time to read this rather than be on any number of social networking sites bullying you peers, chance are you are one of many individuals who teachers would love to have in the class, but whom we can never pay the right attention to, or help inspire or educate you, as we are too busy dealing with the miscreants. Your names are the hardest to learn because these days more time is spent on classroom management than on education.

Once, teaching was about teaching. Within the secondary education system, I would be expected to teach English skills. Now, I'm required to teach social, emotional and cultural values one used to get from home. The media is saturated with stories of children who harass others and how schools need to develop bullying and cyber bullying policies... How are we supposed to police cyber bulling at home? How are we supposed to teach students about these values when discipline at home no longer exists?

Schools can't do everything and teachers are burning out because of the expectations placed upon them by their schools, their students, the community and society.

I get to work at 8am, work until 4:30 even though my last class ends at 3:30. I do this 5 days a week. I also attend morning briefings and after school meetings, some of which regularly go until 5:00pm. Then I go home, and plan for my classes or correct work I have forced students to hand in by keeping them in a recess or lunch - which effectively means, I have no had a lunch break.
How may occupations are there where employees DO NOT GET A BREAK? You might respond with: "But that's your choice", but when it's part of the student management policy, no, it''s not our choice. Parents.. would you be happy with a teacher who responded to you that they didn't keep your misbehaving or lazy child back at lunch to do the work because the teacher wanted lunch?? How would you then react your child was told they were staying down a year? Whose fault wold it be then??
I spend my weekends trying to find new ways of engaging these awful children... any kind of way which may settle them for a period, and which will allow me to work with those individuals who truly appreciate the work that teachers do.

I am tired of the notion of teaching society has created.. and its is because of this, that I HATE TEACHING.

I feel the pain as I read your article.... I think the world over is having this problem. With many couples having only one or two children, these kids are really like little emperor... and getting accesss to media so easily... these kids know their rights.... and as a society gets more developed and educated somehow even the most traditional oriental family seems to go "western" as being an updated household... also when you have a dual income household.... there's this guilt esp with the mother and they tend to pamper the kids with gifts, money, psp, anything and everything.... discipline, values... I am not so sure.... but demands on academic performance tie in with monetary rewards... X-box.. PSP... is common among some of these families. The kids gets lots of tuition to help them perform too. And... a number of my acquaintances left the teaching job with the public school.... they go to tuition centres instead... and that's good... you negotiate on the numbers of hours you want to teach... the best place to go is Learning Lab. They pay well ... of course parents are demanding. English teachers are in demand.... so long as you have the necessary qualification.... teaching diploma etc. All the best... Good Luck!

Hi. I'm a student and I really understand how you feel.
I feel that students need to be taught values at home before coming to school.
Example, Parents should teach their children that being rude in school is wrong and why is it wrong. They should not just say its wrong and not give an explaination. Children would feel why is it wrong. Parents should punish their kids if they have done something wrong and not let them scott-free. So what if the school has punished the kid? What the school did was probably give the student a demerit point or gave the student detension. What did the kid suffer? Nothing. But the teacher has been humilated in front of the whole class. I feel that the school should give talks on educating their children and make sure all parents attend the talk esp if the kid is misbehaving in school. All the more the school should make the parent attend the talk.

Seriously, teaching sucks big time. What's all that BS about making a difference, inspiring the students, changing lives and moulding the future. They are all crap. I'm bonded to the most ******up ministry that never fails to include ''failure to comply will result in disciplinary actions taken against you'' in their letters. I see elderly teachers in classrooms being abused verbally by students 1/5 their age. I witness how teachers gossip and backstab fellow colleagues behind closed doors. And HODs think their chocolates and thank you cards are enough to make up for our OT spent for stupid, extra, redundant school events/activities, created by stupid pple so that the TOP will get credit for it. And what is it with students these days? Why are they so addicted to PSP, card games, handphones and not realising that all these gadgets are no-brainers. The words they mutter are senseless, they talk rots and thinks the whole world owe them a living!
I'll get out of this meaningless, draining, low-life cycle once my bond is up! Don't get fooled by those airy fairy teaching adverts: Its just a cover up.
I'm already making plans for my next career move :D

I hate working with incompetent jackass who dont know what they're doing and calling it teaching. I hate working in a school district and a school where administrators have no control of their budget, community or pupils, who only cares about testing scores and data. i hate working for an education department who have no clue. I dislike parents who wants to be their child (ren) best friend and disciplinarians. I dont hate rude, arrogrant, disruptive, lazy, pathetic, annoying, disobedient, wild, airheaded, smelly, noisy students, i only dislike their behaviors and the way they smell. changing careers to teaching was my biggest life's regrets. and any opportunity that becomes available for me to leave this profession, I'M TAKING IT!

I'm with you.....But what else can we do??

well i believe that a majority of the parents are not carrying out their own responsibility of raising their own children by disciplining or coaching them. if anything goes wrong, they BLAME the teacher. these paresnts are not fit to be parents - truly.

I didn't want to teach but seeing that a teaching scholarship would help my family through the last recession, I took it and went off to NUS. Then dutifully completed my PGDE.

I taught for all of 5 years and gave up when I realised that I do not believe in what the MOE is preaching. I now work in a non-profit organisation, and I work with children. I'm happy even though I make about 1/3 little less than I did as a Civil Servant.

It is true that teaching is hard. It is true that it's a calling. Yes it's also true that sometimes the students don't appreciate you, but really most times, it's your bosses, the parents and the Ministry that suck most. I hate dealing with the adults more than anything.

Hi I'm a student here, I didn't know teachers really hated us that much! I thought teachers were just pretending and doing it for the sake of getting the class to do their work when they tell everyone how stressful a job it is.

I definitely appreciate my teachers more after reading the several complaints! BTW I do agree there are some teachers who don't know what they're doing, I have a math teacher who doesn't even know what a proof is. We asked her for a proof for something (I can't remember what now) and all she did was do some substitution. (I suppose you could call it verification, but it certainly was NOT a proof!) Imagine just subtituting x = 1/2/3 degrees into y=tan x and claiming that y is therefore valid for all values of x! What a stupid teacher.

But there are some teachers I've had in the past that I still think about all the time and about how much I miss them, so if it's worth anything, there ARE some students in your classes that do think of you a lot! (If you're a good teacher that is.) By the time you're teaching middle school/ high school your students would have been learning for more than five years, they can tell who the good teachers are and who the bad ones are.

A good teacher is:
Someone who knows what he's teaching and isn't just smoking his way though (I get this A LOT with literature teachers, of the past 4 teachers I've had at least two were just pretending to know what they were talking about.)

Someone who tries to make sure even the weakest students understand. I'm not the weakest student in class but you can tell a teacher really cares when he/ she does this.

Someone who understands his students' limits and doesn't make them learn a bunch of stuff in too short a time period (i.e. don't expect us to have the time to study the textbook at home and know everything in class without you teaching it at all, I know some teachers do this and guess what, you might think it makes us independent learners, but we don't have the time and it DOES NOT WORK.)

A teacher who can show that he REALLY CARES FOR HIS STUDENTS!

Teaching Blows! It's no longer enjoyable and the expectations for the students are unrealistic. We are training these children to be dependent on others for the rest of their lives!!!

I just can't give it up. I feel it in my soul, but I'm so desperately frustrated and depressed by the situation. There are so, so, so many needy, needy children. There are so, so, so many unappreciative and degrading parents. Everyday is like going to war and every night I find myself searching for new answers, new ways, something to make it work. It's living hell. As a child I was magical with children. When I work with small groups I can make children learn, imagine, think, and reason. My large classroom presents so many social problems, behavioral problems, and needs - that I'm lucky to get through five minutes of learning. My school is so deplete when it comes to management or organization, that it is survival of the fittest. I've been fretting for hours tonight over the state of things and just think, with a positive environment, I could have put those hours towards positive work. Thanks for giving me a forum to vent.

I love this site. I too hate teaching on so many levels. I must admit my students don't do half the misbehaving they do in other classes but they still get on my nerves. Administration is a joke. They gave up years ago and couldn't find careers outside of teaching so they became teacher abusers. Half of my coworkers are old and burnt out (clueless that they suck) and a fourth are young and arrogant (they will quit or burn out within 3 yrs). I use to take it all so personally. I even quit once. In the end I came to the understanding that the system sucks, I can't fix it, I love holiday pay, weekends off, afternoons free, and regular pay. At first I never used these perks to do anything but work, volunteer, and plan. Heck. Now I leave work at work. That peace with how things are make me a pretty darn good teacher. I don't really enjoy my job but I do a good job teaching middle school math. I also try to remember that I can't find a job in other fields. I have tried. It taks so long to retrain. It is what it is. Double S, Double D. Same Sh**, Different Day.

These comments that I am reading is getting extremely worrying. I am a parent with school-going kids. For those who are in teaching, please, do yourself and the kids a favour and change your jobs!

Teachers have families and bills; we can't just quit our jobs. I think most of us would love to do something else. Sometimes we have to do what we don't want to do because we don't have a choice. That's a lesson that I wish parents would teach their kids. Then maybe I wouldn't hear, "When am I ever going to use this in life?" It drives me berserk. I just want to say, "You won't because you will probably be receiving a welfare check in a few years just like your parents!"

All of us? Why don't you parents get rid of the 5, 300 lb. donut scarfing, assistant supers draining the coffers for their huge paychecks - people who have NEVER taught in a classroom, and people who spend all of their time pretending to analyze data that we are faking since we are busy doing our REAL job - helping your kids. That's my district.

I agree. I am a very supportive parent who spends nearly every night working with my kids because time management skills and creative thinking are so lacking in elementary school that my kids mostly do work at home. The teachers send meaningless, repetitive assignments that have little learning value, for which my kids are penalized and criticized if they lose or forget a few problems or a period at the end of a sentence, or gawd forbid, forget at home. If you do not love teaching, and the kids and parents that come with the job, leave. Flip burgers, sell real estate, pump gas, learn to clean teeth. I do not care what you do. Just get out of my life and my child's life. If you are miserable, I surely do not want you anywhere near my child, where your lack oc fulfilment can warp his/her optimism, curiousity, love of learning and of life... not to mention ruin my evenings and steal all of our family time with meaninless crap.

Family time?????????? I wouldn't know what that is since I've thrown my whole life away on teaching your kids. And by the way - we don't pick the homework, the lesson plans or the materials any more. See your administration if you have any concerns.

I challenge you to walk in the shoes of a teacher for one day!! You cannot assume anything or judge anyone until you have walked a mile in their shoes lady! So before you speak go volunteer your time in your child's school or try homeschooling your kids. I'll bet you wouldn't last one week!!!

Exactly - and then YOU go flip some burgers, lady. UNBELIEVABLE. What we need is a reality show where people like her can go do it for a year - for REAL and see that isn't cut , paste, and color any more. It is HELL. -And not really the kids - but the administrators who have never taught at the levels they're in charge of. Have fun at the BS data team meetings.

You know what? I agree with the other teacher posters here - it's not the teacher's fault! How would you like it if you went to work in your office but none of the equipment wanted to work? But you still had your deadline. Then you go to your boss but he wont do anything about it? But you still have your deadline. Then you jerry-rig all your computers and try to have them print something meaningful out - but it wont? Too bad, deadline. You talk to tech support about the faulty equipment that they made - they blame you for not working with it right. You miss your deadline. You get fired.

Now take that analogy and apply it to teaching. We have students with bad attitudes, who are disruptive, having learning disabilities (and often parents who wont do anything about it), we have inept administrators who cut back our resources but require us to meet higher standards (no new books or curriculum, no prep time, less pay, more hours, more students, less resources) and we have parents - who by and large either dont have time to take much note of their child's behavior or believe their child does no wrong and wont work with the teacher.

Of course the teacher always gets blamed. And its sad but true but its not educational theory or teacher training that is lacking...its discipline at home. If the kids behave well, act well, the teachers then have a chance to finally (gasp) TEACH! Instead of constantly squash out behavior problems all day.

So Mrs. high-and-mighty-parent if you think your shit doesnt stink and you can do a better job...then please try! (I've seen parent volunteers in classrooms - they're usually fried out after an hour, lol).

Otherwise S.T.F.U. Or, even better, discipline your kids! Teach them to respect their elders. Make them do their homework. Teach them manners. It's your job to do this. NOT OURS.

Sorry, but no. I do love teaching, but I do NOT have to love all of the sub-morons that walk through my door nor their moron parents. Fuck that. Don't like it, tough, it is getting harder and harder to find teachers. Not that this is an excuse to slack on my part but the job is getting harder and more thankless with less pay every day. So, suck it up and realize, teachers are NOT the enemy, it is the emotionally retarded sacks of apathy that we teach and their horrible parents that lie at the heart of the problem.

Wow. your contempt for your "clientele" is deplorable, and your language and grammar actually worse. Get a grip. Get a new career. My guess is that you keep teaching solely to torture those you are sworn to serve. That sounds like sadism to me. Watch out.... you may just waste your whole life that way.

Do us all a favor and make sure your idiot kid knows how to behave. I have only been teaching for four years and let me tell you something, for all the bad admins and all the bad students, its YOUR fault we hate our jobs and have so much stress. Oh sure, maybe not YOU but parents. I have seen a decline in four very short years is behavior, desire, manners, everything. They suck and it ALL starts with parents. I can teach a dog to whistle but that does not mean he can learn. I can teach your moronic monsters all day but it does not mean they want to or are even willing to open their minds and learn.

This is my 21st year in this field. I agree with you and find it VERY telling that you and the other newer teachers in my district feel this way so soon. It is a life sentence, and you will ultimately regret it. It is very very tough and I can't believe I got caught up in it. If the nation's CEOs hadn't ruined our economy I would be looking for a dog grooming job. But - no jobs out there folks. I am going to sacrifice all to get out of this in 4 years. Good luck, try to keep your hours low and views in perspective. Don't give them everything. Find ways to survive. Take very good care-

I'm just as frustrated as the rest of you. I do enjoy it some days, I do generally like the kids (I teach elementary) but the parents can be abusive and ridiculous and the administration doesn't support us. The parents are wealthy so they assume all of their children are brilliant (far from it.)

But the worst part is the principal. She has no tact and is aggressive. She also picks favorites and treats only some people kindly...the rest are treated like the scum in her little pond.
Mine has made me cry many times (and I usually never cry about anything!)

This is my 10th year, but I don't know how much longer I can last. I'll keep truckin for now.
Peace.

I came in this profession with enthusiasm, hope and lots of energy. This was my dream job for as long as i can remember but then i got hired as a teacher and it all changed. I agree that parents and the admin suck out all the joy of teaching out of you and that's why many older teachers are depressed and indifferent towards the children and this job. I love children and care for them as if they were my own but slowly i'm learning that to get by in this profession you just shouldn't give a damn. The stupid parents come to school every other day to complain about small ridiculous things and they treat you like you work for them. After a dozen of this insignificant solvable complaints, you just go crazy. you are scared to try anything new with your teaching and think that the old fashioned method of teaching our parents had was the best. I've been teaching for 6 months and i've never felt this crummy in my whole life. i cry myself to sleep every night and wonder what i can do

It's so refreshing to know that even on the other side of the globe, teachers understand what I am going through!!
Education in schools is failing students for several reasons:
1) Society is changing - that is, family values, level of respect for Professional people, stucture of families (eg. blended families, shared parenting, etc.);
2) Expectations on teachers are growing which are beyond realistic;
3) Welfare issues and students social values (many of which are learned outside school)are significantly affecting their ability and willingness to learn;
4) Parents and caregivers of students are not able and/or willing to support schools in their endevours to support their child's learning.

I see education as a failing system as it is presently constructed due to a number of social and structural factors. Please don't see it as a failing on a personal level - that somehow you are unable to fulfill ALL your teaching requirements (revelation = no-one can!!!). So where does this leave our poor students? It is really disheartening to think they are the ones getting such a raw deal:(

Thanks for mentioning the kids. I am a hard working - volunteering, supportive parents and most of these comments are appalling. Thanks for thinking about how teachers' job dissatisfaction affect our kids and by association, the parents.

I love this forum....because I hate teaching.

I'm okay with my students, even when they're grumpy, don't participate, etc. HATE lesson planning with a wild hot passion, HATE grading, writing tests and quizzes, and HATE how teaching sucks out so much of my personal time that I'm just a zombie. I am not superhuman! And I've only been teaching for one semester! Doing it to ride out the economy and then will see what else is out there for me.

Yes, teaching sucks. This is my 23rd year and I wish my life away until retirement. I remember feeling like many of you my first few years and can only say I wish I had gotten out then. The hell with money, go back to school, live with family. You'll be old and tired too soon. Run away fast. Staying in education has been the biggest mistake in my life.

I enjoy teaching BUT Just NOT HIGH SCHOOL. This will be my 2nd year as a HS teacher before then I was teaching elementary which I like much much better. I'm dreading it already about going back this needs to be my last year as a HS teacher. I promise myself that...
I just need to make the best of it this year... and pray alot..

I am - you. And you are right. It's a shame. I'm wishing my life away as well and have never been able to enjoy a family life, no hobbies, no anything because education takes all.

Thanks for the honesty, I see my life unraveling this way regarding teaching so I'm getting out after my 10th year. The economy sucks now but so be it. I'll be poor and happy rather than just making it and miserable.

Whatevr would be the view of the people but teching is extremely respectful and a profession which requires a lot of patience and understanding the behaviours of the children to bring out the hidden qualities of the kids so that' they would not only become a good human beings but a person with the knack of responsiblities towards his society and towards his country.
live roulette

Like our students you obviously didn't listen and learn much in school. Proof read! You much also not be a teacher.

You sir are an idiot. Take your own advice.

Two quarrelsome idiots. hahaha!

I'm sorry, but the 'save what you love for the holidays' theory just doesn't hold water anymore. The stress of the term time is not worth it! I am a NZ teacher and I would agree with previous posters: the impact that trying to teach has on your social and emotional life is just not worth the holidays. I too am contemplating 'getting out' at the end of the year, and wish I could compartmentalise my life in such a neat cut and dried way so that I could switch off, but numbing out like that is no way to live, and the holidays never compensate for the stress and self-recrimination of living like that during term time. It's a shame, because I think that some amazing people choose to be teachers, with so much to offer children, but (also, as mentioned before) a lot of these people are also extremely sensative people who take on board the issues of their children and just too much responsibility, and it leaves you feeling like a shell. So you have this option of hardening up and stepping back, having a life, but beating yourself up because you know it's not the best you can do, or just accepting that you will have no life, and secretly becoming more and more resentful as you feel your own personal well running dry at the expense of feeling like you've made a difference. Trying to compensate for parents lack of parenting, or conversely psychically defending yourself from the quirks of overprotective parents who expect so much while at the same time hover overprotectively over their child, waiting to trip you up when you don't give full credence to little Johnny's every need, even though you have at least 20 other students whom you are expected to give the same level of care to. Then there is the endless PD, the paper work, meetings etc. Some days it feels like you are standing on the edge of a bottomless pit, and just pulling it out of yourself and throwing it in. So self preservation and guilt, or giving and feeling bled dry are the dishes you choose between. Not very appetising. I thought that Anonymous Coward was a bit schitzoid, then realised that that is the default for commentary, but just wanted to discuss one comment directed anonymously towards Sianara, which basically said she/he was not teacher material and that they were selfish. Well rebutted, Sianara, how dare someone make such a pat judgement call on your particular situation, but you fielded it well. To comment so offhandedly makes me think that particular person has no inkling of the selfdoubt and guilt and feelings of failure that many teachers, myself included, got through in coming to the conclusion that they would like to start making an exit strategies. You are hating it, but you have good days, you don't want to let anyone, especially not the kids, down, but the good doesn't outweigh the bad, and it starts to crush your soul. You have holidays, which realisitically usually involve at least some initial collapse into exhaustion, some down time where you enjoy the fact that you are not having that usual running commentary through the back of your mind about what you have to do for whom, and then that build up back into class, planning, lesson prep, resource making etc. I fell into a three week depression at the start of our new year after the summer holidays, I just didn't want to be there. The poor kids, I know they deserve better, but you just get to the end of it, no more to give, and I realised that there has got to be a better way. Anyway, enough said, but it has been a comfort to know I am not the only one. I look forward to a year of deciding what my plan B is going to be, and training my way out. Good luck everyone, I hope you find something that also makes you feel happy, free and useful.

Yes, - Save it for the holidays doesn't work. It is so dehumanizing that it takes me all of June to recover. That leaves July - big deal. And - to all of the parents out there - if you add up all of the unpaid hours we work - it adds up to 80 (minimum) unpaid days. Summer is 60 days in the U.S. What vacation?

PS: and sorry for the lack of paragraphing...mark me down ;)

I hate hate hated teaching -- and I never even started! Right from the beginning of student teaching, I could tell immediately this would be a terrible job for me. It's so frustrating to love kids, want to have a meaningful impact, and have worked so hard for my certification and degree... and then hate it. Ughh. So now I'm about to start subbing (still gotta pay the bills) but meanwhile I will keep developing my freelance writing and editing business. I'm already an outside contributor to an educational publisher -- that seems like it would be much more enjoyable as a full-time job. (Too bad they're not hiring!)

Anyway, even though the economy is in such a wretched state in the US, there are other opportunities out there. Educational publishing, children's publishing, tutoring, and corporate training are a few of the routes I've been pursuing. Or, if you can't leave your job now because of the slim pickin's in the job market, take college or online courses in the summer or part-time in another field you think would suit you better. Personally, I'll be taking technical writing and journalism courses, and hopefully I'll wrangle up enough credits for that English minor I wish I had finished.

Please don't do what I did -- don't let other people make you feel inadequate or incompetent because your career choice wasn't right for you. Some other career out there IS, and I hope you don't waste time finding it! Good luck to all of you!