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That article hits it on the nose--if I retired today I would be bringing home more money than I am working full time.
farewell to the baby boomers
I don't work for the money, or for the few extra dollars I will make by staying longer, I am working because I really love what I am doing. Most of us 55 year olds are staying for that same reason. We are leaving, not to get more money but to get away from a system that is abusing us and abusing children. Kids are being forced to learn things they don't understand, and will never understand or need. Classrooms are over crowded. There are no meaningful tutoring programs and the system keeps piling on more and more tests. Older teachers are being harrassed. The schools only want the young ones who are earning a much lower salary and will jump as high as any admin tells them too.
We are just tired of the BS. WE are tired of being fought every time we want to do something to help a kid. We might as well take the money and enjoy our lives.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
pissed-off teacher on why we are losing experienced teachers
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6 comments:
I feel honored to be quoted--thanks
In the budget crisis that California faced in the early 1990s, tenured faculty at the UC system were offered generous early retirement packages. Because of the way that the pension system was tabulated separately from the other elements of the state budget, moving the cost of the profs into that pot "Saved" millions.
Which professors do you think took the opportunity to leave?
In retrospect, the answer is clear. The professors who left were the ones who could do something else with their lives: they started startups, invented new technologies, became consultants, wrote books, etc. The ones who took the risk were the ones who had the confidence, the talent, etc. to leave the public sector behind. Sure, they had a safety net, but waking up every morning wondering how you define yourself is difficult for many of us.
This is the same problem in the lower grades now. The talented teachers will leave because they have the skills and confidence to take the risk, try something new, define themselves as something else. The ones left behind will be the most insecure, the most dependent on the system.
Ed was a tenured professor at UCLA when they offered those packages!
As I recall -- I'll check -- the people we saw leave weren't people who went into private industry.
I meant to add to this post (or write a second post) saying that I suspect we're going to see private schools pick up these teachers.
One of the moms here sends her kids to a Jewish school nearby. Two of the math teachers are retirees from NY state. One taught at Bronx Science, I believe. The other is "Math Dad," the dad here in town who could have taught at our school if the district had been willing to pay him what he's worth.
We visited Dalton and met their computer science teacher. He may be around age 70; he retired a couple of years ago AND THEY LURED HIM BACK.
They gave him a part-time position just to have him back at the school.
Public school districts do nothing to keep stellar retiring faculty.
I imagine "Pissed Off" is correct; there are probably plenty of cases where these people are pushed out. I don't know how widespread the young-and-compliant phenomenon is, but my guess is that young-and-compliant is a prized quality.
pissed off
ditto!
I'm always grateful when teachers comment. We've talked about this before -- for parents & the wider public the schools are a black box.
OK, I've got the lowdown on some of the people who retired.
The people we know who retired did one of three things:
a) devoted themselves to what had been a sideline (e.g. a historian who was also a psychoanalyst became a full-time analyst)
b) probably joined a D.C. think tank (this was a v.p. in the U.C. system - Ed's not sure she went to a think tank, but she did go to D.C.)
c) one took a major job in another university and continued writing books
d) wrote books and textbooks, which they had already been doing before taking retirement
Early retirement for the people we knew basically freed them from teaching duties. They were already writing books.
As far as I can tell just about everyone is retiring here. I've just heard that the middle school's superb middle-aged science teacher will be gone next year.
I haven't seen a distinction between "deadwood"-types staying and stars leaving (not sure about this at the h.s. level, but it's true in K-8).
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