In the news, there has been a lot of talk about people leaving the teaching profession or not enough people wanting to become teachers. A surprising number of 55% of educators are seriously contemplating leaving their profession. According to the National Education Association survey, 86% of teachers said they have seen their colleagues leaving teaching since the start of the Covid pandemic. This could lead to a shortage of teachers since fewer students pursue the profession.

Teachers were once seen as the leaders of their community. They were looked up to for their intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom. However, now it’s getting harder and harder for teachers to find the respect they deserve.

“I feel like a lot of people think teachers’ jobs are easy but it’s not, it’s hard to teach kids in a way that efficient and gets them to listen to you,” said Sophmore Alyssa Colucci.

In countries like China and Malaysia, teachers are seen as being on par with doctors. In a survey by Varkey Foundation, the survey measured where teachers are most valued, unsurprising the US was ranked 16th out of 35 countries. The people surveyed were, students, teachers, librarians, social workers, local government officials, and many more ordinary people. However, teachers in the United States think that their status is lower than the public thinks.

“I think that teachers are respected but there’s a small group of people that think being disrespectful is cool and ruin it for everyone,” said Sophomore Janae Murray.

Every student has seen teachers being disrespected. It’s not a one-time occurrence where someone might have had a bad day, it happens all the time.

What do teachers think?

“For the most part absolutely, I think students respect us in terms of knowledge and listening to our subject matters, however, there are times that I think they forget we have to be authority figures and follow rules,” said librarian Mrs. Caldwell.

It is hard for some students to understand that teachers aren’t friends, They can be friendly but at the end of the day their our authority figures.

“I feel respected by students. I don’t think a lot of people get paid enough, I think that we pay people for what we value in society,” said History teacher Mr. Mohan.

Teachers don’t get paid much and it’s very easy to have teachers become scapegoats when problems arise. If people don’t like something they’ll come to the teachers first, and usually blame them for their troubles.

“I think overall teachers are respected, I think there’s a small percentage of kids that are disrespectful no matter who they talk to,” said Physical Education teacher, Mr. Basilicato.

Teachers are deciding if they should even teach because of the unnecessary disrespect they receive. When it comes to a reason why educators quit teaching, it comes down to low salaries, poor working conditions, unrealistic demands, abuse, and a low wage are only the tip of the issue.

“Teaching is like swimming upriver, it’s a good exercise but sometimes you get swept by the current,” said English teacher Mr. Goebelbecker.