A report published by Education Week on March 7, 2012, concerns itself with the results of a national survey sponsored by MetLife of the American Teacher. According to the results of this annual survey American teacher job satisfaction is at an alarming low point. Only 44% of teachers nationwide indicate that they are very satisfied with their work, down from almost 60% in 2009. This downward trend is more disturbing when considering the fact that 29% of teachers indicate they will leave the profession in the next five years. Almost a third of teachers nationwide say they experience a lack of job security due in part to the stressful conditions of the profession.
This decrease in professional satisfaction may be due to the overall economic conditions and the resulting cuts to education budgets nationwide. As resources and teaching manpower shrink to all time lows at a time when accountability measures have peaked at unrealistic high levels, it is no wonder that those most impacted would be experiencing some degree of stress. As class sizes increase at all levels due to reduction in force initiatives there appears to be a strong correlation between the changing conditions in America’s classrooms and the associated decrease in professional satisfaction by teachers. I would suggest that this cause and effect relationship is likely to extend itself to administrators and support personnel as well.
According to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the budget cuts and “demonization” of American teachers by politicians and media figures are major contributors to growing professional dissatisfaction. The national frenzy for “tax relief” in the name of reform is a direct attack on public employees and institutions like public schools. Politicians grab at gimmicks like charter schools and privatization to the very detriment of public schools in the name of saving tax dollars. The unintended consequence to the actions by high profile political personalities may result in the permanent undermining of American public education.
Teaching is far more complex than one can imagine who has never set foot in a classroom. It is a pure blend of art form, passion, common sense, nurturing, skill, content knowledge, motivation, and inspiration. The increasing demands placed upon the institution of public education have not been matched with dollars and resources to match. In fact, the school calendar and length of the school day has largely remained unchanged in the past century, in spite of a technological revolution and doubling of the world’s information base every two to three years.
It is enough of a demand that American teachers are charged with differentiating instruction in our classrooms to meet the needs of an exceedingly diverse population, but now we are asking them not just to teach America’s children but to raise them as well. The institution of American public education may just be at the breaking point. If political forces have the day, they will starve American public schools of the necessary resources needed to accomplish a rather formidable task. Given that teachers perform millions of small miracles each day in American schools, it will be a dark day for our nation’s schools if politicians manage to strangle the lifeblood out of public education: the financial resources needed to keep her alive.
