Why are there so many unhappy older teachers ?

Question

I have found that percentage of older teachers are unhappy in there job. I have seen more and more teachers taking there crap(yelling) out on the students. All I can say to my kids is that it is not them it is the teacher. There's good and bad.( My kids are taught to respect there teachers and are good students)

I have a daughter that is a teacher. I have close friends that are teachers. I have be very active in the classroom (in class help,donations of money and school supplies ect. each year for each teacher)And I have to say that my children have had some really great teachers.But if you don't love children you should not be teaching!!!!!!!

Answer 1

It could be burnout, but I suspect that it could also be related to the fact that they aren't as in charge of waht they are allowed to teach anymore, or at least the methods by which they teach. It can be very frustrating if you are not able to do what you do best. I remember back in the 80s we had activites like "Field Day" where everyone in the whole school competed in games, and "Kite Day" where all the 1st graders got to make kites and fly them. These were great activities to boost self esteem, camraderie, exercise, and teach school lessons with different, hands-on experiences that stick better in your mind even if you don't do better on a standardized test.

On the other hand, you have to admit that the kids today simply do not show as much respect today as we did, and we certainly didn't show as much as our parents did in the 60's. Older people expect to be treated as superiors, which they are. Instead too many parents just sit the kids in front of a TV after school or ignore the incessant shouting and screeching and running around and general brattiness when in public.

Good for you that you are teaching your kids how to behave themselves. Maybe some other parents will see your example and follow it.

Answer 2

When I was a substitute, I got alot of crap from the students...which sometimes is expected when the students have a sub...I know a few classes were extremely horrible ( one child told me she hopes I had a miscarriage **I was 8mts pregnant**)
The teachers told me that the students were like that even when the teacher was there. More and more students each year are not respectful towards their teachers... They think they can get away with anything. If the teacher is not stern or come across as mean...then the students wont listen and run amuck...They are just trying to put order in the classroom and sometimes that is the only way to do it. Some older teachers may think the that A) they dont get paid enough to put up with most of the students crap. B) They have to be tough on the students because if not then the students will run the classroom and not the teacher. and times have changed alot probably since they started teaching. I was brought up to be respectful towards my teachers...my mother is a teacher, so is my sister and one of my aunts and my grandmother was a teacher then a principal. They still probably love teaching still, but not all students are respectful. The students can be cruel.

Answer 3

I've been teaching for 20 years, and students are getting progressivley worse when it comes to respect and behavior. Apathy is overwhelming, and it's not just the students - it's the parents too. Often when a parent is called in, he/she will blame the problem on ANYONE other than the student, which means their child is never forced to take responsibility for his/her own actions which, consequently, leads that child to think everyone OWES him - owes him a grade, owes him respect, owes him a living, owes him a car, etc. Many parents are PARENTS anymore - they want to be their child's FRIEND - Older teachers are just fed up with the crap they take not only from students but from parents.
Then there's paperwork and "accountability." The No Child Left Behind (and "No Teacher Left Standing") thing that forces teachers to take up more and more class time with non-learning activities such as four to five standardized tests a YEAR. oh, yeah, AND we (in West Virginia) are REQUIRED to teach multi-cultural education and character education (I suppose since the parents don't/won't) do it at home. My theory is, if a students has no character or values by the time he's in 9th grade, he's screwed, and I can't help him!
There are lots of other reasons for grouchy teachers, but I'll bet those are the biggest reasons!

Answer 4

I read the answers and saw that a mojority of the people who responded are also experienced teachers. I'm not going to add anything that different...
some of us who see retirement soon are also seeing the size of our pensions, when we were young and innocent the amount wasn't bad, now we need a microscope to see the pension.
Families have had a much higer rate of disfunctionality over the years. I feel nostalgic for the students of mu first years of teaching, even the monsters of then would be better behaved than the majority of students now. I even remember when drug issues were the student that wanted to go to the nurse for a headache pill and took too long.
I remember when the family values that some politicians rant about were something that families gave their children, not something that teachers are expected to foster in the school.
I'm glad the questioner has taught her or his kids respect.

Answer 5

Why are there so many unhappy older teachers? Pay perhaps? Disrespect of students AND parents? The incoming graduates who are more versed in technoprotocol than basic teaching principles? Ever have to learn something quickly, proficiently, and skillfully? The information age has brought with it an expectation to keep up with the pace. Never before were they expected to learn keyboard, software programs, internet DO NOT GO THERE sites, computer technology and application, AND teach within their given subject areas. This of course is in addition to more lax moral standards that allow divorce, abortion, and single parent homes...and the problems or issues attributable to those situational conditions. Trying to learn to distinguish between Attention Deficit Disorder and simply did not rest well enough to concentrate in class. Trying to determine the underlying reasons for extreme or outrageous conduct...AND provide enough lecture to justify their reason for being there.

I do not know that older teachers are unhappy...I do know that teaching is a challenging profession irregardless of the educator's age.

Answer 6

If this is your personal study, then perhaps it is your own perception.
Are you speaking of elementary, middle or high school?
Inner city schools?
Do you know anything about the NCLB act?
Are you familiar with salary scales for today's teachers? (No one wants to pay taxes, but they demand the best schools and the best teachers.)
What do you know about technology integration?
Are you a member of the PTA?
Are you interactive with your own kids or do you expect the teachers to raise your children?
There are too many variables here - and to be honest, your generalizations are disturbing.
I have worked in elementary schools and I am currently teaching undergraduate students - there is a huge difference in those environments.
Get involved with the school and find out if there is something systemic - don't just make these accusations or judgments based on what you believe to be true based on what your kids are telling you.

Answer 7

Sometimes it's the teacher (poor vocation choice), but many times it is the stress, harassment, disrespect and over the top regulations that take what a person loves to do and eventually turn it into an empty feeling of being used/trapped. I was a para for many, many years and just got burned out. Love the majority of the kids, but other things got to be too much.

Answer 8

I think that it has a lot to do with recent philosophical changes in what teachers are responsible for and what kids bring with them. More and more, teachers are becoming responsible for parenting students as well as educating them. Kids today also bring with them many social issues that really didn't exist 30/40 years ago.

Answer 9

So tell us - how is it that you have seen "more and more" of such behavior? Are you a certified classroom monitor, employed to observe teachers' behaviors? In order to be such a monitor, you'd have to be a teacher yourself in order to understand the teachers' methods.
Or are you telling us you're an uncertified, untrained busybody who really hasn't any business nosing into teachers' classrooms without specific permission from the teachers and school administration, but who stands about listening to idle gossip, improbable speculation and heresay? How do you KNOW what you suggest is going on, actually is? How many of your kids' classmates' parents agree with you? Where did THEY get their opinions?
And how do you get yours? From your kids, who of course have reason to distort what they tell you about their day at school when they've gotten into trouble, isn't that right?
Tell ya what: whilst my father was a teacher, any parent who had concerns like yours was ALWAYS welcome to call, make an appointment, and come in to talk about it. The same is true today in every public school in the country: you got concerns, get in touch and go talk them over. You're right: some people in teaching should not really be there - but we're NOT ABOUT TO dismiss or disclipline teachers merely on the basis of idle speculation. Bottom line: put up or shut up!

Answer 10

Hello.

I can't speak for other people, but I am in my 24th year of teaching, and I am happy as a clam in warm water! This has been my favorite year of all (and I work in elementary school.)

Think about it - is it just teachers, or older folks in general? But - that's another lesson, isn't it.

I could write more, but I think I've given you a lot to think about in this comparatively short response. People of ALL ages need to be happy, don't they?