6 Comments

Teachers are burned out yes, but perhaps a better characterization is that they are demoralized - meaning the way they want to teach (a way that is best for kids) is made incredibly difficult to nearly impossible given the oftentimes dysfunctional system in which they are operating.

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Demoralized is a good word for it, Jared.

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Must admit I am borrowing, (ok stealing), this framing from education researcher Doris Santoro. Her book Demoralized, resonated with me so much it inspired me to dedicate a chapter in my own book about this perspective and how to overcome this unfortunate reality.

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Yes! I have to say, even the 21% raise my union won couldn’t counterbalance the stress and workload of teaching. I still left the classroom.

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Thanks for sharing that, Lauren. It's tough. Redesigning K-12 teaching to look more like a college workload could help - but would likely be quite expensive. I worry that moving toward AI/tech-facilitated learning will be the answer - and the implications are problematic.

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You’re probably right re AI. And yes, having an effective education system that doesn’t exploit its workers IS expensive. But it’s something to fight for!

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