A “teacher rant” posted on YouTube a couple of weeks ago addressed the question of why teachers and other workers in the educational system are abandoning the profession in droves. Estimates are that between September and October 2021, 65,000 people left their jobs in education. In October 2021, there were 575,000 fewer people
in education than in February 2020. Additionally, fewer people are willing to work as substitute teachers, meaning that some school districts are closing for the day because they are under staffed. These shortages aren’t just in the classroom. Across the country, communities are dealing with a shortage of school bus drivers. Although the governor of Massachusetts activated the National Guard to drive the buses, one district ended up cancelling classes for the day because there still weren’t enough drivers to shuttle students to school. The lack of drivers even forced Seattle, WA schools to cut 142 bus routes from their system. School cafeterias are also severely under staffed, with the Arlington, TX ISD reporting 167 open cafeteria worker positions. The staffing problems that school districts are experiencing are the result of a variety of issues that can be better understood with sociology.
When sociologists consider major demographic shifts in a society, we examine the factors that motivate people’s behavior. Theseinclude push and pull factors. While typically these key terms are used in the discussion of immigration, they are just as effective in the context of this topic. Push factors are the conditions that encourage people to leave a situation. What are the conditions that push or encourage people to leave education? The Covid-19 pandemic is the most obvious push factor. From the challenges of teaching online, to the fears of being infected in the classroom, many teachers decided that concerns over their own mental and physical health outweighed their love of the profession.
Another push factor is the pay for the amount of work needed to successfully do the job. The average starting salary for teachers is around $40,000 per year. That may seem reasonable until one considers that the typical teacher works 11 hours a day, and much of this work is outside of the classroom and therefore uncompensated. While one could counter with the argument that teachers
have summers off, much of the school year preparation actually takes place during the summer. In addition to time costs, many teachers purchase their own classroom supplies, with the average expenditure being around $500 a year. The salary issue is such a concern that according to Pew Research, one-in-six teachers have a second job to make ends meet. For years, the San Francisco ISD has considered building public housing for teachers because the cost of living in the city far outweighs educator salaries. These factors combined with student (and parent) behavioral issues, gives one insight into what is pushing people away from education.
What are the pull factors or the conditions that encourage people to relocate, or in this instance change their profession? Salary is at the top of the list. The average school cafeteria worker earns $10.00 per hour. By comparison, starting pay at Amazon is $18 an hour. For teachers, earning a higher salary means you only need to work one job. It also means that you don’t have to deal with the stress of students, parents or administrators. This combination of factors helps pull people away from educational careers.
From a sociological perspective we often think of education in terms of its role in the transmission of knowledge, skills and values and beliefs from one group to another. Part of students learning includes the hidden curriculum, the unintentional education of student in the ideals and ways of being in the society. Given the current state of the educational system in the US, one cannot help but wonder what unintentional lessons students are learning about the value of education and educators in American society.
This blog post provided by the co-authors of SociologicalYOU (Sixth Edition), a digital NextGen Introductory Sociology textbook engaging students in critical thinking to “Connect Sociology and YOU!” For more information, contact Support@SociologicalYOU.com.
