69ý

Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

Would You Tell a Student to Become a Teacher? It Depends

Opinions are divided on the messages we send young people about the teaching job
By Mary Hendrie — December 18, 2023 3 min read
Illustration of Elementary school teacher in his classroom with a textured gradient effect applied
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Whether educators would recommend the teaching field to newcomers is more than just a reflection of their own satisfaction with the job; it’s also a question that can have serious implications for the future teaching pipeline. And, earlier this school year, it was a question that sparked fresh discussion on social media. When Larry Ferlazzo’s opinion blog post “Would You Urge a Young Person to Go Into Teaching? What Teachers Say” was shared on Facebook in September, it triggered a substantive, .

If you had to boil down many of those comments to just two words? “It depends.”

Though some commenters jumped in to answer the headline with an emphatic yes or no, many instead reflected on the highs, lows, and in betweens of their profession—nuanced responses that some singled out as a critical approach to preparing future teachers for the job.

“I love teaching, but I have long discussions with my students when they want to be teachers because they need to have realistic expectations in order to be happy,” wrote . “Going in with a romanticized idea of teaching is part of what leads to new teachers leaving so quickly. I want them to know the positives and the negatives as well as how I find personal joy in it. I want them to be able to find joy in the classroom if they do become teachers.”

For students who do answer the call, some may find that the profession has changed by the time they join it. That was the experience of 5th grade teacher George DeVita, who reflected earlier this year on his parents’ teaching experiences that he had seen growing up—and the very different world he found when he joined the teaching force as an adult.

“Now an experienced educator myself,” DeVita wrote, “I have witnessed an unnerving transformation of the profession. Once brimming with passion, creativity, and innovation, the colorful canvas of teaching has been replaced by a sterile landscape of rigidity and disillusionment.”

In fact, educators themselves widely worry that daunting professional demands are keeping the next prospective class of teachers from signing up. In a recent EdWeek Research Center survey of principals, teachers, and district leaders, a full 90 percent of respondents agreed that the high demands on teachers are making it harder to attract people to the profession and retain them.

Despite these challenges, some current teachers still take a rosy view of the profession that the next generation of teachers will find when they enter the classroom. In another popular Larry Ferlazzo opinion post, “Ignore the Negativity. Be a Teacher,” four teachers made their best case for the career.

And it’s not, as former teacher and principal Sharif El-Mekki cautions, a matter of just encouraging or discouraging students but actively modeling for them what empowered teaching can look like. “How we teach students is also how we present the profession to our high school students—classroom instruction is truly the primary recruitment ground for future teachers,” he wrote earlier this year in his essay “‘Never Get Into Teaching’: The Message We Need to Stop Sending 69ý.”

It’s a big responsibility: The actions we are taking today, he reminded readers, will shape the teaching talent who walk in the door a decade from now.

However, that recruitment message may not be reaching every student. Writing in The Principal Is In opinion column last month, El-Mekki returned to this topic, recounting his own delayed journey to the classroom, a career that often fails to invite in Black boys and young men. He himself was well out of college before a trusted mentor nudged him onto the teaching track. “Meanwhile,” he noted, “I’ve heard stories aplenty of white women who received the proverbial tap on the shoulder from the profession as early as 3rd grade.”

Related Tags:

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Teaching Profession The State of Teaching Why Teachers Likely Take So Few Days Off
The perception coincides with teachers' low levels of job satisfaction.
3 min read
survey teachers static
via Canva
Teaching Profession What the Research Says The More 69ý Miss Class, the Worse Teachers Feel About Their Jobs
Missing kids take a toll on teachers' morale, new research says. Here's how educators can cope with absenteeism.
4 min read
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year.
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. Now research suggests the phenomenon may be depressing teachers' job satisfaction.
Brittainy Newman/AP
Teaching Profession Will Your Classroom Get Enough 'Likes'? Teachers Feel the Social Media Pressure
Teachers active on social media feel the competition to showcase innovative lessons and beautiful decorations.
5 min read
Image of a cellphone on a desk.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession New Findings on Teacher Morale Highlight Ways to Make It Better
A new College Board survey on teacher morale echoes some previous findings. But it also highlights opportunities for schools to improve it.
4 min read
A student raises her hand to share her work with her teacher.
A student raises her hand to share her work with her teacher.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed