We are not even a full month into school yet.
However, I'm already seeing it. I can see it on faces. I can hear it in voices. It hurts me to see my coworkers, my friends, my husband, struggling to make it through a day sometimes. If you are in a career in education, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Burnout.
Choosing to work in a field where your every move is micromanaged by people who have long since been out of touch with what is happening in classrooms is daunting. Every single day there is a new worry, a new frustration. The workload gets more rigorous, and the payoff is much less rewarding.
Teaching is hard. You're not just a teacher. You are a counselor, role model, mediator, and sometimes the only person a child can trust. You are responsible for the lives of so many and your every decision can either make or break a situation. There are no breaks, no downtime. The work follows a teacher home. So much money for the classroom is spent out of pocket. These people, who we are entrusting with our children, are leaving this profession in alarming rates. I can see why. It's just too much sometimes.
I always hate the argument that teachers have a "break" over the summer. Friends, let me tell you, there is no break for most teachers. Many, many weeks go into setting up the classroom, reviewing curriculum, coming up with ideas, schedules (and the list goes on and on). For some, there is no income for weeks. Still by the time school starts, magically everything is in place.
Somehow, even when things seem hopeless, most teachers will still keep coming back to the job. To most teachers it's not just a job. They do it for the shy student who is just starting to come out of their shell. They do it for the child who just needed that little bit of encouragement to finally ace their multiplication facts. They do it because teachers are on a different level in regard to kindness, patience, and perseverance. Their dedication to their career is admirable.
Teachers, even when you think you aren't being seen or heard, know that you are. You are the cornerstone of society. I could not imagine a world without these remarkable people. Burnout is real. We need to be asking ourselves what we can do to help these people who are so imperative to our lives? If we viewed teachers with more empathy, compassion, and understanding and toned- down the entitlement from parents and students, I truly believe we would have a more harmonious balance.