“That’s when I felt my insides turn dark and realized I was officially done. I left that day and never returned.”

Unfortunately, this shouldn't be surprising news. In 2022, K–12 teachers were reported to have the highest burnout rate of all professions in the US. Similarly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 300,000 public school educators quit between February 2020 and May 2022.

Note: This post contains mention of violence, abuse, and suicidal ideation.

"I refused. They then asked me to create lesson plans for both classes while on maternity leave. The union at least backed me on that and said it wasn't my responsibility. 

My child almost died inside of me, and they could not care less. I work for the district now."

"We were expected to be at school from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. with no breaks except for a 20-minute lunch period. During that time, the kids got 10 minutes to eat and even less to play. 

To any teacher trying to convince themselves they haven't found their stride: Save yourself the heartache. No job should do this to you."

"Admin was never supportive when it came to misbehaved students, so I never sent kids to the office. Instead, I'd find ways to meet them where they were at, and for nearly most of my career, it worked. I may not have gotten them to be productive students, but we built a relationship. I loved that part: the relationship building. 

However, we eventually started doing 'student-led' conferences because we felt unsafe having one-on-one meetings with parents; we needed others in the room. When teaching was great, it was magical. When it got bad, it was physically and mentally taxing. Unfortunately, the highs were not enough for me to stay."

"I still really missed those kids and cried for weeks after. The school even admitted to giving me a hard group. Later, I saw that they rearranged the room the way I wanted — I was told it couldn't be done — from PTO pictures on Facebook."

"I just retired earlier than I had planned. Admin is scared of parents. Parents don't parent and believe every story students tell them. Students don't learn how they used to, and cheating (via computer) is rampant.

Also, the hoops we have to jump through and the money we spend to maintain our license are ridiculous. Paying $1,500 for a grad course is a lot on a teacher's salary."

"The lack of compassion of parents and administration made me leave."

"Now, I work a mindless job for more money, and I will never go back to teaching ever again."

"I also had a student who would get physically aggressive with me and his classmates. No one on the administrative team would do anything about it. My AP even told me he was 'above her pay grade.' 

So, yeah, I'm done. I've started working part-time for an edTech company that appreciates my work. They know I'm looking for full-time work but know I will milk my school district for every penny and use them straight through my maternity leave. Then, I'm leaving."

"This all happened in a Title I school. That same week, I found a long-term substitute job in a more affluent district. It was a great way to end my teaching career. The common issues I experienced at my Title I school wouldn't fly in the suburban school.

Students from high-poverty backgrounds act out because of what they experience outside of the classroom; I know that. But understanding the causes of student behavior didn't make it any easier to live with."

"I went straight home that day and searched for 'admin jobs near me.' Three days later, I interviewed for a job in health admin. I started a few days after that and never looked back. My pay went down so much that for months I existed on tuna and rice, but I still never regretted walking away."

"The kids don’t even care about school anymore. Never again!"

"I wish it could've been the candy and rainbows of igniting a love for learning, but the reality was really different."

"So I called his mom in (and had to stay an hour later than normal to meet with her) to present her with the evidence. Most people would find it pretty convincing. She just turned to him and said, 'Did you cheat?' He, of course, denied it. Then she looked at me and said, 'You say he cheated, he says he didn't. I don't know who to believe.' I got up and left right then.

"Parents are the reason most teachers leave the profession. They tend to make the teacher the enemy quite often. Plus, they don't want to acknowledge that their child can be a little shit."

"I spent less and less time teaching and more and more time filling out meaningless forms, responding to emails, and sitting through meetings."

"We even had multiple lockdowns — once when they found a drunk/high girl in the bathroom and another time during a drug raid (staff cars were also searched). On top of this, multiple public threats were made against staff online. I was not a target, but the lovely kid who made them (yes, from the active shooter threat) was in my seventh period. 

"I also spent $500 in two months buying supplies for my class labs. I stopped counting after that. (I did attempt to write off my expenses on my taxes, but the standard deduction was a bigger write-off than itemization.)

"During that same year, my younger son had special needs diagnosed, so I decided being home was in everyone's best interest."

"I lasted 15 months. The only thing that makes me feel a little better about the situation is that the retired cop who replaced me only lasted three months, and he had​ been an officer in the same city in which I was teaching.

"Now I'm an application coordinator for a large hospital. I help manage the patient charting program we use and fall under the IT umbrella. I had no idea I'd end up where I am, but I'm so happy. I'm still helping people, but in a more indirect way, and it's far less stressful on both my mind and body."

"I was once told I shouldn't do so many lessons where discussion between students was required. No more Socratic seminars — there had to be more 'material that could be graded.' How fucked up is that? I can't encourage discussion in an English literature class because I can't grade the kids on it. Don't even get me started on quantitative vs. qualitative. Teachers are being held accountable for students who 'don't improve' regardless of anything else. Jimmy doesn't come to school for three months because he's fucking off and then shows back up and fails the midterm? That's on YOU, buddy. You should have taught him better for the two weeks you had him at the start of the year.

"I eventually got tired of the constant hurdles and stupid state requirements. People said, 'Yeah, but you get a pension! Unions! Summers off!' So the fuck what? I'm in corporate now, and I make $31,000 more than I did teaching, with a yearly bonus and a matching 401(k) with profit sharing. And bitch, please, I never had a summer off. I worked two jobs to make ends meet from June to September. Most teachers do.

"What kills me is that I loved teaching. I loved my students, and I was good at what I did. I was good at encouraging kids to take risks with their learning, and I didn't penalize them for making mistakes. That's how you learn. You don't learn shit from multiple choice, and you never will. I miss my kids. I miss watching them go from hating a piece to being eager to discuss it. Even my lowest-level students could show me something, even if it wasn't on paper.

"It wasn't my students that killed my love for teaching — and I did have kids throw chairs or get into fights or tell me to fuck off. All of that? That was doable. I did it. The stupid, useless requirements, the idiotic state testing, the abysmal pay for the hours and hours I put in — that killed my love for teaching. And it's killing plenty of other young, passionate educators. I miss my students. I miss everything about teaching when I was allowed to teach. Now? It's not teaching. If you want to teach, get into higher education or a private school. Do yourself a favor and stay out of public education in the United States. It doesn't exist anymore."

"I bought a CD and changed vocations. Voilà, my whole life changed. Most administrations will not back any teacher who bucks their school system. This is a fact, not an opinion."

"I was crushed. It literally broke me. Six weeks to get less stressed...how does that even work? I found myself just showing up to show up, and I realized that wasn't fair to me or the kids.

"Six weeks later, I got a call back to the office. I was congratulated on the amazing turnaround and sent back to class. I was baffled. I was more upset and stressed than ever, and they congratulated me...?

"More and more, I showed up to work just for the paycheck. One day, I just decided to screw it. I wasn't a teacher anymore, I was a robot fearful of showing any negativity; I quit that week. I've never gone back to teaching."

"I'm not being gaslighted for not 'loving the kids' enough. Work stays at work. No one emails after 5 p.m. I clock out at 3:30 p.m., and I have an extra planning period. All the work I used to have to take home can get done at work now. I don't feel like I single-handedly need to save every kid in my classroom. Here, the school believes in working with families, and the families support the teachers.

"Are there issues? Absolutely. I don't have internet throughout the building, and I don't have my fancy smart board. Hell, I don't even have electricity in one classroom. But it's so much better than it was."

"Once, I even observed a kid — who I knew had to be a psychopath — convince a first-year student to steal a phone. That student got caught and sentenced to 10 days in juvie, while the psychopath walked free."

"I had literally no time to myself with all the work that went into it, not to mention the extreme mental load. You constantly have to be on your A game with plans B, C, D, and E in case things don't go according to the lesson plan (and they never quite do). I am thankful every day that I left."

"I'm working in another field now and earn more than twice as much with a fraction of the stress, better benefits, and a vastly more civilized and respectful workplace. Teaching is overrated, underfunded, and a political and cultural scapegoat. No one wins."

"I loved my coworkers and the majority of my students, but I couldn't handle that abuse anymore."

"I didn't want a dull existence where I poured all of myself into my job and had nothing left for us. I loved teaching, but it wanted all of me — dawn till midnight, seven days a week prepping, marking, and planning. I quit. 

"Since then, I've gotten a better job. I earned my PhD and am an academic now. Great hours, great work-life balance, no job security — the total opposite, basically. Next year, I'll probably try for a new job somewhere in the middle. Better yet, I married that amazing guy, and we have an amazing daughter. On weekends, we go to the park and play.

"*FWIW, teachers drinking with students is unacceptable. I mentioned that I considered it as evidence of how unhinged I was. No sane person should consider doing something so stupid."

"I'm glad I'm free, and I'm working to find jobs in my new field for my teacher friends."

"Without all the extra work outside of the classroom, my anxiety levels have significantly decreased."

"Still, I love my kids and speak to many of my former students."

"Evolution is real. We've known that for a very long time."

"The incident with the knife happened in this after-school setting where the kids go to play and have fun. Apparently, another kid had done something he disliked, so he was kicking and spitting on him when I pulled him away. 

"He ran straight to the drawer and found a little kitchen knife. Due to his size, it was pretty easy to wrestle out of his hands, though, so no harm done."

"The school called the police and tried to have me charged with assault."

"Funny thing was, both of those kids liked me, and I sincerely doubt they would have intended to hurt me, but unpredictable stuff can happen when lots of pointy carbon steel is flashing about. 

"I eventually went into financial services. I still have interesting encounters, but generally nothing as potentially deadly, unless you count death by boredom."

"I've had friends cry after the superintendent called them out for a drop in their students' test scores. That day, I simply couldn't take it anymore. I'm very ashamed about how I left, and it's been seven years. I miss teaching terribly. 

"My husband also makes a good living, so I am very lucky, as one could never survive on a teacher’s pay alone."

"We will always be the ones to blame for everything, and it is not fair. Everyone has a responsibility — parents, the student, administration, and us, of course — but it's not fair that we get all the fingers pointed at us when things don't work."

"I left the school saying it was a break, since it was so early in my career, but I’m never going back. The average time teachers stay in the profession has been three to five years too long. The education system needs a huge overhaul, and fast, if they want to mitigate the shortage and keep good teachers."

"I had to come in early every day to knock the cockroaches off the walls so my little kiddos in wheelchairs didn't have to go to school like that. I also often picked up mouse droppings and carcasses and tried my best to clean the floor. You know those big floor buffers they use in public schools? We never had one of those, so the floors were revolting and perma-dirty.

"I even brought food for my students because the school lunches were so god-awful, and I knew that was possibly the only meal they were eating every day. I also bought baby wipes because many of the kids never had showers.

"Furthermore, I spent a ton of time reporting child abuse. Kids would come in with obvious signs of abuse, and some teachers were also abusive. My paraprofessional cut a child's finger off by slamming the door on it (on purpose). Our school psychologist was taking some kids home over the weekend for 'therapy.'

"However, the nail in the coffin was when they had to close the school to disperse the gang of teachers who were accusing the administration of abuse. It's almost impossible to fire a teacher in NYC, so this was the only thing they could do to separate the teachers into different schools. I couldn't find another job because everyone knew about the reputation of my shitty school.

"The worst part is that it is 'normal' for District 75 schools (special ed) in NYC. All of my friends who worked in the D75 schools had the same sorts of issues. They're dumping grounds for the neediest kids and for the worst NYC teachers. These kids often had nobody advocating for them because they were in the foster care system, their parents were on drugs or abusive, or their caregivers were incarcerated. They were just stuck in these horrible environments. 

"At some point, you decide to save yourself, which is what I did. I'm still traumatized by the entire situation and often worry about the kids. I became an expert in autism Intervention and now work directly with adults with ADHD. I 100% would never go back to working in any school."

Dial 988 in the US to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386. Find other international suicide helplines at Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org).

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-44531-800-422-2253 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.