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A Broader Perspective on Teacher Shortages

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Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Photo credit: Bloomberg News

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

There have been several articles recently on this blog related to the looming shortage of teachers in Virginia. This is a legitimate, and serious, concern.

The tone of many of those articles has been that one of the primary factors behind so many teachers leaving has been the breakdown in discipline resulting from the adoption of “progressive” policies favored by Democrats. For an example, see here.

There is a major fallacy in this argument: the teacher shortage is nationwide, in all areas of the country. An article in today’s Washington Post leads off featuring drastic steps being taken by Florida, Texas, and Arizona to deal with significant shortages of teachers in their states. The leader of the Florida Education Association described the situation in that state as “dire.”

Those three states are led by Republican governors and legislatures and are in no danger of being labelled “progressive” or “woke.” Obviously, there is something going on that is larger than any changes instituted by Virginia Democrats over the last two years.

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32 responses to “A Broader Perspective on Teacher Shortages”

  1. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    Obviously, there is something going on that is larger than any changes instituted by Virginia Democrats over the last two years.

    Thank you. You make a valid point. Do you have an idea as to what that ‘something’ might be?

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      It is a very hard job that is poorly compensated, and no longer treated with the high level of respect that was typical decades ago. College graduates almost always have other choices, far more choices than say when my wife was making career decisions 50 years ago, or my mother 80 years ago. My wife left the public system in her early 50s and switched to a private school, getting a significant raise and starting her VRS pension at that point, too. Between the two her pay was finally what it ought to be.

      I can remember debating fools in this comment string years ago who thought it was a cakewalk job, short hours, long summer breaks. Most had no idea that doing it well involved 1) far more hours than the traditional 2,080 put in annually by other workers and 2) personal spending on supplies to a level no other profession sees.

      1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        That pretty much sums it up. I would add interference by politicians.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Was there a time when public education wasn’t the target of political interference? They should be used to it.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            Probably not.

        2. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          Agreed, but of all ideologies.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Most of which appear in this very blog.

          2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead

            For 27 years it was pretty much like this:
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhd7FfGCdCo

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            “Agreed, but of all ideologies,” Conservatism is the regression one.

            There. Better.

      2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        Somehow, Covid seems to have changed the mindset of many in the profession. I have a nephew who gave it up after like 8 years. Maybe they got a taste of a more civilized and balanced life and decided to give it a try. If so, this is likely a blip that will fade as new teachers come up to fill the gaps…

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Did you not post a cartoon just this week showing the difference in target, 1960 and today, for parental ire over a failing grade?

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I don’t think I posted it, but I remember the cartoon.

        And I think the “blame shift” that it illustrates may play a part in teachers’ dissatisfaction with their jobs.

  2. vicnicholls Avatar
    vicnicholls

    Student discipline.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Parental arrogance and laziness. I had many moments like the husband of the teacher berated by Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” times I wanted to go find the jerks and punch them out.

  3. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
    YellowstoneBound1948

    This is not my field, but I suspect that the problems in Arizona, Florida, and Texas reflect (1) the massive migration of illegals into these “border” states and (2) the wholesale flight of Americans fleeing the northern states.

    When my family moved to California in 1956, the nation was still obsessing over the Golden State. We moved to Modesto, where rapid growth left the school district with too few classrooms and too few teachers. To address these shortcomings, the schools in many school districts went on “double session” for two years. I was on the 7 A.M. to Noon shift. In effect, the school had two student bodies, but only one set of teachers. The teachers taught both shifts!

    I really wouldn’t expect teachers to teach two shifts now. There is just too much destructive behavior in our schools to ask a professional to teach ten hours a day in the middle of the maelstrom.

    Perhaps restoring parent-teacher relationships would be a start. In the 1950s and 1960s, the PTA’s role was vitally important. I don’t see that now.

    But, I digress. Learning, and love of learning, begins at home, but I fear there is very little of that. There is nothing in the culture that suggests to me that we are a “learning” people.

    Public education — one of the Nation’s cornerstones — is on the precipice. We talk about it, but in the end, we don’t do anything.

  4. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Dick, you make a legitimate point — that teacher shortages are a nationwide phenomenon — which requires an answer.

    I would respond as follows. First, teacher shortages are much worse in high-poverty Title I schools than other schools. Aside from dropping out of the workforce, teachers are fleeing from “bad” schools to “good” schools. The “good” schools tend to be those where disruption, disrespect and threats of violence still are minimal. The “good” schools are more likely to have students from families where middle-class norms are still inculcated.

    Second, equity-driven wokeism, which has contributed so much to the collapse of discipline, especially in high-poverty schools, is national in scope. The ideology permeates most state educational establishments, starting with schools of education, teachers unions, and national professional associations, regardless of which party controls the governor’s mansion or the statehouse in a particular state. Moreover, many of the disastrous policies pursued in school systems were pushed by the federal Department of Education and backed by ACLU lawsuits.

    So, yes, the problems are national in scope. But they originate from the same ideology that has been implemented, to varying to degrees, in virtually all states without regard to the party in power.

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      “Must stick with the narrative…!! Must force this square peg into this round hole…!!”

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      even in GOP-led states like Florida and Texas?

    3. ARL Avatar
      ARL

      Just can’t admit that far right focus on parental approval of learning plans, book banning,… is a potential contributor can you? (Fixed)

      And I agree with your two points as being contributors. IOW, as said above, it comes from all directions.

      1. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
        YellowstoneBound1948

        The usual shrill accusations and conclusions Stay out of the way, ARL. You are not part of the solution.

        1. ARL Avatar
          ARL

          what is your solution then?

        2. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          nothing shrill.. just plain facts..

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Okay. You win.

        I admit that the …focus on parental approval of learning plans, book banning… isn’t a potential contributor…

        PS – One must not be uncareful when one chooses the path of the double-negative…

        1. ARL Avatar
          ARL

          true that

      3. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        Parents weren’t focused on learning plans and book banning twenty years ago because the schools taught straight subjects like math and history and nobody would have considered putting a graphic gay sex novel in the school library.

        Liberals have attempted to seize control of the schools and transform those schools from academics to indoctrination centers. The parents are resisting and the teachers are caught between the liberal, social justice activists and the upset parents.

        1. ARL Avatar
          ARL

          I’ll disagree and say it’s not that simple and it’s not a recent thing. Some have always been focused, banning books like the Harry Potter series, but the “banners” have been whipped into a fervor. Partly justified as you describe as pushback, but graphic gay sex novels are the extreme and you know that.

  5. Super Brain Avatar
    Super Brain

    Most professions are short staffed except journalism, law, and politics.

  6. Bubba1855 Avatar
    Bubba1855

    I have been hearing about the teacher shortage for over 50 years. Haner makes a good point that I think is very relevant. Historically women have been our secondary ed teachers. For the last 20 years at an increasing rate college educated women have more employment opportunities with higher pay than school teachers. Just my opinion, not backed up with facts…sorry.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      My wife was basically told by guidance in HS, reinforced by her parents, that teaching was the only path. Three of her younger siblings followed the same path. Had her excellent brain for math been nurtured at a young age, then a career in tech, I’d have been living off her higher salary for 40 years. 😉

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        She was probably told “Girls don’t do math,” too.

      2. Bubba1855 Avatar
        Bubba1855

        I ‘nurtured’ my daughter’s gift for math in high school. she got her BS degree in math and has a wonderful job as a civilian employee with the Navy.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Which is a wonderful and better place than teaching unless one’s heart is in teaching. Good teachers don’t do it for money but they can be run off by things besides money.

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