30 Teachers Shared What The Last Straw That Led To Them Leaving Their Job Was

My decision to quit was a two-step process: First, I taught high school English in rural Illinois. When I wasn't debating students after class because they didn't like the B+ I gave them I was frequently given implicit instructions by the administration to pass my failing students. Then I moved to Washington DC and taught in the DC public school system and realized that I was merely a babysitter. Barely any of my students could read, but the goal of my school was containment. Priority was keeping the students in the classroom and not in the hallways. I was told I couldn't assign homework because the students wouldn't do it anyway. I couldn't give my students any text books because the students just dumped them in the trash after school. (If kids are seen with books in their neighborhoods they were often ridiculed and sometimes beaten by their peers.) Parent/teacher conferences often meant meeting with Grandma whose parenting style was "Jesus will take care of it." When I was in college I had dreams of teaching Julius Caesar to young people. Teaching turned out to be quite different. I have huge respect for the teachers who can do it. I could not.

No me but my wife. She was an engineer at a good company on the east coast. Left because she wanted more rewarding work. Soon after she is doing clinicals at a school on the rough side of our home town. She was the kind of student teacher who showed up early, ate lunch with the kids, stayed late, and followed up with parents. Anyway....

Some months in she has repeatedly had trouble with some students (they came from troubled homes and brought a lot with them into the class each day). She tried working with them one on one, working with the administration, and the parents. More than one set of parents said "Stop calling." And the administration told her to send them to the principal's​ office (where they could sit all day) and focus on the "good" kids.

Eventually, the futility set in.... She was the only one who cared. Not the kids, administration, other teachers, or even their parents. She finally wore herself out after a couple years​ with no support at work and no one appreciating her efforts (except me of course!).

She's back in aerospace now.

Where I realized that I couldn't even escape teaching in my dreams; my life was so focused on teaching that every night I had nightmares about it.

Followed by the pain I feel in my chest from heart palpitations; my heart would constantly race and then stop all together.

Finally, when on the last day of Thanksgiving break, I realized I had cried every single day because I didn't want to go back to school. I was so low that I had planned my own suicide to get out of teaching, but I figured life had to improve if I just quit teaching, even if I'd be another unemployed millennial statistic.

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 3 (he had​ been an officer in the same city I was teaching).

Currently teaching- just the sheer amount of lesson planning during the evenings and weekends definitely encroaches on your free time. Man I wish I had just stayed at the corporate gig.

My aunt used to teach, planned a whole years worth of lessons over the summer and then two weeks before term started said she was actually teaching completely different classes.
She told them to do one and quit.

So a while back I was a permanent sub for a German teacher in the area I lived (she went on maternity leave). And in this German class I'd also talk about geography and what not. So anyway, near the end of the school year, I was talking about how Berlin...

"Wait wait wait... Berlin's in *Germany*?! I thought it was in Europe!"

It was at that moment, that I realized I failed as a teacher.

When I tried to have a conversation about literature with the head of my department and got a blank stare in return.

I taught English.

Doing my PhD now and am surrounded by faculty and students who are significantly more engaged.

I'm 16 and my mum is a 4th grade teacher. She's been struggling with mental health issues for a long time and this year has been particularly rough on her. Her school has a new principal and he's been a s**t head so the union and administration have been duking it out. He class is apparently the worst, and she's afraid to send kids to the office for fear she will be seen as incapable.

If she didn't have 2 dependables (me and my sister) she's probably either be dead or working minimum wage

I don't know why I'm sharing but I hope that helps someone

I've aways had this fantasy that I'd teach college after I "retired" or got sick of corporate life..

I've done a lot of public speaking and am comfortable speaking in front of large crowds so when a Dean of a local university invited me to teach a class I was like "cool"..

Did all class prep and whatnot and enjoyed the class.. but I hated having the next class hanging over my head.. I'm more of a bursty project person.. Go all out.. Accomplish goals.. Clear your desk... Take a break.. rinse and repeat but this teaching gig felt like a grind and , as I was adjunct, def wasn't worth the time and energy for the s**t pay.. So after the semester I quit..

The university invited me back to speak and asked what my speaking fee was..

My single night of speaking paid the same as being an adjunct for 1 semester..

I have a real passion to teach social studies. I graduated from one of the best teaching schools in my state with a 4.0 and great letters of recommendation from my student teaching supervisor, my cooperating teacher, and the head of the history department. What no one told me was that since social studies aren't on standardized tests those jobs are seen as nice "cushy" jobs for people who don't really want to teach and instead want to coach. I'm a small nonathletic woman who has never played sports. Every school I applied at ended up hiring a coach, not a teacher.

Now, while those students have wonderful coaches, they go on hating history and social studies because they have c**p teachers who drone on and on and then give tests.

I substitute taught for about two years and really loved my school: the students, faculty, and staff. Subbing was awesome there, I had great relationships with the kids, they loved to have me as a sub in any subject. But it didn't pay the bills and with student loans I had to quit. I basically gave up on ever working in that school that I loved or any school really.

Now I work in private education. I meet with students after school and help them catch up on things they're behind on. It's solid pay and great benefits but I really miss being in a classroom.

Edit: Most every school (thankfully) tends to have at least one really awesome Social Studies teacher. I'm really happy so many of you had a positive experience! I myself had one teacher like that in 12 years; she inspired my course of study.