40 Wholesome And Funny Notes From Teachers That Prove Educators Are The Best

A good teacher might inspire you and change your life forever. A bad teacher might give you self-esteem issues you may never get over. But students and parents rarely think about what teachers have to go through. The reality is that teachers are overworked, emotionally exhausted, and criminally underpaid.

According to the National Education Association, 53% of U.S. teachers reported burnout compared to 39% of working adults in other professions. Teachers say they work about 49 hours a week, but it's not all just in the classroom. They also have to plan lessons, do grading, and perform other administrative tasks that result in 10 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

Considering that they're shaping future scientists, politicians, and artists, teachers definitely don't get paid enough. On average, teachers earned about $73,000 in 2025. That's a slight increase since 2024 and is projected to go up the next year, but only in states where collective bargaining is required. In states where it's prohibited, teachers earn about 27% less.

Low salary is the biggest stressor for the majority of American teachers. Other sources of job-related stress that teachers mention are administrative work outside of the classroom, supporting their students' mental well-being, working overtime, preparing standardized tests, and political issues and opinions intruding on teaching.

When you think about all the stressors that teachers experience, you might think: "How can they keep up with such a demanding and difficult job?" Well, many can't. During the 2023-2024 school year, 22% of all teachers in the U.S. wanted to quit their jobs. The 2024-2025 school year was slightly better, with only 16% of teachers considering leaving their jobs. Still, so many stressors take a toll on our educators, and they stretch themselves too thin trying to address every student's needs.

There are some factors that can contribute to teachers staying. One of them is appreciation from students and their parents. A 2024 study of 1,069 German schoolteachers found that teacher well-being and job satisfaction increase the most when they feel appreciated by students, colleagues, parents, and school leaders. Appreciation from administrators, policymakers, and society contributes to better mental health outcomes and fewer quitting intentions too, yet it has a smaller impact.

Parents may think that the high level of stress that teachers experience might be something they have to deal with on their own. However, research shows that teacher burnout negatively affects students, too. "Considering that classroom teachers can take on many roles for elementary school students, including mentor, role model, and parental roles, it is possible that spending most of the school day in interaction with a stressed and burned out teacher is taxing for students and can affect their physiological stress profile," researchers of a 2016 study note.

Sadly, fewer and fewer young people are choosing teaching as a career. According to a 2024 study, the perception of the prestige of a teacher's profession has fallen between 30 and 47% – almost the lowest in the last 50 years. In 2010, only 38% of high school seniors and college freshmen wanted to pursue teaching. By 2020, only 5% of college freshmen said they wanted to become teachers.