Is being a teacher difficult?

Hi Kyle,

I'm a teacher myself and can help answer your question. As with any job, being a teacher has its ups and downs. Some find it more difficult than others. Here are some items that some teachers can find challenging:

• Difficult students- Some students like to challenge the teacher or be disrespectful for attention. It's important to set the standard high on the first day of class. Of course, if you have a difficult student, you will only have them for a semester or a year. It is important to not treat their work any differently even if you don't get along with that student. You also have to have a lot of patience and learn to guide them out of their disruptive behavior.
• Underpaid - Many teaching positions do not have competitive pay for someone with a 4-year degree and special licensing. This is a common complaint among the profession in general. Strikes and demand for change has begun to change this, but will likely need more push to correct salaries to a more competitive pay. Here is an average teacher salary state-by-state http://www.nea.org/home/2017-2018-average-starting-teacher-salary.html
• Teaching restrictions- Standardized testing has put a limited scope on what teacher can and cannot teach in their course. This simultaneously provides structure but also limits creativity and exploration. This can be a big weight on teachers who are evaluated from their students' test scores.
• Not much privacy- It has often been said that you "teach in a bubble", meaning that you are always being evaluated either by students or other faculty. Some teachers don't mind, but other do not like the lack of privacy.
• Grading- It can be a little overwhelming when you have a stack of papers to go through and grade. This can get to be a big task especially when you have a large class size and a lot of classes. Work piles up quickly and you're expected to grade on your own time.
• Large class sizes- Sometimes, you are expected to teach 25-35 students at a time. After a certain number (generally being 20) it is hard to get to know any of your students and the class becomes impersonal on top of having EVEN more work to do.

The actual teaching part, when you are up in front of the students is the best part, in my opinion. It can be a little scary at first because you have so many eyes on you. If you picture it like you are really giving your students the treasure of knowledge, and then it is wonderful and not so scary.

These are a few common things that teachers can find difficult about their job. You have to weigh what is important to you and what you want out of your career and what you want to put into it. Of course, I only talked about the difficulties because that was what you asked. There are many upsides as well.

Hope that answers your question!

Best,

Emily