And it's that kind of tone that's just really disheartening to teachers. Basically this whole thread ... think about it ... you're getting paid far less for your degree than you could get outside of education, doing a very thankless job in many respects dealing with difficult child management issues, and then on top of it are constantly criticized as being the problem with America (teachers and the education system are usually the scapegoat for everything). Then citizens rally for higher standards and mandated curriculum, so you lose the fun of actually creating instruction for your students. You become the TA, delivering specified lessons.

Who would want a job like that?

A major research study recently came out in the top journal in education (American Educational Research Journal) that said the top two reasons for high teacher attrition are salary and a lack of respect for teacher professionalism. This thread showcases both of these things—not just you, everyone on this thread!

I'm just pointing out that if you really want to improve teacher turnover, you either have to 1) pay them more or 2) respect them more and grant them more professional autonomy. Those are two major levers for most professionals, and the same for teachers. Right now we're pulling both of these levers down in our society, and that's why the teacher shortage is getting worse. The numbers in the BYU teacher education major is down over half. HALF! Smart kids don't want to be teachers anymore, and I get it. So the terrible teacher shortage we have in Utah? It's going to get a whole lot worse.