Let's get real -- it’s a hard sell to be a teacher these days.
The low pay, increasing responsibility, pressure to fix the pandemic, and now, parents accusing teachers of pushing politics and social opinions on students.
Why would you sign up for that? Well, students aren’t.
"We have a really hard time recruiting for it and we're paying nearly their entire tuition and fees to come to this program and it's been a real challenge getting people to see this is a field they should enter," said John Romig, who teaches education at the University of Texas at Arlington. That’s a special education scholarship he was talking about that he just can’t fill.
Out of all the kids coming to college campuses each year, the number willing to study any type of education is dropping dramatically.
"Aside from pay, I would like to see an effort to value teachers, and it seems a lot of the politics as you mention aren't valuing the expertise teachers bring and not valuing them as experts, but more like day care workers," said Romig.
Whether public, private or charter, teachers are making little money, are overworked, and responsible for fixing years of learning loss in our most prized possessions. So, many teachers are retiring, walking away.
Carter In The Classroom
Focusing on unique things school districts are doing to help children succeed.
Yet, Emily Hernandez and Alessandra Cisneros are some of the few stepping up.
"Ever since I was five that's always stuck for me. I was the kid who was like, 'let me write on the whiteboard. I want to be a teacher,'" said Hernandez.
As part of their senior year, they got to student teach, in an actual classroom, and they’ve seen the struggle.
“There's been many teachers I've seen cry, break down and cry, but for me, I still want to do it. I want be there. I want to be there," said Hernandez.
"It's because we love them we want to be in this field. you have to love kids, to be in this field because if you don't love kids at all you're going to be miserable," added Cisneros
They hope to build back relationships with parents and be a part of the change to repair the pandemic.
"I want to be that support system for those students. I want to be the person to not only teach academics but be there mentally physically emotionally for those students," said Cisneros.
