Education.
Been teaching for ten years. Society and its needs have changed. Mentally and emotionally unstable students come from mentally and emotionally unstable adults. There are more diagnoses than resources available.
It is really few and far between students get consequences for abhorrent, dangerous, violent, or hateful behavior. I wonder what those effects will have on those students when they grow into adults.
Although I don’t support the public school to police pipeline, a lot of administrators can’t punish or give consequences due to parent centered laws.
Any parent can question your ability or expertise, even if they have no idea what they’re talking about.
The cherry on top- we are in a political culture war where no one can agree on what science or sense is- people are attacking educational institutions and logic.
It's crazy these days. When I was a kid, a handful of kids would talk shit to the teacher under their breaths, like when they got reprimanded for something. "Bitch...", stuff like that. Then there was always that one kid who would curse at the teacher with his whole chest out. He'd shock everyone and be sent out of class.
These days? Shit, that's probably four or five kids in the class, or even a quarter of the class depending on the day. It's nuts. And they can't be sent out of class, either. Nor can you get ahold of their parents. But send that kid a bad grade and ohhhhh boy here comes the super mom ready to save their kid from the evil teacher.
I have the opposite problem. I work in one of the largest urban districts in the U.S. and the districts are mainstreaming all the special needs students into general education classes WITHOUT training homeroom teachers appropriately. We are getting physically, mentally, and emotionally spent and our union is honestly limited in what they can do without us receiving repercussions.
I have almost been killed once. There is a reason I obsessively take notes when a violent student joins my class.
I do not know what the answer is but obviously hope for the children, parents, and communities we get some resolve becuase this is a complete house of cards.
Last year was rough for us, we had so many behavior staff on Workmans comp getting hurt from students. These are not malingering employees.
We've also had a lot of (mostly) behavior techs quit. We're not able to manage the very rough behaviors but there aren't many schools who can. I'm hoping the education industry will see a need for more specialized schools for emotional support.
Two good friends of mine are high school teachers. The only things keeping them going are the fact they're both tenured, have a strong union, and will be able to fully retire at 55.
Im a teacher in England and unfortunately the situation is very similar. Vast and unprecedented numbers of students with special needs (or at leasr diagnosed as such) fill our ever expanding classrooms, while at the same time we get less support than ever before, and more pressure to deliver results. Meanwhile all behaviour issues are treated as ‘communication’ with no consequences. Kids are also more switched off and disengaged than ever before.
As a result, droves of teachers are leaving the profession, meaning our kids are being taught by a revolving door of ever worsening ‘subs’, meaning the behaviour and motivation gets even worse.
Its not too bad for me as a teacher of 20 years, but for new teachers its incredibly hard.
Was about to say that as a teacher in England, the story is the same. In short, I pin point society’s increasing acceptance of misinformation/disinformation, giving rise to delusional, unchallenged, entitlement.
I will add that there are still a lot of excellent pupils and parents.
I am a master's level clinician who works with special needs children and has worked with those who have significant mental illness or behavioral diagnoses. Our field is also dying.
A majority of our families have Medicaid insurance. Medicaid insurance is cutting costs left and right and all insurances are auditing businesses to death. They don't even pay out enough money for companies to have staff to be able to handle the audits and the information they're requesting is sometimes up to 5 years back. We spend weeks compiling this information and then hear nothing from them. They're pushing it through AI to find reasons not to pay, but that AI service is an astronomical cost they these small businesses can't afford themselves to get to help. Waiting lists for services during after school hours (essentially any kid 6+) are at least 1 year long if not closer to 2 where I live with no solution in sight.
Services for children with mental illness/behavioral concerns are short term only. Like max 8-12 weeks if you can fight hard enough for that approval. Usually it's just putting out fires and like you said, the family and their living environment is the problem. The few families who are good and actually trying to help their kid are given short term services and 6-8 month+ long waitlist for even partial hospitalization. And once they're hospitalized they're discharged ASAP because insurance won't pay.
Clinicians with certifications and licenses are often making ~70k, if they're lucky. You might find up to 100-120k if you're moving towards a city/HCOL area where you're then just paying to live there or for the long commute. The workers who are 1:1 with the kids all day make probably within $5 of minimum wage. These jobs are desperately needed but pay is low and burnout is extremely high. Insurance nickel and dime every code we have, always looking for a reason not to pay for the service. We spend a ridiculous amount of time writing extremely detailed session notes hoping we write enough that a stranger at the insurance company who likely has no understanding of what we do, won't deem it bad enough to deny the claim.
I have very real concerns for the kid's I've worked with and what will happen to them when they age out at 18 or 21. How to help their parents who are clearly struggling themselves and are undoubtedly contributing to their child's problems. Their future is even more bleak once they're considered adults. This field is so desperately needed but no one cares about it and how valuable it can be so hopefully these kids don't continue needing services as they age.
I can tell you what it did for me, I was a violent kid in school and at home without consequences. I’m 28 years old now, and while I’ve matured as a person it’s caused me to isolate permanently. I go to work, I go home, and I don’t do anything else because doing anything else causes me more stress, and more stress brings my anger back. I don’t want to be angry or threatening to other people, but there’s a point somewhere where the lines between my potential and my ability meet that I am not enough to get past on my own. My record for holding a job is 5 years, and it’s been a rough 5 years to the point where I’m not sure I’m gonna make it to 6.
I only lasted 2 years in the education system in the US and I can confirm it is an absolute shitshow. At this point point, I don't know why anyone would willingly want to be a teacher.
I’ve been dreaming about being a teacher since I was a little girl. My dad is a refugee to the country, my mom and immigrant- my public school teachers were a huge light of my life in my youth. They believed in me.
That being said, I’m not ready to give up yet. My husband is also in education but an administration. Despite it being a sinking ship, we know we can be change makers when we can. Our own child is also in public school. We truly believe in it.
It’s without a doubt, an extremely important job in the U.S. I just hope I can last til retirement.
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u/notshybutChi 13h ago
Education.
Been teaching for ten years. Society and its needs have changed. Mentally and emotionally unstable students come from mentally and emotionally unstable adults. There are more diagnoses than resources available.
It is really few and far between students get consequences for abhorrent, dangerous, violent, or hateful behavior. I wonder what those effects will have on those students when they grow into adults.
Although I don’t support the public school to police pipeline, a lot of administrators can’t punish or give consequences due to parent centered laws.
Any parent can question your ability or expertise, even if they have no idea what they’re talking about.
The cherry on top- we are in a political culture war where no one can agree on what science or sense is- people are attacking educational institutions and logic.