A teacher explains why she gave up a career she loved
Teacher Jordan Kohanim left her school and her room with a white board that was a focal point for her students.
Jordan Kohanim is a former Fulton County high school teacher and one of my favorite posters on the blog because of her eloquence, her candor and her willingness to put her name behind her comments.
She quit teaching. Here, she tells us why:
By Jordan Kohanim
I have decided to quit teaching. Maybe not forever, but definitely for a year or two. This is not a decision I came to lightly, and I did not feel triumphant in it at all. To be frank, I had never felt more defeated in my life.
It’s true that I am statistic. More than 50 percent of teachers leave teaching in the first seven years. Most of those are in the first five years. This was year seven for me.
I told a colleague that I planned on leaving the profession and he told me something that really hurt at first. He said, “Your leaving won’t change anything.” Emphasis on the anything. It felt like an arrow through my heart.
In the long run, he’s right, though. That is part of the reason I am quitting. I know —ego drives us all — but I really thought I made a difference. And I did — for about a dozen or so kids, but there is no way I can make difference enough for long enough, all while keeping my sanity.
I have lost my faith in public education. That means it is time to walk away.
It started last year when I was chair of the student support team, which addresses the needs of struggling students. I watched the neediest of students get declined services, while the most deceptive of parents used their lawyers to manipulate the system into giving their children unfair advantage. I saw so many students and teachers hurt in this process, so many adults whose sole concern was not education or the well-being of children, so many lawyers and politicians who cared nothing about learning, that I broke.
I broke. No one can fix education when everyone just wants to sue. No one can fix a system where every success is countered with a failure. Where blame-shifting is status-quo. Where the responsibility for success and failure relies on everyone but the child. I became disgusted. I stopped doing the student support team and went back to just teaching full time.
I thought this last school year I would regain my love for teaching. Maybe it was too late.
My classes were too big. If I work six-hour days with no breaks, it takes 28 days to grade essays for my 159 students. That is for one semester. I am an English teacher. My kids must write. I must grade it. I actually enjoy grading, but 159 is too much, 28 days is too much.
Merit pay is coming, whether I like it or not. It is already in effect in other places. My dad says they have been threatening it for years and it hasn’t happened. Well, now it is tied to federal dollars for Georgia. So, like it or not — our kids are data points. They are numbers on someone’s spreadsheet.
Their purpose in school is not learning — it is education. And there is a difference between learning and education. I didn’t realize it before. I guess that makes me very naive.
When I coached debate my kids learned. They learned about rhetoric, philosophy, policy, government, language and discipline. I spent so many hours making sure they truly understood just how powerful those concepts are. Even that, though, was so much time. I did it alone. I neglected my family, myself.
That’s what this boils down to. My family comes first. I have given so much to other peoples’ families. I have fought so hard to always do the right thing — and to be honest, I’m tired. I can’t do this job half-way. I just can’t. It’s too important. It means too much.
My husband stood up to his boss and moved to a better company. I guess I am doing the same thing. Funny, I don’t feel as victorious. I just feel sad and a little angry, but not satisfied.
This isn’t a decision I am proud of. I will ultimately be happier for leaving teaching. I will make more money, I will have more time and I will no longer neglect myself for the sake of others’ children. I would like to go back some day when the system finally figures out how lucky it is that people are willing to teach.
Maybe I could have found a different school. Maybe I should have gone to private school. Maybe I should just move on and not look back. That will be difficult, though.
On the bright side, I have a new job. It’s actually a lot like teaching — I just educate my clients on their health and Medicare supplement insurance options. I still get to serve a group of people. They are just a different group of people. That being said, I cannot ignore that I am leaving a profession I love dearly. Everyone in my family has been part of public education. I viewed it as a calling. I guess now the call has changed its tune.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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320 comments Add your comment
Rosanne O'Connor
June 22nd, 2012
10:44 am
To Adam and Mortimer…. You’re both idiots and more than likely products of a public school education. When you cant talk to a student after class without a “witness” in the room and you have to filter everything you say to students and parents under the filter of “will I get sued if I say this?”,,, the system is hopelessly flawed. We need to sweep the decks clean and start all over again. But who will do that… the scary, embarrassing, illiterate people on the School Board? God help us and our children! Jordan has left something that she loves to her core because it is an untenable situation. There IS a time to walk away and save yourself! I wish her bon fortne.
Tonya C.
June 22nd, 2012
10:53 am
Jordan, I knew it was you. Maureen mentioned some teachers leaving in another blog post and I just knew you would be one of them. Not because I wanted it to be, but I could sense your disillusionment in your posts.
You fought the good fight, and I am extremely proud of you. When good people leave any organization, it matters. I’ve been in private industry long enough to realize that. Public schools are no different. I do wish you the best in your future endeavors.
BlahBlahBlah:
I’m afraid you are right. You broke it down exactly how it will happen and no one wants to acknowledge the larger effect that will have on our populace.
Mortimer Collins
June 22nd, 2012
11:02 am
“Look in the mirror, Mortimer Collins. It’s “you” who are the problem.”
Im neither the problem or solution. My children are grown and out of this debacle that has become public school. You democrats wanted less money for defense and more for education. All you received was more fraud, deceit and lies. SO, enjoy the mess for which you are responsbile and good luck cleaning it up…LOL.
“To Adam and Mortimer…. You’re both idiots and more than likely products of a public school education.”
I cant speak for Adam but Im a product of both. When I transferred from private to public school I was Light Years ahead of my classmates steam rolled them. It was so easy. I did, however, transfer from private school, my senior year, and graduated from public school.
SO, Rosanne, lol, other than regurgitating the same tripe that fills this blog, what is your point? Do you have a point, do you know what a “point” is?
Here is an idea…lets do the liberal thing and toss more money at it/into the toilet….
BUUUUWWWAAAHHH HAHAHAHAAA!!
William Casey
June 22nd, 2012
11:16 am
I was saddened but not surprised to read that Jordan had retired from teaching. One segment from her essay captures the essence of our school problem:
“Their purpose in school is not learning — it is education. And there is a difference between learning and education. I didn’t realize it before. I guess that makes me very naive.”
“Learning” is all about opening the mind and developing questioning skills. “Education” is about “processing human resources” to fit into the work force. Pink Floyd investigated this phenomenon thirty years ago in their “Another Brick in the Wall,” but I’m sure that Jordan’s too young to remember that. IMHO, both “learning” and “education” are needed from our schools. However, in the 37 years since I began teaching, the latter has incrementally squeezed the former out of our schools. It’s an often a lonely and discouraging battle for teachers advocating “learning.”
When I began teaching in 1975, the “system” at least paid lip service to the notion that teachers were professionals who could be trusted to teach. Under the current “Wal-Mart Model” of education, even the lip service is gone. How many intelligent people are willing to be lowly “human resources processors” following lock-step the directions of “education mandarins,” self-styled experts who haven’t seen the inside of a real classroom since Lincoln was a cadet? Not many.
One thing I like about my old friend, SOLUTIONS, is that unlike many blogger/critics here, he actually presents ideas which may be part of the….. soluton. His ideas concerning limiting schooling to10 years and abilty grouping deserve investigation. They probably won’t be because they are politically incorrect at the moment. There are problems with the ideas. However, their investigation is part of….. learning.
One of my own ideas for keeping great teachers like Jordan in the classroom is to have EVERYONE in an education “leadership” position….. Arne Duncan, Superintendends, Assistant Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Pricipals, Teacher Education Professors….. EVERYBODY….. teach one class a day in a real school. No “cameo” appearances. The nice thing about this idea is that it would not cost one dime of taxpayer money.
Good luck to Jordan. She’s probably had more influence than she realizes. I keep up with hundreds of my former students and players on Facebook. I hope that she will. It’s an eye-opener.
Progressive Humanist
June 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
Solutions- So if you have studied only engineering, which has clear, well defined, mathematical answers to problems, then you likely know little about the human sciences, which have an almost infinite variety of variables that can influence the outcome. This is why the “solutions” escape those who mistakenly believe themselves to be experts and expect a cut-and-dry, black-and-white answer to reveal itself.
You seem to put a lot of faith in IQ tests. IQ scores have historically and still for the most part show clear delineations between races. If we were to follow your suggestions we’d end up with the advanced academic classes filled with Asian students, then the level right below that filled with White students, and the “lower level” classes filled with mostly minority students. It doesn’t take a genius to realize how this would be detrimental to American society.
In addition, while a high IQ is a requirement for the very highest levels of success, it is not in and of itself the determining factor. You won’t find any neurosurgeons, scientists, or astronauts with low IQs. But you will find some homeless people and prisoners with high IQs. A high IQ doesn’t guarantee success. There are other factors like industriousness, a sense of morality, and social skills that can be equally, if not more, important. And a high IQ isn’t necessary for positions that we’d consider to be below the highest levels of success but successful nonetheless.
Instead I would recommend that students are able to track themselves based on their interests, which can be a much stronger indicator of success than IQ. I’d prefer to have a mechanic work on my car who has a high IQ because he chose that route due to his interest in the field, rather than a mechanic who was tracked into the vocational program because his IQ wasn’t high enough for the academic track. The same goes for an electrician or plumber.
I’d have no problem chopping off the last two years of high school and allowing students to pursue either two more years of vocational or academic coursework, based on their interests. And it would be perfectly fine to have admission standards based on prior performance for either of those two tracks. We should probably do more of that at the college level as well and constrict the channels that lead to the plethora of liberal arts degrees.
But once you get into labeling students and employees based on IQ scores and limiting educational opportunities for the poorest people who need those opportunities the most, then you begin to reject the ideals that are at the very foundation of this country, the ideals that made this country great to begin with. No thanks. You’ve got to learn more about learning and educational measurement, and then come up with something much better than you’ve suggested, and it still won’t be a tight, neat answer that solves all the problems in education. Human systems don’t work like that.
Courtney
June 22nd, 2012
11:20 am
This is sad news, because you know there are hundreds of “Jordan”s out there. Georgia is killing its educational system and we are becoming Mississippi.
William Casey
June 22nd, 2012
11:27 am
PROGRESSIVE HUMANIST just explained SOME of the problems related to ability grouping. However, those problems don’t preclude investigating such a system. The problem with the “follow what I’m interested in Model” is (a) that no 15-year old can evaluate his/her aptitude, and (b) society simply won’t support 100 million movie stars. Perhaps a compromise?
Out of the biz also
June 22nd, 2012
11:29 am
It’s hard to believe any school system could be worse than Richmond County. Nepotism, ignorance, and “reverse-racism” are the order of the day, every day. It will get a lot worse before it gets better.
Catherine A. Rotello
June 22nd, 2012
11:33 am
As a experienced teacher and administrator, it is despairing to see where education is today in the U.S.. I had to take a position in Nigeria as Head of School and was able to make this school one of the premier educational facilities in the Federal Capitol Territory. This was the pinnacle of my career but had to return home because of my mother’s failing health. Upon my return to Illinois, it has been impossible to find any administration or teaching positions due to the fact that this state has the most credit debt in the entire country. My passion IS in education but teachers just out of school are getting the jobs as they are less expensive to pay for. I am fluent in Spanish, with a bilingual certification and endorsement for ELL, a regular and special educator with a MA Ed in Educational Leadership. It’s often not what you know but WHO you know.
The stakes are high and the priorities are scores on standardized assessments for AYP (annual yearly progress). There is little time for science or social studies and often music and art are cut from the curriculum. I have been out of a job for almost a year and don’t know where to turn any more…I understand why people leave the profession. It is not the way it used to be!
William Casey
June 22nd, 2012
11:35 am
@MORTIMER: don’t know for sure but it seems that you’re a bitter old man. As The Who (among others) put it: “There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” Well, you could try watching re-runs of “Hannity.” You are his demographic.
MB
June 22nd, 2012
11:37 am
Sad, sad, but hopefully a respite for Jordan to recharge and come back stronger – and able to advocate without fear of retribution in the interim.
In a strange timing twist, from an education listserv today: a workshop on Parental Rights in Special Education. If you want a feel for what Jordan alludes to regarding parents with their lawyers, see the website for the attorney presenting this workshop.:”If your previous efforts to advocate for your child have failed, we can represent you in meetings with the school district, to bring the “heavy hitters” to the table to make sure those laws are followed.” http://www.vrolijklaw.com/
Part of the problem now is that general ed and gifted students may be, by waiver of state law, placed in classes of essentially unlimited sizes. Since students placed in special education are covered under federal regulations (mandates set by feds but funded primarily by local tax dollars), these parents DEMANDING the best for their children are depriving other children of a right to a FAPE. (Yes, I agree the federal government needs to get out of education if they don’t intend to fund what they require!)
William Casey
June 22nd, 2012
11:44 am
@GEORGIA COACH (10:35): Double amen!!! However, the problem comes when coaches are placed teaching academic classes for which they have little aptitude or interest. It happens. Some of us can do both. Many can’t. Nevertheless, you are right about the bond between player and coach.
Talktome
June 22nd, 2012
11:45 am
If any of you want to get together and start a business, something in education, I’m on board.
Goodforkids
June 22nd, 2012
11:45 am
As a Fulton county parent, SADNESS. As a watcher of education in the nation, DESPAIR! This highly skilled professional is the type of teacher we should be recruiting and doing all we can to keep in the field. Instead, we lose her.
Progressive Humanist
June 22nd, 2012
11:46 am
William Casey- I wasn’t suggesting that any of the vocational tracks involve courses on rapping, becoming a celebrity, or video games. Students could either choose from the vocational courses offered (welding, plumbing, electronics, agriculture, etc.) or they could choose from a number of academic tracks, or they could choose none of the above and to apply at the Taco Bell instead. And aptitude scores could play a role in that process just as prior achievement in school would. This might actually drum up some competition and motivation for those last two years and beyond.
Believe me, I’m well aware that high school students’ interests often fall far from the academic realm. But it also doesn’t do much good to force already unmotivated students through a college-prep track when they have no interest or intention of ever going that route (regardless of IQ). Then, when they have no skills and few employment options they go back to GPC 8 years later to learn what they should have learned for free in high school, and are not successful the second time around either. We can and should do a better job of preparing them while they have the opportunity for a free education.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
June 22nd, 2012
11:52 am
@Mortimer Collins “BUUUUWWWAAAHHH HAHAHAHAAA!!”
Yep. That just about sums up the level of your discourse.
Dr. Steve Herring
June 22nd, 2012
11:56 am
Well said and amen….I am 3 years from retiring from the education field and the changes I have seen in the past few years are very disturbing. It seems like the “bottom line” is- “too much politics”. We as teachers (those of us that are truly “in the trenches”) want what is best for the children. That is not the case in today’s public education.
Good Mother
June 22nd, 2012
12:12 pm
It’s a good thing when anyone recognizes that are not eqiupped to handle their jobs. Her leaving the profession is a good thing. She’s honest. She couldn’t handle the stress and she left. It makes way for someone else who is willing and not for someone to just stccik around for thirty years to collect a pension. I wish more educators had her attitude — when they recognize they are over their head — it’s time to leave.
I wish more teachers did as she has.
carlosgvv
June 22nd, 2012
12:16 pm
No supprise here – its’ trial lawyers 1, teachers and pupils – 0.
Melissa
June 22nd, 2012
12:23 pm
Bravo for staying in as long as you have. Our children were lucky to have had a wonderful teacher such as yourself. I am a 30 year veteran myself and am in a retirement program in SC. I will finish up in 4 years. Teaching has been the most rewarding of careers, but I would not be able to do 30 years in the climate of today’s broken education system. We used to teach “children”, now we teach “to a test”. I too am very sad at the state of education today. I never thought I would be excited to retire, I thought I would do this until I had to be carried out. Rest assured you are joined in all of your sentiments by a majority of your fellow teachers.
TheGoldenRam
June 22nd, 2012
12:26 pm
First, a sincere thank you to Jordan for the years she did devote to teaching. I’m not a teacher, have no desire to be a teacher, but nonetheless have huge respect for those that do the job well.
I think the hardest part for her is the dying/death of idealism. Many of us know that feeling. I think it’s better to have been an idealist, and have lost it, than never have been one at all. It makes people better human beings and it helps them bring moral value to many different environments and situations.
Jordan, a great many wonderful things have started at the moment someone ‘quit’ a bad job, ‘quit’ a bad relationship, or ‘quit’ some other endeavor that was only moving toward continued disappointment.
I quit a private sector job a few years ago that I had been in for five years. It paid great money, but the conditions were really bad and I knew I couldn’t change them. What ultimately convinced me to quit was the profound disconnect between my world inside the organization and the real world outside of it. ALL my former coworkers were happier than I had ever seen them before! That was a huge warning sign. We experienced huge turnover at this company. Our management always had excuses. Excuses would quickly turn defensive in nature. “Everyone is replaceable.” “They’ll regret that they left.” and of course, “Your leaving won’t change anything”. It’s all lies. However, to a broken and failing organization or entity, all they can usually muster at the end is some parting shot. Your leaving will change something. That being your entire life and future. You won’t regret leaving, because like all my fellow coworkers that left a bad company and my mom’s teachers friends that burned out in the system, they are almost universally more content in life having made the change. And if you were a great teacher, not only are you irreplaceable, but you’re VERY valuable to many other causes and purposes in life.
Public education as we’ve know it is irretrievably broken for a host of reasons and there is no putting Humpty-Dumpty back together. The future is charters, vouchers, hybrids and a who knows what else. The status quo is absolutely unsustainable. Bad school systems are like radioactive bombs. They damage cities and communities in the short-term and make them unlivable in the long-term. Motivated professionals, companies, families and others from the area flee from the immediate effects. New people to fill those roles avoid the area because of residual effects.
Something that is very eerie about Dekalb County, GA are all the similarities it shares with both Shelby County, TN(Memphis) and Wayne County, MI(Detroit) in the ’70s & ’80s. Those areas started dying primarily because their school systems went into tailspins. The pace of the devastation is what is so stunning. In one generation of maybe two, hundreds of square miles went from prosperity to desolation.
If people feel that they are losing their community values & assets(few things can be more important than a good neighborhood school), they are going to begin to panic. When they realize that political & bureaucratic roadblocks will prevent them from seeking local resolution, they will MOVE.
I also agree with Beverly Fraud. The longer great teachers stay in bad systems, the longer this country has to wait to realistically address the failings of this system. Or as BlahBlahBlah put it, public schools are going to devolve into being the Medicaid of Education. Geesh, that’s a scary analogy.
SadParent
June 22nd, 2012
12:36 pm
It saddens me to read this article. I was a very hands on parent when my children were in school. As a parent I became very frustrated with public eduucation. My son started school in England many years ago, their schools were so different. Once we returned to the US my fight was trying to make sure he was challenged enough to not be bored and disruptive.
I am so thankful that my youngest is going into her Sr. year of college and I no longer have to , personally, worry about public education. It’s sad when in GA your only option for a good education is home schooling or private school. Unfortunatel that aren’t many GOOD public schools left in metro Atlanta. With the housing market being as it is , buying and selling isn’t an option to get in those areas now. Besides that gets old because it did for me.
I pray this will be a wake up call to those who are in position to change this. There are some of us parents who truly value these teachers.
Solutions
June 22nd, 2012
12:40 pm
Good comments from both Progressive Humanist and William Casey, maybe we can find a new approach to education. I would not ban anyone from opting into a more advanced class if they can do the work. But the class should not be slowed down to allow them to keep up, rather they get the chance to try, but if they fail, back they go to the more basic course. It is at the high IQ end that we are failing the most, and that is the end that matters. I read comments above that some kids are only in school because the law requires it, so change the law, let them drop out at anytime, otherwise they just drag everyone else down with them. Let them keep their entitlement to 10 years free public education, so if they drop out after 6th grade, work for five years, and want to go back, they still get 4 more years free public adult education.
NTLB
June 22nd, 2012
12:50 pm
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
Albert Einstein
Michael Moore
June 22nd, 2012
1:04 pm
This is part of an op ed piece in the Savannah Morning News on Tuesday:
The just-released “Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents and the Economy” reveals the extent of the rapid decline of a profession. Ten years of focus on high stakes testing, tying teacher evaluations to students’ test scores on frequently-flawed and so-called objective tests, teacher reform focused solely on rooting out bad teachers and failing to develop the whole profession, budget cuts, furloughs, increases in class sizes, the stripping of the arts from the curriculum, punitive legislation has clearly taken its toll.
In just the past two years the percentage of teachers who previously reported being very satisfied with their jobs fell from 59% percent to 44%.
The number of teachers contemplating leaving the profession has increased to 29% from 17%.
Your child’s chance of having a contented teacher is less than one in two, but the chance of your child having a teacher who desires another line of work is nearly one in three.
According to the Metlife survey, teachers who like their jobs and where they work feel secure, and are seen as professionals by the communities they serve. They feel they have opportunities for professional development, time to collaborate with each other, and have support in engaging and involving parents in collaborative work. Kind of like professionals in other fields. Does this sound like your community?
Or does your school sound like this: teachers in schools with layoffs are likely to have seen the elimination of programs and services such as teacher/parent liaisons, and content and curriculum coaches. These teachers are more likely to have experienced reductions or eliminations of programs in arts, band, chorus, foreign language and/or physical education, and the elimination of health and social services.
The cumulative effects are on things only those working there notice: dirty rooms, inefficient bus scheduling, poorly-maintained technology, outdated learning materials, insufficient quantities of supplies, and a lot of people who wish they were elsewhere.
Rockerbabe
June 22nd, 2012
1:21 pm
” Where the responsibility for success and failure relies on everyone but the child.” That says it all right there. If one wants to better public education, then the politicans and their surrogates are going to have to get gone. They complicate everything, have no respect for the teachers, their work, the difficulty of their jobs and the selfishness of the parents. I wish Jordan well in her new career.
Valarie E. Roberts
June 22nd, 2012
1:23 pm
Dear Ms. Jordan Kohanim,
I am very saddened to hear your story because I also feel the very same way that feel. However, I am only staying with the profession until God moves me to another. I am currently in the formulation process of starting my own Youth Resource Center in the Henry County are because I would like to be a positive influence in young peoples’ lives beyond the restraints of the school system. I have just completed my 10th year of teaching and I absolutely love what I do. Nevertheless, I have recognized that the government and elected official only see our students as a number and not as our future. If they don’t be careful, the school systems will end up just like the prison system which has also gotten out of control because it was all about numbers.
I know that many people may not agree with my next statement, but I truly feel like when they took prayer out of schools…the devil took over!!! That is also another reason the world is in such a disarray…they are trying to take God out of EVERYTHING!!!
My heart bleeds for great teachers all over the world and also for the negative people that commented on this article. These people really don’t understand the seriousness of having affectionate & effective teachers to equip our future generations with a quality education.
God
June 22nd, 2012
1:36 pm
Oh my goodness! The devil took over? Does your principal now have a tail and pointy red ears? I’ve got to get back into the schools immediately! (Of course, I’m Zeus, not your Christian god, so you may be a little disappointed.)
Ron F.
June 22nd, 2012
1:37 pm
“I wish more teachers did as she has.”
The problem is GM, they are. As Michael pointed out just after your post, the likelihood of having a teacher who is contemplating leaving the profession is one in three. That does something to the quality of the teacher and his/her dedication to the profession. That may not seem like an alarming number, but it is going up quickly, and that will only be bad for education. As a teacher and a parent, I already see the need for concern. What happens when half of all teachers, good and bad, are leaving the profession? Schools need a dedicated faculty willing to stay long term. They don’t need a revolving door of new teachers, and they don’t need to be consistently running off the good ones.
Raisin Toast Fanatic
June 22nd, 2012
1:56 pm
“You know, all the years I was in business, every employee who quit ALWAYS blamed something else when the real reason was staring at them in the mirror. This lady is no different. She blames deceptive parents, lawyers, politicians, classes too large, and something that has not yet occurred – merit pay.”
Yes absolutely SHE was the reason. Because she’s sick of it and has a passion for what she wants to do therefore has had enough.
Your statement is illogical as it attempts to conclude that her reasons are not legitimate and/or do no exist.
Which is clearly not the case, based on facts that 1) we see demonstrated by schools/students/administration, and 2) are widely known, often from personal experience.
Passing off her reasons as “blaming” doesn’t serve to invalidate her motivation for leaving at all. Rather, it makes you sound like a know-it-all who in fact has little knowledge of what goes on.
Unlike yourself I’m not going to play Internet Expert and I’ll give this woman the benefit of the doubt after having heard from a school teacher related to me just what kind of crap they have to deal with.
Also, a business environment has different variables than a public school. A bit of apples vs. oranges!
lovelyliz
June 22nd, 2012
1:57 pm
@Georgia Coach while it’s true that some coaches can teach very well, I’ve never known one with a bachelors degree in math much less a masters. Their emphasis and talents are geared towards coaching, usually with a staff of direct assistants behind them, not teaching and there is a difference.
Dr. John Trotter
June 22nd, 2012
2:00 pm
Good luck, Jordan! There is indeed life after teaching! The foolishness that goes on in the name of public education is enough to make someone who is conscientious downright disillusioned, but I know that you will be successful in whatever endeavor you choose. Public education will be at a loss…again. Too many good people are exiting the ranks.
lovelyliz
June 22nd, 2012
2:00 pm
Teacher turnover isn’t just a problem in public schools. My sister’s best friend would never consider sending her kids to a public school, but in they’ve been in 3 different private schools and the current facility has a turn over rate for teachers/head masters that rivals the public system.
Maureen Downey
June 22nd, 2012
2:09 pm
@Lovely, Actually, turnover is higher in private schools, according to the research.
Maureen
Mathme
June 22nd, 2012
2:12 pm
@ This gets so old – Apparently you can’t read. I can see why you’re angry with edumacations.
Joyce
June 22nd, 2012
2:15 pm
Whoever said “your leaving won’t change anything” is wrong. I know firsthand how your work with the high school debate team did change my child. She has now gone on to her college Model United Nations team and has used the skills you taught her to accomplish a great deal. What has changed is that the high school no longer has a devoted educator to lead the debate team and there will be students who are missing out in the wonderful opportunity to be part of such a team. It is my humble opinion that there is a lot wrong in the public school system because the teachers are not given the opportunity to teach. I think because the private school setting has fewer widget counters there is more freedom to teach and the bonus is you can talk about morals and values and heaven forbid “God”. There are opportunities out there for people with your skills, perhaps a home school group or volunteer tutoring.
My son graduated from your high school this year and I can tell you he had an awful English teacher. There were no tests in his class until the last few weeks of school. The teacher turned on movies and then told the students to write a paper about the movie. If your opinion didn’t match his opinion then your grade reflected his dismay. He used the same criteria for class presentations. In the last two weeks of school my son tells me he played the same movie three times! Absent from his teaching methods, the critical thinking our children must learn to compete in this complicated world.
I am confident you will find your way to making a difference in the lives of children once again. For now, rest and reflect on a job well done and ready yourself for the next opportunity.
William Casey
June 22nd, 2012
2:21 pm
@PROGRESIVE HUMANIST: I’m with you on your 11:46 clarification.
Brian Aiken
June 22nd, 2012
2:27 pm
“Proud Teacher” said most of what I would have. Those who decry the state of public education are, like most of us, products of the same system they blame for all the faults of society. I have over the span of 37 years seen about everything one can in public education. [I include a year off to get my master's degree and three years teaching 1/2 time since "retiring"]. I have also had my own business so I DO know that side of the coin as well.
Teachers teach for one reason: they love kids. Like parents, they make huge sacrifices for their students. When a teacher feels appreciated, it is almost addictive. When those efforts are met with hostility, it can be crushing. I have seen both and continue to teach because I am in a supportive school with great parents and kids.
I am saddened by Jordan’s decision but knowing the years of 70 and 80 hour weeks she has put in, I understand why she has chosen to move on. I support her in this career move.
(Side note to Mortimer: If you are going to insult someone, please don’t plagiarize. At least Adam didn’t copy someone else’s work.)
BehindEnemyLines
June 22nd, 2012
2:35 pm
re: “Everyone in my family has been part of public education” … been feeding at the public trough for generations eh?
Fled
June 22nd, 2012
2:37 pm
@Solutions: Your ideas have merit. I’ve long been an advocate of joining the last two years of high school with the first two years of college. For far too many students (not all, of course), senior year is wasted time that we cannot afford.
Someone mentioned the British system, and students there finish secondary studies after tenth grade. Everyone knows what is expected through a national curriculum, and the final work is assessed by outside reviewers, putting the teacher in more of a role of mentor and guide. After that, students can leave school or continue on to college for two years before university. When British education works well, it is one of the best systems anywhere in the world.
In European systems like Germany and Switzerland, students are tracked very early into academic or vocational tracks. I wonder if such an approach would work in the lawyer-happy USA, though, because not everyone is ever seen as college material. Also, what is going to happen to all the higher education institutions, especially the ones with directions in their names, when students are no longer shuttled off to college routinely? Anyone going to be happy when West this and Southwestern that are shuttered?
One of the good things about the American system is that we give people third, fourth, fifth, even sixth chances at an education. Although I admire the system in the UK, it is also true that if you are more than 25 years old (or so), you will not be admitted for doctoral studies. Also, they really don’t allow for people to change careers by returning for further education. One shot is all you get.
I spoke with a teacher from Finland this week, and he explained that teachers there simply would not put up with standardized testing or curriculum or any of that nonsense. What he said that struck me strongest was, “When I speak to parents, they treat the information the same as if I were a physician or a psychologist. We are respected.” Any teachers in the USA feel that way?
Good teachers like Jordan have had enough. They are giving up, throwing in the towel, and fleeing in droves.
Brandon D.
June 22nd, 2012
2:38 pm
As a person in a teacher prep program in college, this is a discouraging read however I can understand where she is coming from. It all comes back to who the decision makers are in the process of public education. The decision makers are the people with the most money who have never stepped foot in a classroom and think that the only way to improve our educational system is to turn children into numbers. Why is it that when policy makers talk about changing education they talk about the children and caring for the welfare, but when it comes to putting this into action they all go where the money is? Something is wrong with that.
Then, when it comes to blame, the first and most logical choice is the teacher. “The students aren’t learning, well it must be the teacher.” How about the constant hoops and obstacles teachers must deal with before they can even think about teaching an effective lesson or offering quality instruction? In the long run, as long as the people making the decisions continue to have little to absolutely no experience in the classroom, then our educational system will continue to spiral out of control.
SBinF
June 22nd, 2012
2:43 pm
“My daughter will be finishing her education in the fall. She is taking a position as a teacher in a private school because she and many of her peers have realized the utter futility of teaching in the public schools.”
If your daughter thinks things will be different in a private school, she’s in for some education herself!
Ed Johnson
June 22nd, 2012
2:44 pm
http://www.newsmax.com/m/surveys/id/47
The above links to a one-question survey that asks: “Should Barack Obama be re-elected?”
I responded “No.” Jordan Kohanim’s decision to leave teaching and K-12 public education is but another illustration of why I say: “No, Barack Obama should not be re-elected.” (This is not to say Mitt Romney should be elected.)
An adage says it takes only one “Ah s..t!” to nullify any number of “Atta boy!” Well, my “Ah s..t!” for me, not for Obama, is that I voted for the guy. So I’m mad with me, and perhaps I’ve been taking it out on marauding gangs of gray squirrels that seem to think their incessant incursions into my pear tree is something funny. Just wait, they’ll see what’s funny.
Anyway…
If only leaders of K-12 public education would open up to learn from the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming, and similar others, they would see, for example, there is a highly economical alternative to a teacher having to “grade essays for 159 students.” And it hasn’t a thing to do with fancy technology.
But, alas, they won’t. Why? Because they are under the spell of the prevailing style of Western management that has made such deep, reductive, and heavy-handed incursions into K-12 public education, so now they think it’s funny a teacher has to grade essays for 159 students. If they didn’t think it was funny, they would be doing something about it, and they are not, except to pile on more of what doesn’t work. Just wait, they’ll see what’s funny, as Jordan is trying to tell them.
Of course, Obama and people like him haven’t as clue as to who Deming is. Could that be because Deming requires learning to continually improve over playing games of blame and victimhood?
BA
June 22nd, 2012
2:52 pm
Yup, blame it on the lawyers and parents. And no fault at all of the educators who didn’t do what they put down in writing on the childs IEP.
In our own case it was determined (and acknowledged) that when they wrote the IEP they knew they could not implement it. They had no intention of implementing it.
But it was our fault. We were the bad guys for holding school system accountable to what they had said they would do. And do you think the school system or any single employee of that school system ever apologized? No, but I’m still waiting 18 years later.
Pardon me while I go throw up.
SBinF
June 22nd, 2012
2:56 pm
18 years? Sounds like you should let it go and move one. If your child is a success in life, appreciate that he or she did it despite the lack of accommodations in school.
Tallcarl
June 22nd, 2012
3:18 pm
This is not only a problem in Georgia or the U.S. One of the things not even discussed here is Student conduct in class has deterated so much we as teachers have become rio control instead of teachers. After two years in Georgia public schools I knew that was not for me. I wanted to teach. Private schools can also be a problem in the ones I taught in Spain and Colombia because the problem children wind up there and the schools do not want to lose the income thes children bring to the school. I rack my brain in the evenings trying to find a solution but you will get no support from the Adminstrators with disapline in class and the students know it and push the limit. I teach several levels but I was train for middle school but may never return to that age group again
Steve
June 22nd, 2012
3:18 pm
I left after 17 years and walked away. I miss the students. I miss the hallway during class changes. I miss the fun of working with kids. I miss many of my that I worked with each and every day. I left because parents no longer raise kids, computers, cell phones, etc., are bought to raise their offspring. I hated that kids were treated like widgets and sent to the next grade for the umpteenth time without the background to be successful – all because of budgets (but never what was best for a child’s education). I detested the emphasis on the “test” and administrators/politicians taking the fun out of learning for self serving interests. I hated all the experts that knew what was the “best practice” but had never spent time in the classroom. I detested pacing guides as students learn at different speeds. I laugh at how coaches were selected – most were removed for failing in the classroom but the system had to find them a job and so they made them the experts by positional decree. Education is seriously broke and I am not sure the power players and decision makers have the student’s best interest at heart.
Dr. Monica Henson
June 22nd, 2012
3:18 pm
NW GA Math/Science Teacher: please email me at monica.henson@ga.provostacademy.com.
Deb Fein
June 22nd, 2012
3:18 pm
I can relate to this article too. Jordan’s point about there being a huge difference between learning and education is well taken. For years, I’ve been ranting about rote learning when my own children were in elementary school. My younger son received services mainly because the Principal and i advocated for him.
On the other hand, I was a teacher too. I worked for seven years as a kindergarten instructor in NYC. Then we moved to NJ to be closer to my parents and I had my second son. I was commuting on a good day 45 minutes – on a bad day up to two hours. I could not take the stress of it.
I have not had an opportunity in ten years to become appointed. I subbed for a while – but there was no respect from other teachers, the kids, parents or administrators. It started getting to me. Right now, about the best I can do is teaching online. I hold onto this because I do care about education and learning.
CaileighChandler
June 22nd, 2012
3:19 pm
to me, you are mrs. kohanim, my ninth grade english teacher. the first one who actually wanted me to learn the material–to get it–not just memorize it and forget it after the school year. you pushed me, to learn, to grow, to better myself. you played the devil’s advocate in debate to push me on what i truly believed and supported, where i stood on issues. up until your class, writing was a chore that cramped my hand and nothing more. you taught me to write what i know, who i am, what i believe and the world around me because without heart and a person behind the writing, why does it matter? you taught me that i have a voice–to be used, expressed, and heard–and that was something no teacher had ever shown me before. up until you mrs. kohanim, i felt like just another student whose papers and name would be thrown away at the end of the year. so many times i walked by teachers in the hallway who couldn’t even remember my face, let alone my name, but you remembered my name, and you smiled every time i said hey. you mrs. kohanim, inspired me to be more than a statistic, more than just a test score. you have me a beautiful outlet to express myself and to find who i am. all because you cared about me, not just the “education.” so please please don’t think that everything you’ve done has been for not, because you truly did impact my life mrs. kohanim, and i could never thank you enough!