But even many of the full time teachers we now have are either my age or much older and pining to get out or young and not planning to stay very long.  And as much as it pains me to say this—though many of our good teachers would readily agree—a lot of those who have signed on for the long haul are, far too often right now, teachers who have no other choices.  Some are former teachers or current teachers who were transferred or “evaluated out” are now re-applying because they’re desperate for a job.  Any job. 

It’s not a calling for them.  It’s not a dream come true.  It’s a mortgage and car payment.  It’s survival.  And I wind up spending more time with their kids in my office than they do in their classrooms—the really good teachers wind up babysitting the kids they can’t handle, too.   And they’re getting tired of it.  And retiring.  Or getting jobs in educational research.   Or selling real estate—anything, to escape.

Thanks to Christian Long for sharing this link on Twitter.

Wow, what a read.

Granted, I left the world of public education behind after only a year because of the bureaucracy (and I’m not very good with rules in general) but I do feel we are seeing similar trends of recruitment in the independent education world as well.

I love the line about “selling the product.”

Go read.