Friday Freebie: What I'm Reading in Ten Minutes or Less: Where Have all the Teachers Gone?

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Each semester, I marvel at the number of optimistic early education majors who continue to pursue dreams of teaching. At York College, the majority of the students in my early childhood development class are those in pursuit of these majors, taking the class because they have to, and it's rare that I don't get at least one e-mail asking me to make an exception to the cap of thirty students set by the department.

The assertions in this article stand in sharp contrast to my observations. Still, despite the lack of empirical evidence supporting the reasons for an apparent exodus from the profession -- at least in some areas -- the subjective evidence I've acquired from conversations with former colleagues makes it clear why a good teacher might soon be hard to find.

I'm going to say very little about this piece, lest I end up on my soapbox. Let's just say that I marvel that my class fills every single semester, and that in light of the current climate, more students don't choose to pursue other fields.

Do we have to wait until there's an actual shortage to address the issues that plague today's teachers?