Why Leaving Teaching One Year Ago Was the Best Decision

Photo by Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash

One year ago, I made a courageous choice to leave my comfortable, tenured teaching position to start a new career.

And it wasn’t because of the students, like most would assume. No, the students were the best part of my eight years in the classroom and I miss them every day in my new job as a business consultant (adults are pretty boring compared to teenagers).

I made the choice to leave teaching not because I didn’t want to be a teacher. I loved my job.

I left teaching because personal health reasons made me realize how much I was sacrificing my own well-being to do what I loved.

And it shouldn’t have to be that way.

Schools as organizations and education as a career pathway simply haven’t kept pace with the modern lifestyle. While most employers are providing more and more perks to take care of their people, schools continue taking advantage of their most valuable asset.

So, one year after I left the classroom, I can look back and honestly say it was the best decision I’ve made.

And when reflecting about it now, I honestly feel bad for teachers about to go back to school.

Here are four reasons why they are probably considering a career change too:

1. COVID-19

Schools were wholly unprepared to close due to a global health pandemic. It’s an unusual circumstance, no doubt, but the transition for teachers was particularly tough.

I know this from talking with my former colleagues and seeing stories in the news about school districts’ COVID-19 response. Most schools lagged behind the private sector in their response efforts and in many ways created more chaos and confusion along the way.

But, in my opinion, schools should have been prepared for such an event. After all, students have grown up with technology and these skills are increasingly necessary to enter the workforce. Most schools by now have the technology and resources, but most still don’t know how to use them effectively for independent learning purposes.

So in the spring, many students were stuck at home without a good way to continue learning and many parents…