I’ve come to accept that no matter how much I love teaching, the education system will never love me back. I’ve known this for a while, but a part of me used to believe that the system would one day come through for me tenfold and reward my commitment to my students.
When I resigned from my teaching position in June 2019 to move abroad, I just figured that I would teach at an international school and pick up where I left off. But then came COVID, the anti-CRT rhetoric, the banned books, more mass shootings, etc.
Now, we have a continuous wave of great teachers leaving the profession, and I honestly don’t blame them one bit.
Although I can never say never to returning to the classroom full-time, I feel pretty confident that I will never find myself in that role ever again. The thought of returning to that role under these current conditions is scary and unfathomable to me.
I know that I still want to remain in the education field. That desire has never wavered. The difference now is that I want to do it on my own terms and engage this work in a way that will sustain me rather than drain me.
That’s also the case for Ernest Crim III, Roger Hamilton, Willie Carver, Lucia Reyes, and many other teachers who have recently announced they are leaving the classroom. Even though I’m still in the process of figuring out what that utopian world will ultimately look like for me, I’m excited about the possibilities and encouraged by the fact that I can dictate how I want to show up in this education space moving forward.
For those of you who are criticizing teachers for leaving the classroom, here’s my word of advice. Rather than denouncing these brave teachers for leaving, thank them for serving.
Thank them for sacrificing their time and energy to be present for their students. Thank them for investing in their students when others gave up on them. Commend them for their courage to not only speak the truth about the current climate of our education system but also to be willing to put their teaching careers in jeopardy.
Ask them why they are leaving. Check-in on them and ask them how they are feeling. Offer a word of encouragement or affirmation—or even send a small donation as a show of support. Contact your senators and elected officials in your state and demand policies that will protect, honor, and affirm teachers. Take the time to find out what else you can do to support them.
Finally, amplify the stories of teachers by sharing them with your friends and others on social media. Stop placing the onus on teachers to fix a recruitment and retention issue that they didn’t create. And if you feel so compelled, offer your free time as a volunteer to a school near you.
When it’s all said and done, teachers have more than earned the right to choose themselves first—and that should be the message we amplify with so many teachers making the tough decision to leave.
Kwame Sarfo-Mensah is the founder of Identity Talk Consulting, LLC., an independent educational consulting firm that provides professional development and consulting services globally to educators who desire to enhance their instructional practices and reach their utmost potential in the classroom. He is the author of two books, "Shaping the Teacher Identity: 8 Lessons That Will Help Define the Teacher in You" and his latest, "From Inaction to 'In Action': Creating a New Normal for Urban Educators". Throughout his 14-year career as a middle school math educator, author, and entrepreneur, Kwame has been on a personal mission to uplift and empower educators who are committed to reversing the ills of the public education system in America and around the world. As a staunch ambassador and advocate for teacher empowerment, Kwame has spoken at numerous national education conferences and worked diligently to support the recruitment and retention of teachers of color in the education system. In January 2019, he was one of 35 Massachusetts teachers of color chosen by Commissioner Jeff Riley to be in the inaugural cohort of the InSPIRED (In-Service Professionals Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity) Fellowship, an initiative organized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for veteran teachers of color to recruit students of color at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels to teach in targeted districts within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As an InSPIRED Teaching Fellow, Kwame facilitated professional development workshops for aspiring teachers at universities such as Boston College, UMass Boston, and Worcester State University and has served as a guest speaker for non-profit teacher pipeline programs such as Generation Teach and Worcester Public Schools’ Future Teachers Academy. A proud graduate of Temple University, Kwame holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in education. He was honored as the 2019 National Member of the Year by Black Educators Rock, Inc. for his unwavering commitment to the advancement of the teacher profession.
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