Why Are Teachers So Resentful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

Stop blaming covid. Sh!tty parents are why 2020 keeps being used as an excuse. It's not 2020. It's the sh!t entitled parents didn't do in 2019. And 2018. And 2017....

Get the sped and crazies out of gen ed, bring back red ink, and fail the kids that can't keep up. Quit complaining because it's the parents that fked up the schools first. I'm not sure exactly when but it might have been some time in the aughts.

If you're complaining about a particularly bad experience with a teacher, (no shade but) it's probably because a more experienced teacher (or two) successively burned out from your neediness.

And from experience as a parent pretty involved with volunteering at a couple of schools, most of the relatively better classes seemed to have gotten first dibs'ed according to seniority. The revolving door of burn outs were the newer teachers burdened with the more difficult classes.

Can you explain? Did the parents demand enless technology in the classroom and poor curiculla choices? These are the biggest issues I had in our ES. "Learning to read" means guessing sight words on an app on the Chromebook. It's no wonder the kids are frustrated and can't pay attention. I never expected that I'd have to use a full blown phonics program at home to make up the gaps.

[Anonymous]

Just read the thread in which a parent was insistent that her fifth grader had 4-5 hours of homework each night and wanted to know how the teacher would treat her child the rest of the year if she complained to the principal.

That poster was unwilling to listen to other parents who said it was extremely unlikely that 4-5 hours of work were assigned each night and she should approach the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are people and people complain.

There are very few other options if you want to work 200 days per year and be paid a professional salary.

Right now I think we’re still seeing a COVID correction. Early weeks oF COVID was everyone saying teachers were heroes and shaming parents for wanting school. Teachers who absorber that attitude are finding it hard right now.

I didn’t go into this profession thinking I only wanted to work 200 days a year. That’s a TERRIBLE reason to pick education, especially since you’ll work weekends and summer anyway… simply to prepare for those 200 days.

We need teachers who want to teach for the sake of teaching, not because they erroneously think it’s an easy field with tons of free time.

That’s good for you? Plenty of teachers go into the field because it’s a profession that will let them spend summers with their kids. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s also why teachers complain more than you would expect: there isn’t another job out there for most teachers that will give them that schedule.

As someone who has been in the profession for over 25 years, I don’t see it as the family-friendly field that many think it is.

My afternoons are spent running clubs while I pay for childcare for my own kids. My nights are spent grading. My weekends are spent grading. My summers are spent prepping for the next year, attending recertification courses, and attending conferences/trainings to keep my extra credentials. My kids are growing up watching me work around the clock.

And yet I hear how family-friendly this field is, which I’ve never experienced.

I’m sure there are teachers somewhere with better schedules and fewer responsibilities, but I don’t personally know any.

And I’ll do the work without complaint because I signed up for it. I just wish others didn’t assume I have it so, so easy.

What would you call the three proceeding paragraphs and the final sentence….

That isn’t complaining.

I guess when you deal with children all day you know what complaining actually sounds like.

Somebody expressing an opinion and/or explaining a situation isn’t a complaint to me.

Oh, if a parent says “my kids are growing up watching me work around the clock” thats typically considered a complaint. If its just your choice than thats fine, enjoy your selected activities.

No. A complaint would be: "Ugh! I am so sick of this job! I can't get a moment's peace. Why the heck do I have to work all the time? These kids are so demanding! And the parents! Why don't they stop pestering me about getting my grades done. The more they complain, the less I'm going to work."
An explanation would be: "My kids are growing up watching me work around the clock." That is a clear explanation of how often I have to work.

As for my selected activity: have you seen the many, many, many DCUM threads about how long it takes for teachers to provide feedback? Have you seen how teachers are verbally **destroyed** on those threads? Here I am doing the work to provide consistent, timely feedback. It's what teachers have to do. Is acknowledging that a complaint?

So are you working full time because you're grading or because of these clubs you're choosing to run?

Are these comments even from real humans with kids? There are dozens of clubs at every school—before, during, and after school—which are important for the kids. Each club requires a teacher to supervise or sponsor and some require more hands-on than others. You're really singling this out as if the teacher is holding the kids hostage because the teacher really wants to force some activity on them? Contractual or not, be grateful.

The teacher is saying her children never see her. Clubs are voluntary assignments for the teachers I know, so if this teacher can’t do her grading maybe she should deprioritize clubs.

I’m the teacher. It’s in our contract to take a role running after school clubs and tutoring. In any case, that’s 2-3 hours a week. Grading is what drowns most teachers.

I am grateful for the posters here who have read what I’ve said and commiserated and been kind. That’s rare on this site. More often, teachers are told what they are doing wrong by posters who don’t know the conditions in which we work.

I like my job. Yes, it’s a huge sacrifice. But I’m not the only teacher sacrificing; there are hundreds of thousands of us. Regarding my own children: I know their teachers are making the same sacrifices I do and I am grateful for what they provide. If we all quit working off hours, schools would grind to a halt: no lessons would be planned, no papers would be graded, no letters of recommendation would be written. And yes, it’s a huge problem that schools operate because of teacher sacrifice. That’s why I speak up about it. People should know.

I realize that grading is what gets shoved into your off hours but "Grading is what drowns most teachers" makes it sound like the reason stuff is broken now is due to grading. That can't be possible. Teachers have always graded. What needs fixed and pushed back on are whatever all the NEW things are that schools have started to make teachers do that they didn't need to 10/15/20 years ago. The core parts of the job (which grading is) still need captured but surely there's a zillion other things eating time that need to get shoved back off teachers' plates.

Sure, *the reason* grading is done at night and on weekends is because of tons of other factors. But that doesn’t change the fact the grading itself is the reason I’ll quit.

- I used to have smaller classes, so I used to grade 100 papers. Now I grade in stacks of 150.

- I used to be able to grade holistically, leaving tons of comments and a number at the top (like my teachers did for me). Now I have to leave tons of comments and align them to a complicated rubric, which takes extra time. And, I suspect, the number would be the same without the wordy rubric.

- I put grades into the system, wait 20 minutes, and then check my email. The parents and students asking for more points start to roll in, taking even more time as I have to justify grades (again) in email after email.

And, of course, this all happens at home because of the team meetings, the sub duty, the cafeteria duty, the data meetings, the IEP/504 meetings, the disciplinary reports, and the mandatory tutoring/office hours.

So grading is why I’m dusting off my resume. It’s what eats up my off hours.

My experience exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

Stop blaming covid. Sh!tty parents are why 2020 keeps being used as an excuse. It's not 2020. It's the sh!t entitled parents didn't do in 2019. And 2018. And 2017....

Get the sped and crazies out of gen ed, bring back red ink, and fail the kids that can't keep up. Quit complaining because it's the parents that fked up the schools first. I'm not sure exactly when but it might have been some time in the aughts.

If you're complaining about a particularly bad experience with a teacher, (no shade but) it's probably because a more experienced teacher (or two) successively burned out from your neediness.

And from experience as a parent pretty involved with volunteering at a couple of schools, most of the relatively better classes seemed to have gotten first dibs'ed according to seniority. The revolving door of burn outs were the newer teachers burdened with the more difficult classes.

I’m not blaming COVID for bad teachers, I’m using it as an explanation for why saying teachers have it worse than anyone else is just patently false. They stayed at home for 3 years while nurses showed up at work and risked their lives. Doctors had unprecedented suicide rates. And teachers are here saying they have the worst treatment *ever* of *anyone*. Get some perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

[b]A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

I won't dispute that teaching is a hard job, but the results that teachers have gotten over the last 30 years suggests that the arm chair critics probably do know better. Professionalized education has been a failure, across the board. You can say "we didn't design the system" but that's wrong. The biggest failures of the system (Lucy Calkins, etc.) are coming out of the same education schools that train teachers. If teachers want people to respect their "expertise" they need to demonstrate that that expertise is actually working to educate children, but right now it isn't. You can't constantly fail and then complain that people think they know better than you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

DP, but the original poster in this chain started the competition. "Conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate" "expectations no other profession on earth would endure." People are responding to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

I LITERALLY wrote that medical professionals can have it harder. But you decided to skip over that just so you can cut a teacher down. Feel better?

Oh, and I worked in person during Covid. I caught it twice, bringing it home each time to a compromised family member. I also had no planning periods for months because I had to cover my colleagues as they got sick. I had to deal with screaming parents about policies I didn’t create. I had to do double work, teaching during the day and Zooming at night with sick students.

And OF COURSE nurses are attacked. But so are teachers. One matters to you; the other does not. Clearly.

One of us is being respectful and balanced. One of us is being ignorant and rude. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

I LITERALLY wrote that medical professionals can have it harder. But you decided to skip over that just so you can cut a teacher down. Feel better?

Oh, and I worked in person during Covid. I caught it twice, bringing it home each time to a compromised family member. I also had no planning periods for months because I had to cover my colleagues as they got sick. I had to deal with screaming parents about policies I didn’t create. I had to do double work, teaching during the day and Zooming at night with sick students.

And OF COURSE nurses are attacked. But so are teachers. One matters to you; the other does not. Clearly.

One of us is being respectful and balanced. One of us is being ignorant and rude. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which.

The ignorance is the teacher who said “they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If that’s you, work harder to gain perspective. If you acknowledge plenty of other professionals have worse conditions, then there’s no need to try to win the suffering olympics because you once had a donut taken away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

I LITERALLY wrote that medical professionals can have it harder. But you decided to skip over that just so you can cut a teacher down. Feel better?

Oh, and I worked in person during Covid. I caught it twice, bringing it home each time to a compromised family member. I also had no planning periods for months because I had to cover my colleagues as they got sick. I had to deal with screaming parents about policies I didn’t create. I had to do double work, teaching during the day and Zooming at night with sick students.

And OF COURSE nurses are attacked. But so are teachers. One matters to you; the other does not. Clearly.

One of us is being respectful and balanced. One of us is being ignorant and rude. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which.

DP. No one has been rude to you in the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.

You’re resentful because you believe this. Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break. I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition.

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers).

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

I LITERALLY wrote that medical professionals can have it harder. But you decided to skip over that just so you can cut a teacher down. Feel better?

Oh, and I worked in person during Covid. I caught it twice, bringing it home each time to a compromised family member. I also had no planning periods for months because I had to cover my colleagues as they got sick. I had to deal with screaming parents about policies I didn’t create. I had to do double work, teaching during the day and Zooming at night with sick students.

And OF COURSE nurses are attacked. But so are teachers. One matters to you; the other does not. Clearly.

One of us is being respectful and balanced. One of us is being ignorant and rude. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which.

The ignorance is the teacher who said “they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If that’s you, work harder to gain perspective. If you acknowledge plenty of other professionals have worse conditions, then there’s no need to try to win the suffering olympics because you once had a donut taken away.

That wasn’t me. There are plenty of people posting on this site. But I will admit that I have no problem with teachers talking about the challenges of the profession, especially on a thread LITERALLY ABOUT TEACHERS’ STRUGGLES.

Regarding the donut: that was me. I suppose it isn’t a big deal to you, but being disciplined publicly is a big deal to me. (Want to know what got me written up that day? I was helping a student with a crisis in the parking lot and signed in late. I was too busy calling for medical aid to make it to admin’s “teacher appreciation” event. That write-up still stands in my file.)

Regarding the suffering Olympics: I’ve never participated. I’ve repeatedly given respect to other professions. Apparently to you, I haven’t given enough. Unless I concede that my job is easy? Is that what it will take for YOU to end the Olympics?