I fear that there is more than one elephant in the room when discussing the critical national shortage of teachers (the mythical shortage of teachers?), but here is a big one:
Teachers typically RETIRE in their early 50's. Most Americans retire in their late 60's. There would be a shortage of EVERYTHING if everyone retired at such a young age. Teachers decline to participate in the last 25% of their working lives. Or rather, they are paid and incentivized to not-work for the last 25% of what would be a normal career.
The reason, we are told, is "burnout." Teachers just cannot be expected to work to 66 and beyond because the work is just too demanding, emotionally. OK. It would certainly be so for me.
But how about this? What if teachers were given a sabbatical year after every six years of employment, when they would get, say, 70% of their full pay to work on some project of their own devising, related to either teaching or to their area(s) of expertise? Then they could be expected to work until the "normal"retirement age, per SS guidelines (full retirement).
If workable, this makes more sense than retirement at 52.
But is it workable?
Let's see...a Sabbatical year at age 29, 36, 43, 50, 57, and 63...retire at 66. Works for me!
Teachers typically RETIRE in their early 50's. Most Americans retire in their late 60's. There would be a shortage of EVERYTHING if everyone retired at such a young age. Teachers decline to participate in the last 25% of their working lives. Or rather, they are paid and incentivized to not-work for the last 25% of what would be a normal career.
The reason, we are told, is "burnout." Teachers just cannot be expected to work to 66 and beyond because the work is just too demanding, emotionally. OK. It would certainly be so for me.
But how about this? What if teachers were given a sabbatical year after every six years of employment, when they would get, say, 70% of their full pay to work on some project of their own devising, related to either teaching or to their area(s) of expertise? Then they could be expected to work until the "normal"retirement age, per SS guidelines (full retirement).
If workable, this makes more sense than retirement at 52.
But is it workable?
Let's see...a Sabbatical year at age 29, 36, 43, 50, 57, and 63...retire at 66. Works for me!