The Education System is Broken

If you're an educator watching this video who's feeling undervalued and burnt-out, then you probably already know there's something wrong with the education system, and no, I'm not talking about issues related to curriculum or assessment or the student experience. All of those are symptoms of a much larger issue for sure. But what about the problems that teachers are facing in their day-to-day experience? There are over 600,000 fewer teachers in the US now than there were three years ago. What's

going on? Where are teachers going when they leave, and are they actually happier where they end up? Hi there everybody. I'm Nathan Wolfe. I am a former teacher who has left education, and for the past year or so, I've been working with Devlin to help teachers transition out of the classroom and into instructional design. I taught high school English for about eight years in the public school setting, and quite honestly, I loved it. Interacting with and building relationships with students, cre

ating lessons and learning experiences to help them grow and flourish. It's really fulfilling stuff. And so if you're hearing that and you're thinking, "okay, if it wasn't the students that caused them to leave, it must be the administration, right?" But actually the leadership, the admin I worked with, they were great. They were really supportive. And I know that not all teachers can say that, and that might be a driving force behind you rethinking your teaching experience and career. But reall

y that wasn't the case for me. But things changed. When I started thinking about the future and questioning, "did I really want to bring home a huge stack of papers every weekend to grade for the next 25, 30 years?" That gives you some pause. Because there's a lack of upward mobility in K-12 education. You know, I look at my possibilities there. I could pursue going into administration, quite possibly. But if the education system as it is right now doesn't support change, then why pursue that? I

loved education as a career, but I no longer had a place in education as a system. Why are teachers leaving en masse? There's probably a lot of possible answers to that question for sure. But simply put: the education system doesn't value educators. And because it doesn't value educators staying in the classroom isn't sustainable. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, 17% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years. If you're an educator watching this vi

deo, what do you think of that statistic? What's your reaction? Quick story: so I remember hearing that same statistic very early on, I think in my first year of teaching. And I took that as a challenge, like, "that's not gonna be me. I'm not gonna be part of that statistic. I'm gonna last longer than that. I have more mental fortitude than that. I'm going to change that part of the statistic. I'm going to change the system there." But what I naively thought within that first year of teaching ma

de that assumption that I had any control over the education system at all. And for myself and the hundreds of teachers I've had the opportunity to speak to. It can feel like the system was working against you. We can do our part. Sure, we can try to solve problems because that's what teachers do, right? But at the end of the day, that's not a burden that needs to fall on our shoulders. So if you want that kind of respect that you deserve in your career, if you want that level of work life balan

ce that you deserve, if you want the opportunities for career advancement that you so deserve. It is possible, it is achievable, but it's going to involve leaving the education system and not sticking around and trying to change it at the cost of your mental health. But if you do decide to actually leave the system, well, one, congratulations! But you're still going to have to face one big problem, and that is the guilt. When I mention leaving the classroom, do thoughts like this come to your mi

nd? "If I leave the system's never gonna change." Or, "if I leave now, what about the kids? They're going to be so lost without me." "What are the parents going to think and say and do?" Or, "I can't leave my colleagues and have them take on all that workload that I'm leaving behind." You're not alone in feeling this guilt of having those thoughts. Most of the teachers I talk do feel the exact same way. I felt the exact same way. What about the pressure to sign that intent to return form right t

here at the, toward the end of second semester? "Well, I already said I was coming back, so I guess I'm stuck now!" Again, that's the guilt preventing you from pursuing the life that you deserve. I can't tell you how many of my colleagues have told me as I was leaving and they were so happy for me and they said, "I'm glad you got out now cause it's too late for me." And I only laugh at that in some ways because if you listen to what they're saying, it sounds like they're trapped, like they're in

a prison and they can't get out. They put too much time and effort and energy into a broken system to leave it. Now it's because they've invested too much into something broken, both with their decades of time and their retirement accounts. And so I'm going to say something that's hard to accept, but it needs to be said. You don't have to be a martyr for the education system. You don't, sure there's incentives to stay, but at what cost? Guilt is just another part of the broken system. But the m

ost important question is, how do you overcome that guilt as a teacher, as an educator, leaving the classroom? My suggestions are these: first, recognize and realize that if you stay, things probably aren't going to change. And you're going to continue to feel more and more burnt-out, and then possibly be stuck in a broken system forever. Second, understand that it's actually okay to make a change for yourself. I know that's not the norm in the education world, but that's okay. You deserve the w

ork-life balance, the level of compensation for the work you put in that, you know, is commensurate with what you've been doing. And finally, recognize that there are actually other ways to change the world through learning that don't require that you give up your life and you can still pursue your passion and at the same time not be a martyr for the system. And that is why instructional design is the number one career that educators are transitioning into. It offers that pay, work-life balance,

and career advancement that you so deserve. If you're not sure what instructional design is, feel free to check out Devlin's video on the topic. But in short, pursuing a career in instructional design will allow you to continue using your highly-valuable teaching skills and problem-solving abilities in a corporate setting to drive learning and instruction. That's truly why I love doing what I do now: helping teachers transition out of a broken education system and into remote, corporate instruc

tional design roles that make an average salary about $85,000. Instead of being taken advantage of by a broken education system, always demanding more work to be done outside your contractual hours, you can actually end your workday when the workday ends. You get your life back and you're not stuck in a situation that's no longer sustainable for you. Here's the next steps. If you are an educator who's feeling burnt-out and frustrated at the current education system, consider instructional design

as a new career path. The best thing to get started in becoming an instructional designer and leaving behind that broken system is to download Devlin's Become an ID checklist, linked to right down here in the description below, you'll get a step-by-step breakdown of the process that we've seen so many former teachers follow to land an instructional design role. Once you've downloaded the checklist, feel free to explore more of the resources also linked below and the rest of the content on the c

hannel to learn more about instructional design. We'll see you in the next video.