Teachers who quit, when was the moment you realized that it was not for you?

1. Second year teaching, an 11 year old in my school committed suicide. Absolutely shook the fifth and sixth grade classes, with younger siblings of those being effected as well. Administration would not let us talk to those who were effected about their feelings, provided no support for students whatsoever. The students father, whom I had met before and talked about his son with while he was living, came to school two days after his son committed suicide and asked me, one of the only faculty on campus at the moment, if he could see his sons classroom one last time. I let him in and waited in the hallways while he sat at his sons desk and prayed. The next day I was threatened to be fired due to allowing a “non-student related adult” into the building. Two days after that student killed himself. I put in my resignation same day. Never looked back.
   — Rat-Mouse


2. Ex-teaching assistant here: when a pair of scissors went whistling past my head in the middle of a classroom, right at eye-level. It was at the end of a long, long day with the same Year 7 class, who consistently acted like barbarians. They were awful to the staff, awful to each other, and there was literally no enjoyment in spending time with them. This was at one of the supposedly 'nice' schools in the area...just a bunch of middle class kids who had never been told 'no' a day in their lives.
   — _poho


3. I stopped before fully qualifying, I realized I loved my subject and not the kids or the environment. Much happier in research now.
   — Vesurel






4. My job was 50% catering to awful parents and 50% catering to awful administrators. I stuck it out for 5 years in 3 different schools. The moment came pretty early in that fifth year, when I realized that I'm doing none of what I wanted to be doing in being a teacher. I think something happens to generally okay people when they become parents that turns them into irrational monsters. If you have a kid, it doesn't matter how good your kid is, YOUR KID WILL LIE TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE.
   — EverElusive


5. I was a teacher in a small town college. Girl didn't show up for the final because there was, "A killer party" in Pittsburgh that weekend and she had to travel on Friday. I marked her a zero for it. The administration changed her grade to passing because "her tuition was always paid on time"
   — CarterLawler


6. Short Kid had his arm, and then his leg broken by the same bully, that's after the arm had healed. Zero tolerance meant both were punished. Bully only showed up to hurt others to be suspended. Due to social promotion this eighth grader had the intelligence of a first grader. Could barely read or do simple math. Short kid brought a gun in. The situation was taken care of in house. Guess which one was thrown out, and which one was passed along. Bullied kid goes to a different city for school. The bully is now a drug dealing asshole who is still barely in school and being passed. For reporting it to the state i was let go. Havent gone back to teaching.
   — spyro86






7. Current teacher (in a different district). I quit my previous district after being promised that I would be moved from 2/3's time to full time (I had even picked up a long-term sub shift at another building in the district and I had to drive from one to the other during the day, but the board did not approve the coverage to be added to my contract-coverage [which would have impacted the money being added to my retirement account], so I had to complete weekly time sheets for the entire school year and get two paychecks) and then being called into be told that I would be getting dropped down to half-time for the coming school year. I wound up interviewing at a district on the other side of the state the next week and landing a full time position for the next school year.
   — TheRealDynamoScotch


8. A kid pooped on my shoe
   — Spongerobert904


9. not me, but my mother-in-law. she used to teach special ed, and had some kids that had some pretty severe behavioral issues. when she was pregnant with my husband, this kid cold-cocked her from behind and when she came to, he was standing over her with a pair of scissors, totally zoned out. she quit, walked out, and never looked back. she said she felt bad because those kids really need help and are generally 'forgotten' but it was too much for her.
   — mrs_mojo_risin






10. I am certified to teach History and Special Education. I taught at a high school for a while and really liked pretty much everything about it...except the pay. I knew going in that I wasn't going to make much money but when a job in the private sector presented itself and I was going to make more starting money there than I would teaching for thirty years in a school, I made the jump. I miss the students and some of the teachers. I also miss summer and winter breaks. But I do not miss the pay.
    — Mogwai1313


11. A friend linked me here because he supported me through my only year of classroom teaching. I specifically made an account to post. I was teaching as a long term sub for 7th and 8th grade students, history for 7th and geography for 8th. The school district just adopted new curriculum for both levels, so anything the previous teacher of 30 years left behind was useless. I was making 25 completely original lesson plans a week, teaching three different levels of seventh graders ("basic," normal, and "gifted"), and two different levels of eighth ("basic," and "gifted"). At the same time I was a national guard officer. My grandfather died a long death from Alzheimer's in the March of that year, and that's when I broke and was ready to kill myself also. I sought counseling through the guard and finished out the year. Around May of that year, my mother treated me to lunch when I finally convinced myself to get out at the end of the year, and she said that she didn't want to get in my way, but she had no clue why I wanted to be a teacher because I "hated school and never did homework" (we were talking about grading). That's when it clicked, and I was committed to leaving. The worst part is I'm not sure if the workload was abnormally large or if that type of load is expected of teachers with 0 experience. The thing that practically sent me out the door running though was a problem parent I had. She was completely absent from her child's education, and he had been held back two years in eighth grade. By January, the sob stories came out, and she vowed to never again be so removed from her son's education and it was all her ex husband's fault. We got about three weeks of help out of her then she dropped off the face of the Earth. I was the last teacher on the team to have my "giving up" moment in February when I had to throw him out of class for standing in the back of the room and slinging racial slurs at another child he felt "disrespected him." At this point he was 15 and the other child was 12, I wasn't messing around. In June, after I had completely gotten out of the position and was at my annual training for the national guard, I got a call from the acting principal (did I mention the principal resigned in the middle of the year? He did) asking me to change this kid's grade to from failing to passing. I asked why, and he said that he was getting complaints from the child's mother. She was trying to take advantage of this guy who had zero experience with her. I told him, respectfully, no. My failing grade kept him back again (along with his other failing grades). I'm not proud of it. Tl;Dr: I wasn't the right match for the job and also a high workload.
    — HeyBoston


12. When a kid threw a chair at me. Then pinned me up against a wall. She was 12 And I knew, if I even as much touched a hair on her head I’d be in huge trouble. I just couldn’t risk the anger of being assaulted simmer within me till I punched another fucking prick of a child. I left because I knew, I knew the time would come.
    — tedlovesme






13. Current teacher here, but looking to get into the IT field... 1. Students are very high maintenance. An example is that if you give a student an assignment they will ask you questions before helping themselves (ie Google). 2. Parents have quit parenting. A teachers greatest battle is the transition from home to school. It is very obvious which parents are invested in their child's lives and who isn't. It is astonishing that at every parent teacher conference we hold, several parents will lean in, get real serious, and tell us that their kid has been put on ADHD medicine. 3. Schools have made it easier for students to be the "exception". We have things called 504 and IEP plans. These are exploited more often than not. An example from one of ours is: "The student may stop working on homework if they feel like they are stressed out and turn it in at a later date." 4. Teachers pay. I understand that this is a controversial topic, but just hear me out. I started out making $36,000 and only get a 2% raise, which is basically adjusting for inflation. I do think that our salary is somewhat fair, as it would be worked out to ~$52,000 if we worked 260 days instead of 180. The issue is, I can't live a comfortable life with children on that low of salary. If the school could somehow extend the amount of work for 260 days, sure, I'd be happy. I love the kids and I love teaching. I am passionate about what I do. That being said, I want to be able to send my kids to soccer camp, take my significant other to Florida, and buy that sweet new computer I've always dreamed of.
    — An_Angels_Halo