I quit my teaching job. This is what schools need to do if they want teachers to come back.

Courtesy of Christopher Mannino There’s a national teacher shortage across the US.   I had my dream job teaching theater classes for several grades.   I am one of the many teachers who have left their teaching jobs because they became a nightmare.

This year, the news is flooded with stories about the national teacher shortage, from The Washington Post saying it’d “never seen it this bad” to ABC’s term “five-alarm crisis. ” Multiple states have lowered their standards for teachers, desperate to get enough adults into the classroom. And during this crisis, teacher-education programs are closing because of a lack of enrollment.

 I’ve been having school dreams again, fed by the news cycle. The opening act of each school year was my favorite — I thrived on the nerves. The anticipation of the start of school was very similar to the feeling of waiting behind the curtain, ready to go onstage.

I knew my lines and my blocking. I had a plan, but that still couldn’t quell that buzz in my stomach. How would my performance pan out? How would the year unfold?I taught 6 theater classes a dayI taught in what can only be described as a dream job.

I ran a theater program with six classes of theater a day, spread across four levels. We did multiple shows a year and even had a dedicated student-run improv team. I was able to shape my own curricula and eventually built a black-box theater with my student’s help.

The program was magnificent, with amazing children coming through my doors to discover the wonders of the performing arts, expand their creative and artistic abilities, and work as a team, from writing plays to performing them. This was the program I’d hoped to lead someday when I went through teacher education, the type of teaching job I’d daydreamed about during those tedious years of substitute teaching and job applications. Teaching became a nightmareYet I would not go back.

Because by the time I left, the dream had become a nightmare. On a personal level, I suffered panic attacks over my son’s day care. Leaving teaching to become an at-home parent was the hardest but best decision I could’ve made in my life.

The job itself was untenable — no respect, no trust, little pay, and an increasingly hostile environment. I am far from the only teacher to know those truths. It was never about the money; it was my passion.

After all, I was the first to arrive at school and the last to leave many days, working for hours on after-school productions. In my third year teaching theater, the county cut the after-school stipend. This pay cut was accompanied by a stern warning that I was not to limit my program in any way.

I was told if “I cared about children at all,” I should be doing even more, all unpaid.  If teachers are to come back, it begins with respect. Pay teachers what they’re worth.

In some countries, teachers are among the top-paid professionals. They’re not laughed at, burdened with politics, and then pressured into doing more and more for free. If teachers are to come back, they also need safety.

I’ll never forget the student who looked at me, tears in her eyes, and asked whether we would survive. We were huddled in the auditorium while a shooter was outside. America is the only nation where this happens.

It’s the only country where every teacher actively maps out hiding places and prays they never have to use them. I left education before the pandemic. COVID-19 exacerbated the situation, but it didn’t cause it.

The teacher crisis in America isn’t new and it isn’t going to change anytime soon. As teachers remain scapegoats, unrespected, and unsafe, it’s no wonder the crisis continues. And what a sad situation we’ve left for our children.

 Read the original article on Insider.