Outside Issues
Posts on attrition here and here. Posts on low pay, classroom management, intensity, and administration.
Outside issues, as a reason for leaving the teaching profession, can include anything from having to take care of an ill family member to moving to another country. These are self-explanatory and I don't have much to add except for one factor: significant others.
Over the past four years (and 100 or so participants) I would estimate that we have had ten first-year participants who have moved to Mississippi with a significant other. This can sometimes pose problems for the couple. Let's look at it from the perspective of the significant other who is not in the program and not teaching. Having a husband or wife (or girlfriend or boyfriend) in the Teacher Corps can be difficult for several reasons:
1) You are no longer the most important person in the world. Well, you are, but your spouse (I'll be using "spouse" and "significant other" interchangeably) no longer has any time for you. As I've written previously, being in the Teacher Corps is an all-encompassing experience. There is so much required of a first-year teacher that he or she has little time to do anything outside of school-related issues.
2) You don't understand what your spouse is going through. Your significant other is going through a myriad of emotions and experiences, all away from you. There are a lot of highs and lows and you don't get to experience any of them, except through your spouse. They are your spouse's experiences, not your own.
3) You can't help. You've never done what your spouse is doing, teaching 120 kids in a critical-needs school, so there is not a lot of advice you can give. You feel helpless. When you try to offer advice, your spouse dismisses it because, "You don't understand."
4) You are in the Delta. You don't know anybody. There is nothing to do. You can't find a job. You want to move back home.
5) Your partner is miserable. You want your partner to be happy. If teaching is making him or her miserable, then he or she should stop teaching.
Any combination of these can be tough on a relationship. All of them together can be toxic. Usually either the relationship or the career in teaching will falter. Do those of you who are married, or have a significant other living with you, have any thoughts/experiences to add?
My Groups
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Mississippi Teacher Corps Updated: 7 days ago
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Peace Corps Updated: Nov 28, 2007
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Mississippi Teacher Corps (host) Updated: May 15, 2007
