The Sunday scaries can be tough to talk yourself down from. One teacher found themselves deep in that spiral, months before the start of the school year.
They shared their feelings of dread in the r/Teachers subreddit, asking if anyone else felt the same way.
The teacher only has $200 in their bank account and worries that they’re ‘trapped in a vicious cycle.’
They wrote their since-deleted Reddit post at 1:30 a.m., unable to sleep due to their anxiety about what their life would be like in September. “It feels like the year is a shark coming at me from under,” they said.
The teacher explained that they weren’t getting an annual raise, and they had $200 left to last them for the next two weeks. They also feel a “Huge amount of pressure to repeat [their] successful test scores from last year.”
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It’s no secret that teachers are wildly underpaid, and this particular teacher’s post provides a personal account of how devastating the economic situation is for educators.
According to the National Education Association, the average starting salary for teachers is $44,530. The national average salary is $69,544.
The NEA reported that 77% of U.S. school districts pay a starting salary under $50,000, which means that 28.6% of teachers start their careers earning less than $40,000.
It’s important to note that teacher salaries vary widely on a state-by-state basis. In California, teachers earn an average of $95,160. At the opposite end of the pay scale is Mississippi, where teachers earn $47,162.
The amount that teachers earn can be as much as 28% lower than the average salary listed.
The average teachers’ salaries have increased by 3.9%, yet the reality of the numbers is more bleak than it seems. Adjusted for inflation, teachers are making an average of 5% less than they earned 10 years ago.
The lack of adequate compensation has real-life effects, leading many teachers to leave the profession in search of more lucrative and stable careers.
The teacher who wrote to Reddit is no different, saying, “I’ve started looking for other jobs but even in a major city like Dallas, nothing.”
They shared that they’re on the cusp of turning 30, and their fear for the future is overwhelming. “I’m so scared that I’m going to be trapped in a vicious cycle of not being able to get out,” the teacher said.
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The financial instability they’re experiencing is cutting into their quality of life. They explained that not having enough money means they’re “actively avoiding getting in a relationship or going out with friends because I know it’s not the financially wise choice.”
The fact that they have to put their life outside of work on hold, just to survive, shows how dire the financial inequities are for people in the education field.
They captured the unique Catch-22 teachers often find themselves in, saying, “I’m mostly worried that my own mental state is going to hurt my students.”
Another teacher validated just how common this experience is in the comments, saying, “If this year doesn’t go well for me I’m definitely looking for jobs outside of teaching. It’s not worth the stress and being miserable.”
Educating future generations is easily one of the most important careers a person can go into, which makes it even more appalling that so many teachers are so hugely underpaid.
As more teachers leave education for jobs that offer a living wage and a sense of peace, the U.S. is put in a place of reckoning. The country can continue to fail its educators and its youth, or the government can put policies into place that protect and provide for them.
America’s education system is at a true tipping point, yet teachers shouldn’t have to carry that burden by themselves.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango’s news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.
