A generation age, teaching in a high school was considered an extremely well-respected and popular job, and in some countries, this is still true. However, in many parts of the world, there has been a sharp drop in the number of young people who want to become high-school teachers. This essay will look at the reasons for this and propose some solutions.
One of the main causes of the problem is that teachers’ salaries are lower than many other jobs. Teachers pay has not kept pace with that of other professions, such as law or medicine. In the UK, for example, a doctor with five years’ experience will earn far more than a teacher with same experience. The solution is for the government to raise teachers’ pay significantly, which would attract more people into the profession.
Another problem is that many children do not behave well in class. That is to say, teachers often have to deal with pupils who disobey them, which often causes then to give up teaching. This trends to put off potential teachers as well. To tackle this issue, parents must give their children a sense of respect for teachers, in order to make children behave better in class.
A third cause to problem is that teachers often have too much work to do. Most teachers are snowed under with marking and paperwork, which means that they have to stay late at school and work at home in the evening. As a result, many teachers are tired and stressed, and their job has a negative effect on their family life. The way forward could be to cut teachers’ hours, and to take on more teaching assistants, which would make teaching an easier job.
To sum up, teaching has become a much less popular job in many countries, due to reasons such as the salary, the working hours and pupils’ behaviour. This is a serious problem, and unless we can get more talented young people to become teachers, the education of our children will suffer. My view is that the main responsibility for solving the problem lies with parents and the government.