Huffington Post blog on teachers close to 5,000 Facebook likes

It appears my latest Huffington Post blog has struck a chord with my fellow classroom teachers across the United States.

As of a few moments ago, it was already over 4,600 Facebook likes and more than 1,200 shares and shows no signs of slowing down.

In the blog, I made the recommendation, and it was a painful one for me to make, that young people who are thinking of entering the teaching profession might want to reconsider that decision. I cite the devalution of classroom teachers by self-serving politicians and ambitious administrators, as well as the increasing emphasis on standardized testing:

If I were 18 years old and deciding how I want to spend my adult years, the last thing I would want to become is a classroom teacher.Classroom teachers, especially those who are just out of college and entering the profession, are more stressed and less valued than at any previous time in our history.They have to listen to a long list of politicians who belittle their ability, blame them for every student whose grades do not reach arbitrary standards, and want to take away every fringe benefit they have -- everything from the possibility of achieving tenure to receiving a decent pension.Young teachers from across the United States have told me they no longer have the ability to properly manage classrooms, not because of lack of training, not because of lack of ability, not because of lack of desire, but because of upper administration decisions to reduce statistics on classroom referrals and in-school and out-of-school suspensions. As any classroom teacher can tell you, when the students know there will be no repercussions for their actions, there will be no change in their behavior. When there is no change in their behavior, other students will have a more difficult time learning.