The Psychology of Teaching

There is currently a vast teacher shortage in this country, and one can easily see why. First and foremost, teaching is a tough job, and a high percentage of those who enter the profession eventually leave it to pursue other career opportunities. In her Why Great Teachers Quit: And How We Might Stop the Exodus, Katy Farber explored in depth the key reasons why teachers have left the field. Based on interviews with 70 public school teachers, those reasons were (1) the negative impact of standardized testing, (2) bad working conditions, (3) expanding expectations by school districts, (4) too much bureaucracy, (5) lack of respect and insufficient compensation, (6) difficult parents, (7) difficult administrators, and (8) difficult school boards.

Other studies have found that money, or rather the lack of it, is a big factor in why school districts are having major challenges in both the recruitment and retention of K-12 teachers; there is simply more money to be made in other, easier jobs. Not helping matters is that teachers lack the social status of other professionals, such as physicians, attorneys, or architects. Teachers have long struggled to be recognized as true professionals, but for various reasons, the occupation has never earned a good deal of veneration.

Given all that, why do people choose to be teachers?

In my own The American Teacher: A History, I discuss the significant psychic rewards that have been gained from spending much of one’s time in a classroom with young people. While it’s certainly nice to be able to pay one’s bills, most teachers have recognized that the benefits they gain from their job make them much richer than by receiving a fat paycheck. The knowledge that they are making the world a slightly better place by making young people a little wiser each day is more satisfying than the emotional rewards from being, say, an investment banker.

Indeed, a fair number of teachers who love their job have reported that they wouldn’t trade places with the richest person in the world. Much like those who have answered a spiritual call to become a preacher, priest, or rabbi, teachers have known going into the occupation that it wasn’t for the money. Some have actually turned down jobs in the business world that paid three or four times the wages, and they did not regret their decision (even if their clothes were a bit shabby, and they didn’t dine out a whole lot). Millionaires were a dime a dozen, such career teachers have felt, applying a different metric of success than the size of one’s bank account.

Teachers defining wealth in non-monetary terms has, in fact, been a running theme in the history of the field. Many of them have felt a deep sense of achievement, knowing they are helping to build responsible citizens. Teachers have also tended to believe that they are pursuing what might be the most fascinating work in the world based on the fact that no two pupils are exactly alike. Teachers love working with young people because each and every individual has unique interests and possesses unique talents; they feel privileged to have the opportunity to enable students to realize more of their full potential.

Like the decision to become a parent, perhaps, the joy and other powerful feelings that come from being a teacher defy rational analysis. Unlike most other occupations, there is an almost primal urge to teach, likely rooted in the universal humanistic instinct to pass knowledge on to a younger generation. Being a teacher is indeed an investment in the future (again, like having a child) and a mission that requires considerable dedication and commitment. Each student has a different personality and different learning needs, adding to the challenge and need for a teacher to be, in a sense, psychologically fluent.

Great teachers have understood that while imparting knowledge is important, setting students’ moral compass is the higher goal, as it elevates the lives of individuals and society as a whole. Teachers may not possess the status of lawyers, doctors, and hedge fund managers, but those serving in classrooms are engaged in a noble endeavor that we all should admire.