Experience and other evidence Essay Example for Free

Experience and other evidence Essay Job stress and low pay is a complaint and common reason that people cite for quitting a particular job or changing professions altogether. Low pay simply is a matter of not being able to meet the cost of living for one’s self and family with take home pay. Job stress speaks to the actual work conditions and requirements, and the actual stressors change with each profession. When job stress and low pay occur together, people are likely to leave an entire profession, never to return. In our country teachers are face numerous stressing factors not only unruly students in the classroom, but also inadequate teaching resources, lack of administrative support, and low morale among their fellow teachers. As a result teachers are leaving their classrooms and abandoning the teaching profession, due to the combination of on the job stress factors coupled with low and inadequate pay. In April 2007 Cal State University Teacher Quality Institute conducted a study that reveals the reasons that many teachers are leaving the teaching profession. Some of the top reasons cited by the 1,900 teachers surveyed include poor working conditions, lac of authority to make classroom decisions, and low pay. Some also cited lack of text books and supplies, and the obsession with tests and test preparation. The study, which focused on teachers in California, found that 20% leave within the first four years and the up to 10% leave after just one year teaching in high schools in higher poverty areas. (Dang 2007) In general half of teachers who left their jobs cited simple frustration. The frustrating factors they cited included low support from the school district, an unsupportive principal, and low teacher morale. Low or inadequate pay is high on the list because teachers, particularly new ones, have a hard time meeting the cost of living on a teacher’s salary. The study finds that some teachers would not even accept more pay to return and endure the multitude of stressing factors or poor working conditions they find themselves in.