Try finding anyone without a firm opinion on what’s wrong with American K-12 education right now. I’ll wait. From curriculum battles to vaccine mandates, school board uprisings, and school library book removals, it’s hard to conjure a time when Americans were more engaged, vocal, assertive, and defensive about what’s happening in our K-12 institutions. The noise is deafening.

Meanwhile, a quiet exodus is underway: Teachers are leaving.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate a loss of 600,000 education employees since January 2020. Resignations and recruitment failures have canceled classes and even closed schools. Meanwhile, a shocking 55% of educators say they’re thinking about leaving the profession. According to the National Education Association, massive personnel shortages in schools represent a “five-alarm crisis.”

This hiring vacuum represents both a huge crisis and an enormous opportunity. Concerned citizens sincere about school reform have a very clear path open to them: Consider becoming a teacher.

The education profession didn’t become a one-sided monoculture overnight. To their credit, progressive-minded educators have recognized the importance of promoting their values among the next generation, and over time their efforts have yielded predictable results. Meanwhile, conservatives have largely abandoned the field of education.

Teaching remains a noble profession demanding talent, enthusiasm, and commitment. It requires stamina, knowledge, skill, a thick skin, a firm spine, and a strong sense of humor. Above all, it requires showing up, day after day.

If you want an amplified voice over what’s going on in your local school district, the best way to gain credibility and influence is to be within the system.

Too many of us are on the sidelines rather than in the classroom, supplying criticism rather than offering support -- or better yet, putting our own shoulders to the wheel. The world has plenty of critics, but as Teddy Roosevelt once put it, “It is not the critic who counts.” Rather, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.” You may be annoyed, disappointed, or frustrated by the quality of your child’s teachers, but give credit where it’s due: They’re showing up. Until we show up and do better, we have no one else to blame for the state of our schools.

It’s time to get in the arena. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and strive valiantly.

It won’t be easy. It’s tough getting up early every morning and facing 30-120 sometimes-surly students who occasionally misbehave, who often try your patience and rarely do their homework. It’s tough getting negative feedback from parents and the community.

It’s tough, but most worthwhile activities are, and that needn’t stop us from undertaking them. The difficulty of a task merely increases our sense of achievement when we accomplish it.  

Having “stood and delivered” myself, I know the rewards and unexpected self-development that come from stepping into this uniquely challenging role. Few jobs expect you to plan so exhaustingly yet improvise so constantly. It can be a terrifying, white-knuckled high-wire act: humbling when it goes wrong but heady and intoxicating when it goes flawlessly. It’s a rare job that asks you to perform nonstop in public while hopelessly outnumbered by sharp, vocal critics. After teaching for a few years, very little will scare or shock you. Your worldview will be tested and molded by reality, and you’ll discover internal resources you didn’t know you had.

And guess what? Sometimes, the kids pleasantly surprise you. They complete their homework. They show up on time. They let you know how much they admire and appreciate you. And then you just might surprise yourself and discover that you have a knack, and maybe even a passion, for this teaching gig.

Don’t have a teaching degree? Become an in-demand substitute teacher -- a great option for retirees seeking some extra income along with the opportunity to share their accumulated life wisdom and to positively influence the next generation. If you’re looking for full-time employment and hard-to-find benefits such as a pension plan, check out alternate route certification opportunities in your state. These can allow you to bypass graduate school and can save you tuition dollars. Saddled with student loans? Teaching can earn you debt forgiveness on top of your paycheck. Busy mom who’s basically been homeschooling during the pandemic? Why not turn those acquired skills into cash by following your kids back into the classroom?

There are many ways of serving your country. Teaching is one of the very best.

If it’s true -- as it surely is -- that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, teachers are immensely powerful individuals. If we are indeed in a culture war, then the classroom is the most important front, and we need foot soldiers. This is where battles for young hearts and minds are being fought each and every day.

Our country desperately needs quality educators: faithful, trustworthy public servants committed to excellent instruction and dedicated to upholding strong values and forwarding the American experiment. Who will answer the call?

Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder, D.Ed., originally earned public school teaching credentials via alternate route certification in NJ. An educator with 20+ years of experience and a Harvard degree in English literature, she is the author of Undoctrinate: How Politicized Classrooms Harm Kids and Ruin Our Schools -- And What We Can Do About It.

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