The first thing, and ultimately the last thing, that many people who work in the educational field ultimately learn:
It's not about the kids.
It's not the kids, exclusively, who are the cause of teacher-burnout and school district brain drain.
It's not about the kids.
They are not the ones that unions are invested in protecting.
The kids are a low priority for school board members and ravenous interest groups that eat away at tax payer money and instructional time, all in the vain hopes of inculcating one more piece of the liberal fantasy.
The kids could not possible by a priority when school administrators sweat over whether they will pass competency on one more mandated standardized test
It's not about the kids. It's about the adults.
This is not to say that students are not responsible if they fail to do their work, if they are disrespectful to their parents and teachers, or if they treat one another cruelly. Yet judging by the way a number of schools run their program, so to speak, students are hardly accountable for anything. From the pressure that induces teachers to pass students with 57%, to the demand to level off the number of fails being place on the teacher, not the students or the parents, to the numerous passes given to students for blatant classroom disruption and misconduct, it would appear that schools do not expect kids to be responsible or to demonstrate any efficacy in their lives.
No wonder so many kids are bored. No wonder so many kids tune out, drop out, or act out in the classroom.
They have figured out what took me much longer to realize:
It's not about the kids.
The public school system as designed is designed by, for, and with the adults in mind.