Teachers Put to the Test

Facing low pay, school shootings and angry parents, educators are leaving the professionand students are paying the price

- Adam Piore

ROSEMARY CURTS didn't get into teaching for pay or prestige or because she wanted a drama-free life. Curts, an energetic 30-year-old high school teacher in Dallas, Texas, with long blond hair, glasses and a dimpled smile, got into it because she loves math, and she wants "to share that passion-and the beauty I see in math-with other people."

People like Jasmine, whom Curts first encountered when she was a sweet sophomore, bravely mixing it up in a class of intimidating juniors. Jasmine approached Curts after graduation last year to tell her she got into Texas Tech and planned to major in computer science, then hovered awkwardly until she got up the courage to finally blurt out what she really wanted to say: "You made me like math again."

In those moments, everything makes sense to Curts. Her life is full of purpose. She feels privileged. She remembers why she became a teacher.

But lately those moments have been getting harder to hold on to because of issues that have made teaching harder. A big one is staffing shortages. Last fall on the first day of school, 45 students filed into Curts's algebra class15 more than usual. There were so many students that some had to sit on tables or hold their papers against the wall to write out their math problems.

"There weren't enough desks in my room for all the kids. And even if there were enough desks, we wouldn't have been able to fit them all in," says Curts.

TEACHING WAS ALWAYS a tough job. It's a lot of work, and in too many school districts, the pay stinks. Teachers also need to be proficient in far more than just the subject they've been hired to teach. They need to be comfortable talking to students and colleagues, and also adept at negotiating the bureaucracy.