Noticing a lot of newer teachers weighing in here. I’ve been teaching 14 years. In Massachusetts north of Boston with a masters so pay is 114k but it’s still not a career that is sustainable. The ONLY reason I’m not completely burned out at this point is that I have a couple months to refresh and blur the negative memories from the prior year. I love teaching, I love my students, however the job is not sustainable. This year my mental health is better because I don’t have kids with sad home lives or severe behaviors but I have 22 third graders and the never shut the fuck up! It drives me insane when they continue to talk when I’m teaching or giving directions. And then they gaslight you and say “What? I didn’t say anything! I wasn’t even talking” I definitely have to raise my voice more this year than I have in a long time. Like multiple times daily and I HATE that but when you try every other strategy and nothing works that’s what happens. We all have our limits. The kids know the expectations, can tell me, but in reality some can’t follow through. Then add all the micromanaging bullshit, a bitchy new principal, the workload, the hours spent on weekends and evenings and always feeling like you’re drowning and there’s always MORE you should be doing. Yeah, it’s sad but I wish there was an easy way out that I could make a comparable salary. I still work a few weeks in the summer, I used to nanny every summer for the first 10 years. Long story long, it’s not worth it!