Long-term teachers are the professionals who keep American kids’ education on track | Opinion

In the next few weeks, thousands of public and private school teachers across the country will return to their classrooms and prepare for a new school year. Tragically, many others will not. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, during the 2023-2024 school year, upwards of 86% of schools reported difficulty hiring teachers, and it has long been true that about 45% of new teachers quit teaching within the first five years.

The reasons for the deficits are many and well documented. Low pay, poor administrative support, parental expectations, student behavior — the list is long. What is frequently lost in these conversations, however, is any consideration of the teachers who stay.

While it is true that many teachers are leaving the profession, it is also true that a sizable cadre of dedicated educators continues to return year in and year out, despite the dysfunction, the low status and pay, and the ever-persistent political gesticulations from pundits and parents over curriculum and ideologies. These veteran teachers deserve much more recognition than they get, and are a woefully untapped resource when it comes to solving the American education crisis.

Because American education has always been hyper-focused on “reform,” there is a tendency to invest a lot of resources in training new teachers, believing that by doing, so they will inevitably steer the ship toward the latest and greatest educational idea. While this is an understandable goal, it tends to implicitly and explicitly marginalize veteran teachers as “old-school” or “out of touch.” The truth is far more complicated.

Veteran teachers — those who have taught more than 10 years — are often highly skilled practitioners who have demonstrated commitment to the profession in innumerable ways and understand the workings of the profession in ways new teachers do not. Over their years in the classroom, veteran teachers have experienced a wide diversity of students, multiple administrative initiatives and reforms, and have seen the landscape of education change multiple times. They have taught before and after cellphones, through COVID-19, through multiple moral panics, demographic shifts, subject matter changes, grade levels shifts and numerous administrations. Through it all, they have adapted, refined their lessons, deepened their understanding of their subjects and students, and still managed to persist.

Of course, not all veteran teachers are amazing, but most who have stayed in the profession for more than 10 years are committed to students in ways that no other practitioner is or can be. This is especially true for those who choose to stay in teaching rather than go into administration.

It is high time that we do more to recognize and utilize these educators by inviting their expertise rather than ignoring it. Veteran teachers can and do keep the system moving regardless of all the outside noise.

It is easy to be cynical about American teachers, but those who stay in the profession, who work every day to bring knowledge, skills and joy to their classrooms, deserve our utmost respect. And by respecting, celebrating and honoring them, we demonstrate to young teachers that their commitment will and can be rewarded if they just stick with it.

So this school year, if you are despairing about American education, remember the thousands of veteran teachers who are returning to their classrooms to teach your kids. They are returning despite all the forces working against them. They are returning despite the cynicism, hate and rage directed at them. They are returning because they know that the most important relationship is not between a teacher and society at large, or a teacher and a school district, or a teacher and an administrator. It’s between a teacher and a student — their students.

Mike Bannen is starting his 25 year teaching in the Kansas City area. He is the founder and executive director of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Kansas Association of Veteran Teachers.