If You’re Happy and You Know it, Raise Your Hand

teacherThe 29th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher has released some harrowing news. All across the country, the satisfaction and job security experienced by teachers has taken a nosedive. In fact, the level of overall job satisfaction has dropped to the lowest point in over 25 years. The main cause? The economy and its effects on education in the nation.

Teachers are essentially being demoralized by a ruthless pursuit of inexpensive excellence. The federal government is pressing on teachers and schools to become better and more equipped, yet seems to be paradoxically offering less in terms of funding. Teachers often complain about the detrimental effects this quest has had on their teaching careers. Standardized tests are becoming the norm and are the only things being taught. The budgets being placed onto them seems to be forever shrinking in size and exponentially growing in concern.

The decline of teacher’s job satisfaction has been ongoing since 2008. Simultaneously, the stress levels felt by both teachers and principals has been steadily on the rise. The majority of the stress hinges around student success, much of which is seen to have declined in recent years due to a slew of social conditions. A large preponderance of teachers report that catering to a student’s individual learning requirements is extremely important to them. But with the implementation of standardized education and tests, it’s also extremely difficult for it to happen.

However, the important thing about this saddening news is keeping everything in perspective.

Recent polling from the Gallup well-being index indicates something that may be shockingly bewildering after learning about this information: in terms of professions with a high well-being (both social and emotional), teachers were only second to physicians. The reason? Although teachers have taken what appears to be a happiness nosedive, the most accurate metaphor is that they wallowed into the deep end.

Chin Up; It’s Not as Bad as it Sounds

According to a recent New York Times article, teachers are actually enjoying a high amount of happiness. In fact, when queried, they were more apt to answer that they had smiled or laughed in the previous day than any other profession. Furthermore, they also came out on top when asked whether or not they experienced joy the day before.

How can these two contradictory phenomena exist? Simple. They’re not contradictory. They’re interconnected.

The Gallup poll showed a sizable decrease in teacher satisfaction, but only in their degree of satisfaction. More teachers are identifying themselves as “somewhat satisfied” as opposed to “very satisfied.” The number of the latter decreased as the first increased, indicating an inverse trend. Yet, the number of teachers feeling satisfied overall is still remarkably high. Only 17 percent of teachers felt either somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

But again, the article does cite that management in some form is the issue. Many teachers don’t feel like they’re being well managed in their faculties. But the important thing to take away from this all is that while there may be darkness in the news, there’s a definite silver lining in the numbers. Hopefully, as the issues in the educational system is resolved, the figures will return to the optimistic highs.