When 50% Quit in first 5 years, What's the answer?

This oughta catch your attention:

Jessica Jentis fit the profile of a typical American teacher.  She was white, held a master's degree and quit 2 1/2 years after starting her career.

No matter what one hears about the 'future of learning', you can't wrestle down the answer without first admitting that if 50% of all new teachers quit the profession in their first five years...you got a bit of a problem to work through.  Add to that the massive series of retirements that will take place as baby boomers prepare to try out 'leisure'...and perhaps it oughta become a national obsession to find a way to keep young teachers in the profession.  And I'm not sure that a small housing credit in NYC's inflated housing market will continue to hold the flood waters back.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Could it be because the basic premises of the education system are broken? It's not really remarkable that they're quitting...it's absurd to expect smart, passionate people to babysit large groups of angry teenagers in awful physical spaces for eight hours a day, theoretically trying to teach them things they don't care about, will never be able to apply and won't likely remember three days after the test.

Whoa...clearly I needed a quick vent.

[Brett]

Sorry, I have to flag this one. According to Mike Antonucci, the study isn't new, it isn't from the NEA, and it says nothing about whether teachers are likely to quit. Link here: http://www.eiaonline.com/2006/05/it-depends-on-what-meaning-of-word-new.html