Madeline Arndt

Georgia’s Dropout Crisis

VTFT 2
The Dropout Crisis

As the bell rings and the hallway floods with an army of tiny humans rushing into battle,

the teacher, outnumbered on all accounts, rolls up his sleeves and prepares to fight. Usually when

a soldier is so disproportionately outnumbered, a surrender is the most rational option to preserve

one’s safety – teachers must not be rational. As they part the wave of oncoming students using

nothing but their confidence and learning as their vessel, the war is won, every single day. A

teacher’s work is more than simply implementing lesson plans, but building crucial relationships

and introducing young minds to the world around them. The front lines of education lie at the

feet of teachers, yet often stipulations from higher powers complicate their already impossible

task. Due to the requirement of countless standardized tests, data based teacher evaluations, and

unsustainable pay, teachers nationally struggle to inspire the youth of America. Due to the

devolvement in the way mandated teaching currently stands, teachers, specifically in Georgia,

are dropping like flies.

Teaching is no longer just teaching. Teaching is standardized testing and their

corresponding results. In Georgia, the shrinking retention rate of teachers is largely due to the

overwhelming emphasis on a menagerie of mandatory state assessments. Hierarchies who have

never stepped foot in a classroom setting ultimately determined that data was needed from

students to truly show growth. The notion that tests represent learning is a blurred area - in many

instances tests do not represent a student’s full growth. A student can learn lessons about life and

retain material, yet still score poorly on a test. With such heavy emphasis on test performance,

teachers are evaluated on scores. Through the Teacher Keys Evaluation System (TKES) teachers

in Georgia are evaluated based on raw test scores (Owens 4). A student’s success is not only
 Madeline Arndt
Georgia’s Dropout Crisis
VTFT 2
reflective of the teacher. This system burdens teachers with the responsibility of taking a gaggle

of kids, from all different home situations and work ethic levels, and teaching them all the same

material for the same test solely by themselves. This notion is simply unfair. The student,

parents, and teacher act as a team in regards to a student’s performance (Owens 4). The TKES

system inflates teachers with stress over scores that they are only partially responsible for.

Teaching based on standardized tests and their complementary scores pushes teachers away from

the profession they love.

Teachers are responsible for opening the doors of opportunity to the youth of the nation,

yet they are tossed to the side as if they are very little. Teachers are literally responsible for

teaching young people how to think, yet they are paid nothing. With the rising prices of real

estate and inflation, teachers simply are not compensated wages to firmly support themselves.

Although their job is innately necessary to the betterment of the future, their pay by no means

reflects that. A high school teacher from Georgia expresses that, “(He) feels like (he) needs a

second job to support (his) teaching habit,” (Owens 5) There is no doubt that teachers love their

profession, but the nature of teaching is becoming more arduous without the pay to compensate.

Ultimately teachers must choose between being able to sustain themselves on a decent salary and

teaching – often money wins the battle.

Not many people choose to single-handedly fight an army of tiny humans every day of

their lives, but teachers do. The nature of the job is already complex; Why make it more

difficult? If teachers were paid sustainable wages and given more freedom in the classroom to

simply teach, then retention rates will not plummet. The future of Georgia’s Department of

Education is uncertain, but the state should advocate for their teachers. After all, they don’t really
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Georgia’s Dropout Crisis
VTFT 2
have a choice anymore. Either teachers can be given what they deserve or they will slowly

disappear.

Works Cited

Owens, Stephen J. “Georgia’s Teacher Dropout Crisis.” Dec. 2015.

 Madeline Arndt
Georgia’s Dropout Crisis
VTFT 2