Becoming a teacher can be a scary thing, whether that be the pay, working with kids, or just working in a school. The

hardships of being an educator play into schools’ difficulty of hiring teachers.

Before 1980, education was the most common major for college students in the United States. Since then, it dropped to second, and now it’s all the way down to ninth. This drop has been present in everyday life at school, more commonly known as “the teacher shortage.” In Kansas alone, there are just under 2,000 available teaching positions to be filled.

Students and teachers have noticed the teacher shortage in the Maize District. Aubrey Hogan is a junior at Maize High who was originally going to pursue teaching, but decided against it when she found a love for culinary arts and baking. Hogan, however, has noticed the demand for teachers in our schools.

“I’ve noticed that we just don’t have enough [teachers], and since it’s so underpaid, no one wants to do it,” Hogan said. “I thought about becoming a grade school teacher, teaching either art or music, and like third to fifth grade.”

Maize district teachers have some ideas about why less students want to teach.

“I think first and foremost, it’s the pay,” Maize South Intro to Education teacher Jessica Schrum said. “When kids can go work at Meddy’s for $20 an hour straight out of high school, or they can start after a four-year college degree and then make $40 to $45,000, they do the math.”

There are also mental and emotional aspects as to why students would decide not to major in education.

“I feel like now people look down on it a little bit like ‘oh you’re a teacher because you couldn’t do this or that,’” Schrum said. “There’s more teacher burnout due to the higher demands that are placed on them.”

Despite the hardships, there are still students that decide to take on the challenge. Maize High Senior Cierra Trent is working to become an elementary school teacher because of the experiences that she has had.

“When I was in third grade, I struggled a lot with my education,” Trent said. “My teacher made a huge impact, she was battling cancer. I pretty much had D’s and F’s in every subject. She held my hand the whole year to help me pass. It holds a special place in my heart, and it makes me want to give back.”

The educators that teach the education classes in the Maize district are heavily encouraging students to become teachers if their hearts are fully in it.

“As long as you have a good administration supporting you, and you have good people that are within your department that work together like I have, then it makes your life a lot better,” education teacher Megan Sauer said. Even with the encouragement, Sauer still warns students about the heavy load that teaching can bring.

“Parents are changing, students are changing,” Sauer said. “And it’s not just teaching anymore, there’s a lot of extra things

that you have to do.”

As schools struggle to find teachers, it’s heartwarming to see that there are still students sticking to their goals of pursuing education, and their stories behind those decisions.

“I just know that when I was little, school was an escape for a lot of little kids,” Trent said. “I just want to contribute to making their life better and hopefully making it a safe environment.”