Yes, you know the pay, but the working conditions have changed drastically from the time some of today's teachers started out. Teaching used to be a job with a lot of creativity, a lot of autonomy, and a lot of respect. But high-stakes testing has changed the curriculum, and teachers have lost the flexibility to structure lessons to their classes and teaching styles. Children have changed, parents have changed, and respect has decreased. Full-time teaching today is very "data-driven" when it used to be "people-driven".
I can def agree on that but the caveat is it's been this way since I was young and in school..so over 20 years worth.
It's gotten worse that's for sure I know that but it's been test-driven, numbers oriented, teach this way for a while; no child left behind was in effect from 2001-2015 for example. For someone just starting out in the teaching field 20 years ago they may not have known what lie ahead but as time went on you knew that teaching mostly meant teaching for testing and that for the most part you needed to stick with what the districts wanted you to do (though this isn't every area). I feel like that's why I heard more and more about parents homeschooling their children, and e-schools, Montessori-based schools seem to be more prevalent, etc. It's not that I lay blame on the teachers because I don't but nor do I think it's been a recent development in how society and laws view teaching--so it's something that I see you would really have to look hard years and years ago if teaching was what you really wanted to do. I do agree in that the relationship teachers and parents have has changed quite a bit.
The only real difference in my area in recent years with the 3 big districts that I'm most familiar with, is that technology has been a big game changer as it has advanced quickly. We didn't have cell phones when we were kids nor iPADs..palm pilots were the fancy tech of the time (and my district sure didn't have palm pilots), chalk boards when I was in 5th grade were being transitioned to dry erase boards (and now you have smart dry erase boards), you had physical books and physical tests and now it's iPADs or Mac computers being used, etc.
My aunt is an elementary teacher so I get stories from her--she's actually supposed to retire at the end of this school year..we'll see if that sticks lol. Now she wouldn't talk about her income as that's not something most people talk openly about but she will talk about the challenges to teaching majority of students where spanish is their first language and english is a second language, she'll talk about the frustrations with dealing with the iPADs and she'll talk about the irritation that the school is changing and making the teachers stick with their students for example a 2nd grade teacher would move up for 1 year to become a 3rd grade teacher the following year in order to stick with the students they taught when they were considered 2nd graders.
If anything teaching is exactly like many people's jobs over time in terms of what was once a great thing is now not so much. Policies shift and change, rules get tightened, the dreaded acquisition from another company which can completely change how your work environment is depending on who bought your company out, management changes, etc.