I am really over the "Just leave if you don't like it" comment. The choice to leave is not as simple as it sounds.

If you are a member of the "Just leave if you don't like it" club please understand that this is just about the most tone deaf and self centered take that you can have.<br><br>Here is a very honest list of why I am not leaving the classroom. <br><br>1. I have spent 25 years of my life getting educated to be a teacher. I have a student loan debt that is crippling. I am not about to just walk away. You want to pay for my ivy league education? I will quit. You want to pay for my two masters degrees? I will quit. I spent everything on becoming a teacher, I have too much invested in this career to just walk away.<br><br>2. I am 40 years old with middle school aged children, a house, and car payments. I am not about to just up and change careers. That is just not a viable option for most of us. Some of us literally can not afford to leave teaching. <br><br>3. I don't know what else I can do. I have been trained since I was five years old to be a teacher. I have no other job skills. I am not capable of doing anything else but teaching. I am not going to "just transition" in to another field. I was trained to be an educator. I am an educator. The idea that anyone can "just transition" is just plain ignorant. <br><br>4. I have a teaching contract that I can not legally get out of. I would end up with a lawsuit against me. Don't like it? Sue me. I would be the first one named. <br><br>5. I have literally invested my whole life in teaching. Teaching is my passion. I just love teaching. However, I am just over everything else in a middle school that has nothing to do with teaching. I am over being a social worker, a nurse, a counselor, and a security guard. Teaching is a calling, and even though things are bad I refuse to give up.<br><br>So when you say "Just leave if you don't like it" you are completely diminishing and undermining the lives and struggles of educators. It is not that simple. It is not that easy. It is not that financially viable.