Quiet quitting seems to be the new trend amongst employees. The idea of “Quiet Quitting” doesn’t involve quitting at all actually. It is about only working the hours you are paid; contract hours. While this seems understood in some occupations, in others like teaching the idea of working throughout the whole day has been pushed to an unbelievable degree. 

First, let’s get to the roots of Quiet Quitting.  The New York Post actually popped up in China of all places. Their headstrong and life straining work ethic lead to the idea of only working your paid hours. This came around 2009 but also had a new rise in recent years along with America’s trend. 

How it is affecting the school workplace?

CNBC had a great article about the benefits and downsides of Quiet Quitting. On one hand, it allows the teachers to ease their work and real life. Allowing teachers to separate work and home life gives them more freedom, which they do deserve. On the other hand, others have taken this Quiet Quitting to a degree that takes away the learning experience of students and also the activities that otherwise they would have been a part of.

I decided to survey some of the great teachers we have here at Bob Jones to take in how our teachers are doing. The response was a lot more poignant than I had originally thought. I asked how many hours they spend on work-related issues after their contract hours, and many of them worked several hours after class ends. As one teacher shared, “When I was a new teacher, I probably worked an additional 40 hours a week.” 

To many of us, the idea of working 40 hours without pay seems almost impossible to mentally survive. As of 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that most worked about 40.5 hours a week, yet a teacher doing that many hours AFTER a full week of work seems insane. 

Some teachers feel obligated to be the best, and it has led to an overabundance of stress. A Bob Jones teacher shared, “I have been sent into severe anxiety attacks over parent emails, student concerns such as housing, mental health, and bullying, along with countless other issues stemming from the classroom and high school.”

I feel it important to not gloss over that teachers care, care to a point where it can be harmful to themselves. Maybe the way our school system has idolized the perfect teacher has only sent some otherwise good teachers down the same rabbit hole of trying everything and anything, only to be burnt out by week two. 

In an example of quiet quitting, one teacher who exhibits “quiet quitting” said that he had barely any stress after his contract hours, and the obligation to do more and be more after those hours wasn’t apparent. I feel better knowing that the teachers I care for are getting the rest they need.

In the end, I stand in my opinion that the preconceived notions of the perfect teacher should be looked past for the better health of those actually teaching. I feel that if the teachers themselves are doing well mentally and emotionally, they will be better teachers in the end for us students, even if they aren’t doing school-related things outside of their normal work hours.