Hey, it's Anna. I want to tell you that just as we were finishing this episode, we saw

the breaking news of the school shooting in Texas, 14 children and one teacher dead, as

I read this. The episode that follows is about the frustrations, pressures, and stresses

on teachers. We don't address the risk of violent death for showing up to work, or for

child showing up to school. I don't have anything original to say about that, just that we

are as horrified and sad as you are. But we decided to go ahead and share this episode with you,

because it says a lot about what teachers have been carrying this year, even before this latest

mass school shooting. This is Death, Sex, and Money. The show from WNYC about the things we think

about a lot, and need to talk about more, I'm Anna Sale.

It's the week leading up to Memorial Day, the holiday that signals it's just the very beginning

of summer. So much possibility about what's to come. Beach days, stoop parties,

crickets after dark, and of course the end of school. And we didn't want to let the final

school bell ring on this year. Without following up on a question, we asked teachers,

all the way back in January, when the Omicron Wave was cresting.

It feels like a little bit of a trap. We asked, why did you want to become a teacher?

Do other jobs get asked this question as much? Like, why are you a teacher?

I've wanted to be a teacher since I was a kid. When I was in high school, I had a few teachers

that looked past all of the horrible choices that I was making and helped me see the potential

that I had. Instead of playing house, I used to ask my friends to play school.

I'm being asked to share this sound bite showing how deeply my heart is invested in this work.

It just reinforces this idea that like, well, you're just, you're doing it for the fulfillment,

and not really be in it for the money. We also asked whether you were thinking about quitting.

...