Teaching Was Never Supposed to Hurt Like This

I never thought teaching would mean calling strangers at 7AM, begging them to send their kid to school. I didn’t sign up to be a truant officer, or a therapist, or the person who gets blamed when a kid disappears for weeks. Every time a student misses class, the school gets dinged. My job is on the line for something I can’t control. I watch my inbox fill with warnings and reminders, as if I’m not already drowning. The guilt settles in my chest, heavy and pointless. I just wanted to teach. That’s all. I wanted to show kids something new, not chase after them in parking lots or leave voicemails that never get returned. But here I am, punished for absences I can’t fix, wondering when it became my fault that some kids never show up at all. #TeacherConfessions #SystemicStress #BurnoutStories #Education