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In the modern world, the traditional problems of teachers have been compounded by many societal issues. Because teachers have such intimate contact with young people, many of the problems of the young are seen as interrelated with their school environment. It is not easy to separate causes from effects, but it is possible to trace a general outline.
The 1965 book Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman chronicled the struggles of a middle-class teacher working in a poor urban school. This book demonstrates some of the outstanding problems a teacher faces in many modern Western countries, particularly:
These problems can be seen in many places, but are particularly bad in inner-city areas of the United States. Since this book came out, these issues have for the most part not been addressed by those who could do something about them. On the contrary, they have been compounded by:
Few teachers stay in the profession for more than 5 years. Those who do are known by some as "career teachers", that is they consider teaching a vocation rather than a temporary job they accepted because there was a need for teachers or because they simply needed employment. However, some suggest that a proportion leave due to lack of support, low status, etc, as outlined above.
This is a very useful book for educating beginning teachers; it does show the problems, but the tone of the book is not hopeless. Other books are a little darker such as the Blackboard Jungle (even though, true to a 50's novel, things end up rather well, thus reinforcing "the teacher as hero" mythology.
In recent years many teachers and administrators have come under pressure to "inflate" failing students' grades and pass them along to the next grade. Critics contend that this is done so as not to harm the students' self-esteem, to let children stay with their friends, and to allow teachers to get rid of problem students. Defenders of the practice say that failing to promote a student can lead to that student being permanently tracked as an underachiever, with little opportunity to escape the "slow" track.
An increase in violence among students in many countries has resulted in serious concerns about safety. School massacres have occurred in several developed countries, such as the Columbine High School massacre in the United States and the Dunblane massacre in the United Kingdom. Teachers are understandably upset about these incidents, and though there is much dispute about their causes, there is little dispute about their effects. Even if the violent incidents are on a much smaller scale, constant concerns about safety create a stressful and unstable environment for both students and teachers
The general effect of these problems has been a shortage of teachers. Many areas of the U.S. (where?) have experienced teacher shortages, especially after highly-publicized school shootings. In desperation, administrators in these regions have lowered qualifications for becoming a teacher--often a provisional license can be obtained easily. This in turn has furthered the general lowering of standards, as people who have not had experience or training are not likely to be good teachers.