Great article, well done!

I don't feel like I know or see much ahead of time when it comes to trends, and I couldn't agree with you more on your statement about people not noticing until it's too late!

Schools not having enough teachers was a trend I thought I saw coming, though. I had a fairly unique vantagepoint to watch this unfold, and I tried to play my hand for as long as I could. (I coached gymnastics for a decade, as a volunteer, in the same school district my children attended. Not beholden to school politics, or so I thought.)

People don't like some of my thoughts on this, and I'm not sure why. (they may very well be jaded and I just can't recognize it, perhaps?)

Please hear me out. See, I've long believed that "you teach people how to treat you"... so, when it came to teachers spending their meager salaries to supply classrooms, for example, I thought that was a horrible idea. I never advocated for it or thought it was a noble thing to do.

Students miss out on a valuable lesson when their teachers quietly stock the classroom with their own wallets. Adults miss out on the potential solutions and contributions of their students when they stock the classroom with their own wallets.

And districts miss out on... what, exactly? The teachers they employ come to work everyday, do more than their job requires, spend their own money to perform their job... they are getting what they need, in other words, with the budget they have allotted.

Only, that level of degradation of worth can only go on so long, right? Pretty soon, we'll hear stories of burnout and battle fatigue. And then shortages of staff...

Oh wait...