Introduction
The issues of work, employment, and society are those of crucial importance for the existence of mankind. According to Marx’s Exploitation theory, work and labor made a human out of a monkey, and only those human beings who are able of industrious and effective work are able of surviving in this world, while the strongest ones exploit others (Rainie, p. 12). Due to this fact, the issues of unemployment and social difficulties it can cause are of special significance nowadays, when globalization of markets, industries, and social sphere of life of all the countries of the world becomes overall (Kelly, p. 5). Thus, the present paper will focus on the educational employment rates, reasons for high retirement rates in education, and factors that make education a stressful and depressing profession.
Background of the problem
The issue of educational work being rather stressful and even dangerous for the health of teachers, instructors, health-carers, etc., has been under consideration for a long period of time. It is not surprising as figures from recent surveys show that numerous people who chose to be teachers are not able to cope with the stress they face in class and the time-spending they have to experience for the purposes of work decide now to drop their professions (Hennon, p. 32). They do so to find something better or sue the Government for moral harm this work causes to them:
Half of all teachers have thought about quitting because of stress. Lack of respect from pupils, heavy workload, and dealing with ‘pushy parents’ are all blamed, according to a YouGov survey in 2007.” (Hill, p. 5).
This picture is not unique for Great Britain because, in other countries, the situation is either the same or even worse. Historical data allows the researchers to state that the issue of the stressfulness of educational work has been considered long ago, at times when the Soviet Union existed, and the results of research on the topic were rather disappointing. “The nature of work and employment in the Soviet system and the role it played in the transformation of societies committed to ‘socialist’ alternatives to capitalism” (Rainnie, p. 12) was rather high, but the issues teachers had to face in class, including stress, lack of respect from pupils, etc. made their work rather dangerous (Hill, 5 – 6). Thus, the necessity of consideration of factors that make teachers’ work into something terrible “implies recognition of the complex, contradictory and geographically uneven nature of employment change” (Rainnie, p. 12).
Review
Consequently, the article under consideration in this paper is dedicated to one of the regions where educational stress and depression are of vital importance for the further development of society. It is great Britain, and it is said in the article that over the recent several years, the number of those who retire from education has exceeded the number of newcomers five times (Hill, p. 3). Drawing from this, the question is asked by the author inquiring about the nature and consequences of this phenomenon. According to Hill (2008), cases of suing the Government increase in number and start being successful for teachers. For example, “Muriel Benson, ahead of the year at a secondary school in the Wirral, won.47,000 compensation for illness caused by stress in an out-of-court settlement in 1999” (Hill, p. 2).
Moreover, young teachers do not want to take up their careers after a certain period spent in class as they have problems with health, private life breakdowns, and other problems connected to their huge amounts of time spent at work, which amounts to “the largest amount of unpaid overtime in the UK, at an average of 11 hours 36 minutes per week.” (Hill, p. 4). All this is further combined by the author with the innovations and reforms the Government applies to education, making it almost impossible for teachers to stand such pressure. The actual steps to solve this issue are not proposed by the author, but it is clear from the article that the issue is burning, and solutions are welcomed to deal with it.
Theoretical Analysis
Numerous theories were created to solve the problems of education and employment on the whole (Noon & Blyton, 2007). The two most important theories are Marx’s Exploitation and Harry Braverman’s Deskilling theory that are socialistic in their essence but differ in some aspects. Thus, Marx’s Exploitation theory is an initial form of socialism striving for communism through the phase of capitalism in its development. Thus, when communism is achieved, it will first need to be established through the dictatorship of the proletariat to stop the exploitation and allow all people to have equal rights of work and equal earnings from it (Kelly, 5). Thus, theoretically, according to Marxism, the issues of unequal and oppressed state of teachers in the system of employment can not be overcome until the phase of capitalism is in progress. Teachers who are stressed by their working conditions and plan to retire have the choice either to keep working or to drop their professions, seeking some better ways of earning their living (The Future of Work, 453).
Another helpful theory here is the one by Harry Braverman, who keeps to the point of view of Marxism but adjusts it to the modern conditions of society and capitalism. Mr. Braverman argues that capitalist society based on the ideals of individualism and personal benefit can not solve this issue from the point of view of lack of instruments for it, needing deskilling of labor as the major instrument (Kelly, 5). In other words, according to Harry Braverman, those who are satisfied with their benefits work, but those who are not, i. e., teachers, have their working inspirations worsened by stresses and thus create a shortage in the staff of education workers. Braverman also argues that the present distinction of the society into classes can not lead to the solution of the problem under consideration, and deskilling of labor, i. e. making it less stressful for teachers, is the only accessible way to deal with this issue as teachers often complain about the necessity to spend much time at work and fulfill functions of other social workers (Kelly, p. 5). There are also other theories to solve this issue in education. For example, Wilson (p. 111) and Alcock et al. (p. 14) propose the solution based on the support of the Government by citizens, while Hennon et al. ( p. 32) argue about the alternatives teachers can have instead of work in class, and Kohli et al. (p. 167) consider the family factor in decisions of teachers to drop their work and have more time for their own children and health. Moreover, Cancian (p. 309) argues about the necessity of governmental attention to the issues of education and ensuring proper welfare to those who plan to retire either to persuade them to stay or provide them with other employment opportunities.
Conclusions
To conclude, the issues touched upon in the article by Hill are of critical significance for modern society in the United Kingdom and in the whole world. The importance of scholarly works and theoretical solutions to these issues is evident especially taking into consideration the fact that “both work and employment relationships have changed over the past two decades in the industrialized countries” (The Future of Work, 453), and education is changing as well. So, the stress and depression in education become socially and politically important factors, and serious measures are needed to solve the problems they cause.
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