My Disappointment with What Education & EdTech Has Become

My first ever job, aside from babysitting, was as a summer camp counselor. After I’d considered studying marketing and advertising, I ultimately chose to get my degree in education. Combined with my experience as a PreK-6 teacher, a higher education professional, and most recently a learning experience designer, I’ve spent 38 years as an educator or working with those who educate others. After 6 months of reflection, I’ve determined that it’s time for me to leave the education and EdTech industry.

Working in this field excited and inspired in my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. In my mid-50’s, I have been disappointed and disheartened. I entered education to make a difference, to educate, to foster understanding, and to create meaningful change. But that vision has been eroded, and the reality is far from what I had hoped. Leaders and funders of education initiatives in the public and private sector are satisfied with mediocrity. I am not. I can no longer “fight the good fight.”

A System Focused on Ticking Boxes Over Critical Thinking

At the dawn of Y2K, EdTech held such promise for me. I believed that technology could become a force for democratizing knowledge, making high-quality educational content accessible to all. Yet the industry has veered far from those ideals. Today, the priority isn’t on educating; it’s on “training” and entertaining. Platforms prioritize short-term engagement — attention-grabbing, gamified modules that hold a learner’s attention just long enough to complete a task. Deep thinking and problem solving are rarely required. It’s not education; it’s edutainment.

In education and the early years of EdTech, we strived to teach people to think. But over the past 10–20 years, the trend has been to reduce learning to superficial skill-building or compliance exercises. Instead of challenging learners to explore, question, and deepen their understanding, the industry has turned to bite-sized, mind-numbing training modules that “train” people on tasks rather than educating them on underlying concepts. Animals are trained; people are educated. That distinction has been ignored by most.

The Pay Is Abysmal and the Respect Is Worse

I have tired of people saying, “nobody gets into education for the money.” I call bullshit. How is it that smart and accomplished people who want to help society don’t want (and deserve) to get paid as well as any other profession?

In both education and EdTech, the compensation is terrible. Respect is even worse. After earning multiple advanced degrees and certifications including at NYU and Harvard, the financial reality of working in this industry has left me both frustrated and undervalued.

My first teaching job in 1992 paid me an annual salary of $35,000. I lived in a shitty basement apartment in a shitty neighborhood. I ate lots of ramen or free pizza my then boyfriend brought me from his job at Domino’s. His mom also made me some nice meals.

Today, the median salary for K-12 teachers in the U.S. hovers around $66,000, but that figure varies widely by region, and many teachers earn much less. According to a 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute, teachers earn about 23.5% less than other professionals with similar education and experience levels.

In the early 2000’s, I worked for an education dot.com. No longer did I have summers off. My starting salary was just above $50k. I advocated for myself when I learned how much more than me that my (nearly all male) colleagues earned. I left that particular job making about $70k.

Throughout the past twenty four years, I have held titles ranging from Manager and Director to Department Chair and Founder. I have supervised teams of two to fifteen. I have not cracked the salary ceiling of earning more than $92K. Compare my education and 54 years of life experience with the stats of recent grads of my alma maters who are expected to make more than $70,000 in their first year of employment, and about 30% expected to make more than $110,000.

As a learning experience designer, even with years of expertise, the financial rewards don’t come close to reflecting my skills, knowledge, education, or effort required. In EdTech the pay rarely matches the workload, especially as companies expect instructional designers to be experts in learning theory, technology integration, psychology, and even curriculum development. It’s no wonder that burnout is so high in this field. I contend that anyone who has ever hired me got an amazing deal for their money.

A Disregard for Expertise and Instructional Best Practices

The disregard for expertise and best practices is rampant in K-12 education. In my experience it is even worse in higher education. Corporate professional development? Eh.

Universities, colleges and corporations hire brilliant professors and field experts. Most of these experts lack fundamental knowledge of instructional design and adult learning best practices. As a result, they rely on learning experience designers to make their content more digestible, accessible, and engaging. Yet, despite needing our expertise, we are not respected for the professional skills we bring to the table.

Instructional best practices are essential in education, particularly when designing for adult learners. Teaching adults requires a deep understanding of motivation, cognitive load, and engagement strategies that are often overlooked. But rather than invest in instructional designers and learning experience professionals who understand these nuances, the industry increasingly favors quick, shallow solutions, further eroding the quality of the educational experiences we’re asked to build. Heck, you’d be mortified to know how much content we instructional designers have written ourselves because the subject matter experts provide incorrect content, incomplete information, or no content at all.

Education Reform That Goes Nowhere

For years, we have ALL heard talk of “reform” in both education and EdTech. There’s always a new initiative, a new platform, or a new approach that’s supposed to solve all the problems in education. But each reform falls short, often failing to address the root issues that plague the industry: underfunding, lack of resources, inadequate pay, and overreliance on standardized metrics. The potential is there, but with every short-lived trend and shallow “innovation,” the industry misses an opportunity for true progress. It’ll continue to be a shit show as everyone tries to capitalize on AI. Is it good, bad, evil or something else? (SPOILER ALERT: I think AI has lots of promise as a tool.)

Choosing to Do Good and Live Well Shouldn’t Be an Either/Or

Like many in this field, I entered with a vision of changing the world. I wanted to help people at any age, grade, and stage of life or career to learn, grow, and succeed. But as time marches on, I believe that staying in this industry means compromising my values. It’s made me downright angry. I’ve been mad at myself. I’ve been mad at lots of situations. I’ve resented some really smart and nice people who made choices I disagreed with.

To those who remain in the field: I respect your perseverance, and I hope that true change is still possible. But for me, I really have enjoyed the time I took to step away. Education is one of the most vital professions in society, yet it continues to be undervalued and diminished. I refuse to be part of an industry that doesn’t respect its mission or its professionals. Until that changes, I’ll be looking for the right position when the time comes.

Let’s work toward a world where education and thriving can coexist.

Thank you for reading, and for those of you who feel similarly, know you’re not alone.

What’s Next

I still don’t know what I will do next in my professional life. In the meantime, I’m going to keep loving my family and friends. I will make lots of pottery. I will enjoy time with Jack. I will aspire to be kind and a good person.

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