Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Current Status of the Teaching Profession: The Case of South Carolina

A sea of approximately 10,000 people, dressed in “emergency” red, convened at the state capital in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, on the sunny Wednesday morning of May 1, 2019 (Bowers, 2019b). This statewide teacher walkout was assembled to call for the improvement of teachers’ working conditions and the learning environments of their students. The number of participants far surpassed the prior night’s estimation of 4,000 to 5,000. The crowd comprised of teachers from across South Carolina who walked out of their classrooms, as well as students, parents, university faculty, and other community members who rallied with teachers in solidarity. A teacher advocacy organization, SC for Ed, had organized and coordinated the #alloutMay1 teacher rally as a “day of reflection” for the state to bring attention to issues related to low salaries, increasing health care premiums, inadequate school funding, lack of mental health counselors in schools, unfavorable work conditions (such as the lack of guaranteed work break and protected classroom planning time during the school day), and an overall lack of respect for those in the education profession.