During the half-century, few people anticipated a negative force that could undermine all that schools and teachers were able to achieve. Few if any educators envisioned a time when classroom education would be disrupted, not only by a health emergency but also by politics, politicians and, in some cases, people led astray about decision-making that should be left to the educational professionals.

Unfortunately, that time has come, and people here and across America need to become alarmed over the situation that has evolved and that continues to worsen, probably unbeknownst to many adults.

It is time to think about the many teachers who, no matter how emotionally torn over the decision, already have exited their profession since the start of the pandemic, seeking opportunities in other fields.

Many of them have burned out over toggling between online and classroom instruction, amid the shifting pandemic health and safety protocols and, in some cases, tiring over the second-guessing of parents and others about what is taught in their classes.

“The rate of people quitting jobs in educational services rose more than in any other industry in 2021,” according to a Feb. 1 article in the Wall Street Journal.

The article went on to say that “the exodus is worsening a nationwide teacher shortage and proving a boon to hiring managers in industries such as IT services and consulting, hospitals and software development. Teachers’ ability to absorb and transmit information quickly, manage stress and multitask are high-demand skills, recruiters and career coaches say.”

With nearly 550,000 educators across the U.S. having resigned from their school jobs between January and November of last year, and with substitute-teacher ranks anemic, many school systems already are hurting and anticipating even more challenging times ahead. Trouble is, for many districts, competing against a much-higher-paying profession offers few options; some school officials are quick to say “no options.”

The pandemic has caused some teachers to feel that they are on a sinking ship. Until stability returns to the size of teacher ranks, the question that seems destined to linger is whether the annual crop of new teachers finishing college will be sufficient to meet classroom needs, especially since some are likely to opt for other opportunities. And no legislative option seems like a realistic solution.

Only defeat of the pandemic would be a big step in the right direction.