I was a teacher in NJ and have multiple high school subject area certs plus a bilingual endorsement. I love teaching and have even been awarded "teacher of the year". I quit last June and I'm so glad I did. The question I faced year after year was: Should I sacrifice all my free time and work 80 hours per week for no additional pay to protect children in poverty from being burdened by the failures of our society or should I ignore and numb myself what's happening to kids and do the minimum to get my pay check and have a life or should I leave and devote myself to tackling some other important problem that has any actual chance of succeeding? I picked option 3 and left the field. I'm still in public service but now in local government supporting small time entrepreneurs where I have more resources and support to effect positive change. I ended up making more positive impact for less headache outside the absolute mire of education.