Bite-Sized Breakthroughs: Sociology & the Teacher Shortage
Mary Charlotte Sterling '25.
Sociology research looks at the teacher-shortage crisis through a Virginia school
by Tony Moore
Curiosity drives everything at Dickinson. In labs, studios, archives and communities around the world, students and faculty are asking questions big and small—and often finding surprising answers. Here's a look at a recent query.
Department: Sociology
Researcher:
Mary Charlotte Sterling ’25 (sociology; now Dickinson's AmeriCorps VISTA representative with the Center for Civic Learning & Action)
Project:
"From Purpose to Precarity: The Deprofessionalization of Public Elementary School Teachers in Richmond, Virginia ": Through qualitative interviews with nine former Richmond elementary educators, and guided through Marx's theory of alienation and Hochschild's emotional labor, Sterling analyzed how structural conditions in education are pushing even our most passionate educators out of the field.
Why it matters:
As Sterling explains: “Nationally, teachers are exiting the profession at an alarming rate, fueling what many call a teacher shortage crisis. Rather than attributing the exodus to a lack of qualified teachers, this research reveals how teaching—particularly in feminized, under-resourced environments like Title I schools—has become structurally unsustainable. By examining these dynamics through the voices of teachers themselves from Richmond, this study reframed attrition among teachers as a systemic breakdown that demands serious reconsideration of how we structure, support and ultimately respect the teaching profession."
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Published December 17, 2025