Teacher turned Comedian uses brilliant 'horse analogy' to explain why teachers are quitting the job

A small survey of 468 teachers by the University of Missouri found that the majority (78%) of them have seriously considered quitting the profession since the 2020 pandemic. But why? Teachers reported different reasons, but the common ones were excessive workloads, inadequate compensation, and challenging student behaviors. However, another less commonly discussed reason was a lack of administrative support. Lou Pharis (@lou_pharis), a teacher and also a stand-up comedian from Denver, Colorado, explained it using a hilarious horse analogy. He posted the video on Instagram on November 5, where it warmed the hearts of many.

He called out people for blaming teachers when, in reality, the fault actually lies with the education system. Pharis said, "When I first started teaching, I was told that teaching is like the old phrase, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.'" However, his perspective changed as he gained firsthand experience. "Now that I have been teaching for a while, I have decided that's inaccurate," he said. So, what did he do? Well, he just updated the phrase to "Teaching is like leading 30 horses to an underfunded puddle." He continued, "And the entire time you are leading them, you are like, 'Why on Earth did I ever want to work with horses?' Horses are so mean." Pharis used his analogy to explain how teachers who constantly worry about their students are often disturbed when they find kids indulging in inappropriate activities. However, when the teacher tries to guide students back onto the right path, they fail to do so due to the system. "You notice one of the horses is vaping. So you go over, and you take the vape from the horse, and you are like, 'You are a teenage horse. This is so bad for you. Do you know what this is?'" the comedian asked. However, in situations like this, when teachers take charge and call up the parents, they end up getting accused of not making the "puddle more engaging." In this case, the "puddle" potentially refers to their class lesson. In the end, Pharis joked that that's why teachers quit and take up other jobs like bartending, choosing peace over a noble profession. 

Surprisingly, many teachers in the comments agreed with the comedian and shared their own experiences with teaching. For instance, @vegaspecan commented, "I described teaching as a bad relationship: you stay for the kids, and you never have enough money to leave. I quit after 2 years, and I am about to graduate from medical school, and I find being a doctor less stressful than teaching."

@craigtaylor392 wrote, "It is absolutely the perfect description of teaching. I talked to kids with mental health issues for 20 years, and this is an accurate description of public schools today." @tama_inutori shared, "I teach 3-year-olds. It boggles my mind how they think we're going to teach a liberal agenda when they're not even getting the basics and classroom management." @katy_katie_katu_kat commented, "Teaching is like leading 30 horses to an underfunded puddle while the horses are kicking each other and you, all of the horses' owners, and other farmers are screaming at you." @premierequinemassage joked, "This is an unfair analogy for horses. They don’t deserve this slander. Try 30 underfunded stray cats and try to herd those meow-meows."

You can follow Lou Pharis (@lou_pharis) on Instagram for more funny content.

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