High School Teacher of the Year Willie Carver Quits - Another Casualty of the Culture Wars

Teacher Stories

America’s culture wars are driving great teachers out of the classroom, exacerbating a shortage that has reached critical levels in most states. The story of Willie Carver, an extraordinary English and French high school teacher from Kentucky, is especially tragic. He was selected as the state’s teacher of the year in 2022 and honored recently with 49 other outstanding teachers at the White House. He was beloved by his students and colleagues. But Carver was also an openly gay teacher and the recent hostility toward LGBTQ educators and students simply became too much for him. In this episode Carver explains why he made the painful decision to leave the classroom. Three of his student also describe what it was like having him as their teacher.