At the age of 86, agriculture teacher Gerald Bonds has seen plenty of crises during his career.He sees no reason to leave the profession over the coronavirus crisis.Bonds is in his 58th year of teaching at Farmington High School in Farmington, New Mexico.And, like most teachers in his state, he has been instructing his students from home, which he truly dislikes."I hate it. I want to see the students face to face and talk to them," Bonds told reporters with The Associated Press (AP).Some teachers have retired early or taken leave because of the difficulties of distance learning and the health risks of in-person teaching.But many longtime instructors like Bonds are choosing to stay.The states of New Mexico and Maine have the oldest teachers in the country, with one in four older than 55.That information comes from a 2018 study of teachers and school leaders by the National Center for Education Statistics.
