One uncomfortable truth you should probably confront is the hostility of conservatives. Education and educators specifically have been targets of hate campaigns for the last 40 years.
For the most part they deserve it. My mom went in to teaching in her older years after a successful career in corporate America. She also thought teachers were being unfairly targeted, but after interacting with teachers and administrators, she believes the targeting is not enough. She thinks we should blame them more. By and large the normal people end up leaving the profession.
People who went to college in the past 15 years saw something very different from others. Even Fox boomer news complaining about liberal colleges doesn't know the full extent of it.