Aside from poor salaries and fringe benefits, the basic causes of teacher dropout are frustration and lack of status, both of which are greatly dependent on teacher workload. Components of workload are (1) a rigid school day and 35-hour week differing from freer patterns in higher-status occupations; (2) oversize classes which reduce teaching effectiveness thus increasing job dissatisfaction; (3) the lack of authority and facilities to deal with disruptive students and those disadvantaged by social class or reading ability; and (4) forced extracurricular activities and nonclassroom assignments which dissipate professional talent and energy. Many who leave teaching go not to private industry but to nonteaching jobs in education where salaries are only slightly higher but the wear-and-tear factors more favorable. Collective bargaining contracts have done little to change workload because even slight improvements are expensive. (To establish a four-period instructional day and a 25-pupil class size limit would require doubling the present workforce.) Attempted remedies have included demonstration programs (which may solve problems but double costs) and less expensive but not entirely successful team teaching and modular programing experiments. The use of paraprofessionals holds more promise, but better teacher organizations must be built to produce funds at all levels of government and to establish a system of priorities aimed at making teaching more attractive and productive. (JS)