Others would like to offer assistance to new teachers but feel their efforts would be viewed as interference. Many experienced teachers feel that the principal alone is responsible for assisting new teachers. Beginning teachers contribute to their own isolation when they hesitate to ask for help. Many consider seeking help an admission of failure and incompetence. It is true that growing numbers of adults in their late twenties, thirties, and beyond are now entering or reentering teaching, but the majority of beginning teachers continue to be young adults.
Conflict often exists between the roles of teacher and young adult.
The new teacher may be living away from home or the safety of college for the first time and may have just moved to a new community. He may be opening bank or charge accounts, renting and furnishing an apartment, or buying a car for the first time. He may be beginning a marriage or starting a family. A nonteaching spouse may be unable to relate to the teacher's concerns about what is happening at school or understand why he spends so much more time and energy on schoolwork than on the family. The conflict between the roles of teacher and young adult often leads new teachers to perceive that neither role is being given sufficient time and attention.