Education Major looking for Help!

<p>Hello. I am looking for words of wisdom about majoring in education and teaching in general. If you're a teacher, professor, education major or just know the field well, your answers and replies are invaluable to me.</p>

<p>I've been considering going into teaching for a while but have been leary of it because of the way our educational system is headed and (at least from what I have seen) lack of job security, if you can even find a job at all. </p>

<p>I was considering elementary education because I love children but think I would be much better suited to a secondary setting. I've considered a degree in Visual Arts Education with a minor in Music Education because so many schools are lacking art teachers but since so many schools are cutting back, those jobs are of course among the first to go. I've also considered both English and Mathematics as more realistic feilds, but as far as that goes, I think I'm just going to have to take courses in both and see which interests me most as far as making a career out of it goes.</p>

<p>Another reason I think I'm so concerned is because my cousins wife, who graduated at the top of her class from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a year studying abroad at Oxford hasn't been able to find a job (except part time temporary jobs as a Teacher's Assistant) in the three or so years she's been graduated and has been forced to go back to school.</p>

<p>I guess I'm just trying to get as many opinions from as many people - especially education majors and teachers - as I possibly can because I don't want to graduate and not be able to find a job, and be stuck with heaps of student loan debt and no job to pay it back.</p>

<p>Some other information:</p>

<p>I am going to school in Michigan at Saginaw Valley State University and if everything goes according to plan, I hope to teach in the town I grew up in, which is in a very rural and not wealthy area, but if that doesn't work out, I will most likely move to Oakland county where my family is now, and teach there.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear your cousin’s wife has struggled to find a permanent position. What was her specific degree from UW-M? Has she gone back to school for a master’s in education, or is she going to enter another field?</p>

<p>I think it’s wise to identify the specific needs in your area, as you seem to be doing, before choosing your degree program.</p>