Yeah…the title probably could have been wittier. Not my best work. Anyway…
I’ve always been interested in politics/law. I’ve always done well in the classes and felt like I really enjoyed the material (as opposed to say, science). So, everyone began to assume that I wanted to be a lawyer, or a politician, or something like that. And for a long while I thought that’s what I wanted to do as well. But now that I’m about halfway through my junior year I don’t really feel like a career in law or government makes me feel excited like it used to. Now I’ve seriously begun to think about becoming a teacher and it’s something that’s really interesting to me. I’d love to coach a debate or quizbowl team at the school, and it’s something that I can actually picture myself doing. My parents are pretty ambivalent about it, and just say that if I pursue teaching I’ll be going to my financial safety (which makes sense to me). but people around me have begun making the typical statements: teachers make no money, teachers don’t get respected, you’d be wasting your talent/hard work, or teaching just isn’t a good profession. Though I do think living comfortably is important (and is my major concern about becoming a teacher), teaching does interest me more than any other career options I’ve looked into yet. My question is: how would you (personally) feel if your child wanted to pursue a career in teaching?
IMO, those who say they don’t want their child to become a teacher form the foundation of the vast majority of problems with our educational system.
Personally, I have a lot of teachers in my in-law family. They live comfortably enough and, more importantly, they absolutely are in love with what they do.
I’d say go for it. Passionate, engaged teachers are severely lacking because of stigma around the profession.
OK. I admit that it wouldn’t be my first choice for ds. Dh is a teacher, and he is so poorly compensated for his hard work. He’s excellent – National Board certified. But we’ve stressed to ds that the only reason we live as well as we do is because I was the primary breadwinner for years and years before I quit work and that that’s how we afford this house and still have savings, etc. He won’t be able to live like we do on his salary … unless he, too, marries well.
That said, the boys know we highly value education and think it’s a noble profession.
If my child wanted to be a teacher, I would feel like they would be in for a rewarding career, but would be undoubtedly not appreciated or acknowledged for their work by larger society, including those who sign their checks.
Teaching is not nearly the underpaid profession many make it out to be. The mean salary is somewhere around 56K per year. I know they start above 40K per year here in North Texas. According to the NEA the average starting salary nationwide is over 36K.
When you factor in the aforementioned vacation time (which for many reduces the costs of parenting due to lower day care costs) and possibility of getting tenure (not something you get in most professions) it is not too bad. Ultimately, teaching is a calling not a job. Until the teacher’s unions get on board with paying the best teachers more money, we will continue to get mediocre results.
While that money may not seem like much compared to athletes or engineers, it is a lot more than most of us with Political Science degrees get starting out.
One of my Ds is a teacher, and another is a lawyer. Both are happy in their careers, as are their 3 sisters in theirs. My teacher D loves her job, loves the kids, and can’t imagine doing anything else. Teaching should be a calling, but sadly, it isn’t for everyone who goes into it. Teachers in Ontario earn a very good salary, but I know that not everywhere in the U.S. is as fortunate for teachers.
Oh please. Could we not turn this into yet another teacher bashing thread with all kinds of info about how teachers are overpaid and don’t work much?
To the OP, if you want to pursue a career in teaching…then go for it. Your initial compensation as a teacher isn’t going to be high…but it will get better. some teachers also find that they can supplement their earnings tutoring students.
If it’s what you think you want to do, I would suggest you shadow a teacher for a full day…and see what it’s like. Make sure you get there when the teacher is required to arrive in the morning, and plan to stay until when they leave. Their work day is longer than your school day. Look carefully at the responsibilities they have…including the actual teaching, data collection, discipline, planning, grading, etc. Also, discuss what this teacher does on their own time to make sure that what happens in the classroom happens.
I was a career public school educator, and I loved my work. There were times when it was not a walk in the park, however.
thumper, chill out. This is not teacher bashing. My father was a teacher after a career in the military. I was very close to completing the certification thing myself and was offered a teaching position at a tiny private school, but they folded.
Teachers are not overpaid, but they do not make poor salaries and they did often 20-30 years ago. Most of the problems teachers face are due to their misguided unions, not the teachers themselves.
Oh please, Thumper, there is no need to hurl a “protective” salvo. There are two ways to look at the same data with both evidence of being underpaid (many are) or overpaid (many are) or working too much (many are) or hardly working at all (many are.) There are people who enter the profession as it represents their calling – several in family have done just that. And others who left a managerial profession because of the ability to pick the kids from school everyday, to never worry about conflicting vacation dates, never worry about the snow days or “program days” to let the kids watch a Presidential inauguration “live” and … find the benefits great enough to allow the spouse to pursue an entrepreneurial career.
There are reasons why the profession used to be the perfect career for one spouse. There are NO reason why both sides of the equation should not be discussed.
For the record, and for the nth time, teachers and especially the young talented ones are just as victimized by the “system” than the pupils are. It is a system that offers little distinction between the hard working and talented one and the … well, you know what I am about to say!
Teaching is a noble and rewarding profession, though salary is fairly low compared to other jobs.
My son is in his 3rd year teaching high school English in a small school district. He enjoys his profession and cares about his “kids”, he make us so very proud. He did not get into the teaching profession because of “Easter, Xmas, June, July and August” as xiggli commented, but for that low salary, yeah, he should have those days/months off, lol.
When my son started high school, we NEVER expected him to be a teacher, we thought he would be in the area of law or politics and would go to law school. He was heavily involved in debate and Model Congress clubs in high school, then came this inspiring English teacher in his junior year who literally changed his future ambition and solidified his love for the English language and literature, my son knew he wanted to be a teacher from that point on, he wanted to be just like Mrs.XXX who had a true love for English and her students.
We supported his decision to be a teacher because (1) that’s his passion and that’s what he wanted to do, (2) he has the right personality (sociable and kind) and we know he would be good at it.
My mother was a teacher, and, yeah, she married well, and that was part of the deal. (She went to law school before deciding to teach instead, and married someone she met there.) She really loved her life. Over the course of her career, she taught middle school, high school, college, graduate school, and adult education.
Teaching does not pay as well as it should (although perhaps that will change over time), but there are certainly places where it pays enough to live a modestly comfortable life, as long as you don’t have to send your kids to college. (Ha-ha.) It really depends what your expectations are.
Many teachers don’t “just teach,” too. It’s hard to learn to be a teacher, and really all-encompassing at the outset of your career, but I think there comes a time when they can branch out without slighting their students. They write, they start side businesses that can be very satisfying; they coach; they perform; they get involved in politics. They also become principals and superintendents. The profession isn’t a straitjacket. That’s not to say that teaching alone isn’t demanding, rewarding, and respectable in and of itself. It is.
One of my kids taught high school for a few years after college. We would absolutely have encouraged her to stay with it long term, but she decided that she wasn’t that talented as a teacher, and that she could accomplish more elsewhere. She is still very engaged in public education. Another kid spent most of last summer supervising/directing/teaching a bunch of high school students in a summer job program, and he just loved it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if someday he decided to become a teacher.
I would encourage anyone interested in teaching, however, to do some of it before committing. It isn’t for everyone. It wasn’t for me. Keep your options open until you are sure.
I love the “off at 3 p.m., lots of vacation time and of course June, July and August”. My niece is a teacher and there hasn’t been a summer yet that she’s had June, July and August off. She has 2.5 Master’s degrees that she worked on during summers. When she finishes that third one, she’ll go for a Ph. D. She’s taught summer school, community college classes, taken her language classes to Canada (Quebec) and to Europe, and coaches a sport which practices for part of the summer. She’s busier than anyone in my family with a “real” job! She’s also in early and out late to coach and tutor.
OP, she loves what she does. She may not “live well” by some CC standards, but she can pay for her advanced degrees, some travel learning, has paid off her (small) undergrad loans, and has a late model car. She has never wanted to do anything else and parents write to the paper praising her. She was 2nd in her HS class and “could have gone anywhere” to major in “anything”. Her parents were her biggest cheerleaders.
My D wants to be a teacher. She’s already volunteered at a summer camp and after school program and this year is helping out at a preschool during her breaks. She has no doubt in her mind that it’s for her and we support it 100%. Who WOULDN’T want a smart, driven person helping to shape our future? Who WOULDN’T want such a teacher working with not just the “best and brightest” but the struggling kids and the special needs kids? We certainly do.
Teaching may not be ibanking, engineering, law or medicine but thank goodness not all college students want that for themselves. We already hear “But she’s so bright…” and “Why does she want to be “just” a teacher?” She says it more eloquently than I do, but she wants to be an inspiration, a guide, a tutor and a kind presence for kids who need all of those things and more, so that they will have a better shot in life. I already see the difference she makes with the after school kids. I believe that teachers like she will be deserve far more respect than they get. June, July and August indeed.
To make a difference in the life of a child? Priceless!
I hope young would-be teachers are also considering special education. More paperwork, more stress, but also more in demand in most districts and very rewarding.
@sseamom, I wish your daughter (and OP) a long and satisfying career.
I fully believe in a system where teachers earn higher salaries as they have to be representative of their education. I believe they should get the respect true professionals do get. I further believe they should function in a system that clings on an agrarian model and relies on CBA extorted 180 days.
The basic problem is that our system prefers a system that relies on the poorest academic performers to earn wages that reflect their subpar education and balance a system of planned seniority. Graduates from abysmal education colleges are getting wages that are on par with their qualifications and, like it or not, their annual salaries do reflect those 180 days of expected service.
We DO deserve a better system, but the changes will not happen anytime soon.
I don’t think the starting salary in teaching is too bad; depending on where you are it can range from the 30s-50s. That’s likely on par with a lot of entry level jobs taken by college grads – i.e. your typical office jobs that are not on a track like engineering or investment banking or consulting. Problem is that the salary when you’re in your 40s or 50s doesn’t bounce the same way it does for a liberal arts major just starting out at 22 and being a manager at a company in their 40s.
Money aside – and this will bring out a thousand critics – I wouldn’t be too keen on a strong student pursuing teaching. Sorry to say it. You are going into a under-respected, underpaid profession and all because you THINK you will be an “inspiration” or a “guide” to students!? How many people really care that deeply or are affected that deeply by their teachers? You take a financial hit for 40 yrs of your life, just for the chance of inspiring one kid every 10 years? And while there are lots of professions that are unrespected – at least they are well compensated; even the posters on this thread have said teaching worked out for them because they married a professional. Most teachers don’t inspire anyone (they don’t care to do it - and kids don’t care to be inspired) – they stand up there and teach the same lessons over and over year after year, so yeah, I can see why people wonder why a smart kid wants to be “just” a teacher.
I mean if inspiring kids or coaching quiz bowl is that important – why not take on a volunteer coaching gig in your free time?
My daughter is a teacher, but she’s looking to get out - she said she doesn’t get to teach very much because how she teaches the curriculum is completely out of her hands since the implementation of Common Core, and that she spends more time documenting than she does teaching.
You all are giving me a lot to think about, thanks. And i guess I’d agree that teaching becomes less of a burdensome job when another person is working professionaly. Teaching isn’t something I have to start automatically either, so it may also be best used as a job after the professional one as others also said. Thanks for your insight
