For as long as I can remember, I have always had a love for kids. I would always want to be with the younger kids and take care of them, even though I was just a kid myself. It wasn’t until I got older that my passion with children grew. I was able to take multiple classes in high school and learned many different things about going into the education field. Once I got into college, it was a no-brainer on my decision to major in Elementary education. If you’re an education major, I am sure you can relate to most if not all of these!

“Why would you want to spend the rest of your life with bratty kids?”- Believe it or not, I have had this question asked multiple times and sometimes even by acquaintances. I always give them same reply each time, “I love kids and I always have. No matter how “bratty” or “naughty” kids can get, I will still love them because they are still learning and they are just kids.” It seems like an obvious answer but some people still seemed confused by my choice.

“You’re going to be in debt your entire life!”- I will be in shock if there is a single education major that has not heard this at least once in their life. It seems that people think that picking a career is all about the money you are making. Yes, I understand that I will not be making a lot of money as a teacher, but doesn’t that make my desire to want to pursue this degree a lot more noble? Us education majors are not out for the money. Most of us are pursuing this degree because we have a passion for children. We have a passion for wanting children to be successful. If you are picking a career solely based on the money perks, then you really need to reevaluate your life.

“You’re homework is so easy.”- I have had friends that always seem to be jealous of my homework because they think that it is super easy. I am not going to disagree completely. I understand our homework is nothing compared to accounting or humanities, but it is because it is different than other majors. Yes, it may seem like that all education majors do is read children books and color. But what most people don’t know, is all the things we are actually learning with those projects. Our professors don’t teach us one way to do something in their classrooms. They teach us multiple ways to reach a solution and allow the class to also think of different solutions. We as teachers have to look at every single problem, project, and assignment and have to think of all the different ways kids will reach a solution to this problem. I love my classes because even though they seem easy from the outside looking in, they really do shape us to be better-prepared teachers. I love that we are encouraged to think of different ways to reach a solution. Because in many classrooms you will have different abilities and as a teacher you have to know how to cater to all of those abilities. Next time I have someone say this to me, I will ask them to show me ten different ways to do an accounting problem.

“You are so lucky you will get summers off”- This is such a common misconception for many people. Most people think that teachers just sit on their butts all summer doing nothing and having a fun summer. That’s not always the case. A good majority of a teacher’s summer is spent making lesson plans. For people that have never done a lesson plan before, they are not fun and can sometimes take hours. There is so much detail that needs to go into a lesson plan. We are always told to make it so detailed that a sub could complete it with no problems. Also, a big thing I’ve been seeing more and more teachers do over the summer is taking classes. Whether that is getting a masters' degree in teaching or taking a class to learn more skills of becoming a teacher, we are teachers and are always looking for ways to better ourselves and our classrooms.

“I can definitely see you being a great teacher!” Finally, someone finally sees passed everything and actually looks at your skills and your personality and gives you the greatest compliment of all! I am not sure if it’s all the negative comments and questions that we education majors get or what, but as soon as someone says this to me, I get all gleeful and want to cry. I have been waiting my whole life to be a teacher and so hearing from other people that think I am the right person for the job makes my love for my major even stronger.

It takes a special type of person to be a teacher. It’s so easy to see who cares if their students are successful in the classroom. Passion is something that so many of my favorite teachers in high school have. I see it in my friends that are elementary education as well. If you don’t have a passion for what you are doing, then why are you even wasting your time? Passion is easy to see. Do it because you love it not because you have to. There will be many ups and downs as a teacher, I am well aware of that, but I am beyond excited to become a teacher and have my own classroom in just a few years!