If there is something professors love and that I hate, it’s clichés. As an education major, I am asked the question, why do you to become a teacher in literally every single one of my classes. Beyond that, I am also asked that question when I tell people what I am majoring in, or what I am planning to do after college. God, it is completely infuriating.
Most of the time, the person who asked that question is looking for some cute and reasonable explanation about how a former teacher influenced my life or that I want to change the lives of children forever so they can be great people when they grow up.
Sure, there are hundreds of teachers out there who wanted to become teachers to educate children and make a difference in someone’s life, and by no means is that a bad thing. In fact, it is a beautiful and pure reason to dedicate yourself to the profession of education. Honestly, if you are becoming a teacher and you have no interest in educating students in content and life lessons, you are in the wrong field.
The problem that I have with clichés is that most of the time, they just sound so lame. Clichés originate from receiving the same answer over and over. They lack originality, and therefore the human touch. It’s like buying a hallmark card and pretending you wrote the stupid quote in the middle yourself.
Cliché response are boring. Everyone has a life, evening if you “don’t have a life”. We have all endured struggles and won battles. We have had glorious highs and monstrous lows and each one of those experiences has shaped us and guided us to become the people we are. Yet, when we are asked questions we give cliché answers because we think that is what people want to hear.
Answer questions with answers that are true to you. If you are applying to graduate school and you have to write a personal professional statement, please for the love of cheese, make it interesting. All colleges, universities, and employers are looking for something to make someone stand out. Sure, you could write about how beautiful you think their campus is and why you think you would be a good fit because you perfectly encompass their mission statement, but would it not be a better article if you wrote something interesting. How you were touring the dining hall and you choked on a piece of lettuce and someone performed the Heimlich to save you is a much more interesting application than, “The Merriman-Webster dictionary defines diligence as…”.
If you aspire to keep on with giving cliché answers to basic questions, go for it. All I want to tell you, however, is I know there is something more interesting about who you are and what drives you than the cliché answer you can give. Never be afraid to be interested in a subject and explore that subject with the world. Be human.
