As an education major, it seems as though everyone discredits your major and all the work you do- all your classwork, all the hours of student teaching, the lesson planning, EVERYTHING. Because you're not a science, business, or medical major, you are often made to feel unimportant and less-than. "Those who can't do, teach." I'm sure someone's said that to you once or twice. It can be so hard at times to passionately and genuinely want to be a teacher when it seems as though everyone around you tears you down because of it. It takes a special person to want to be a teacher, let alone still want to be a teacher after constantly being told how little money you're going to make, how easy your classes are, how much time you have on your hands, how your finals aren't hard, and the list goes on and on forever.
But, while there are plenty of people who belittle you because you're an education major, there are also many people who admire you for it. So, to those people that appreciate education majors...
Thank you for your acceptance.
Thank you for simply accepting our choice to study to become a teacher, instead of attempting to convince us that our time would be better spent studying something else.
Thank you for not talking down on teachers' salaries.
As education majors, we all know full well that we're not going to be pulling in six figures. No one goes into education for the money. But, what makes teachers different than people who pursue any other profession is that we know that we'll more than likely have to live paycheck to paycheck, but we choose to become teachers anyway. Because, for us future teachers, it is more important to serve our students and our community than live a lavish lifestyle.
Thank you for recognizing that it takes a special person to become a teacher.
Not everyone can be willing to sacrifice as much as teachers have to sacrifice, and put up with as much as teachers have to put up with. Thank you for recognizing that by becoming teachers, we are following our callings in life. Thank you for recognizing teaching is one of those professions that not everyone can do, it takes a special someone.
Thank you for validating the classes education majors take.
Just because education majors aren't majoring in a "hard" major like biology or chemistry, doesn't mean that our classes are easy-breezy. Like all classes in college, they're a lot of work and require lots of time put into them. Thank you for recognizing that education majors have plenty of homework, tests, finals, and lots of studying to do, just like any other major does.
Thank you for supporting education majors.
As an education major, we're constantly questioning if we're in the right major. People are always reminding us about all the down sides to becoming a teacher, and constantly make us wonder if teaching really is for us. Thank you for supporting education majors. Thank you for reminding us that we are in the right major, and that all our hard work and sacrifices will be rewarded not in the form of money, but in the form of a visit from a former student of ours who tells us that because of us, he didn't give up.