“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
When asked this question as a little girl, I never hesitated, “An Elementary School Teacher!”
When I was young, I was obsessed with “playing school” as the teacher to “my little kids.” I spent hours and hours preparing tests, homework sheets and lesson plans, carefully constructing posters, pictures, and alphabet letters, and neatly decorating my pretend classroom in the basement. I went through hundreds of expo markers, pencils, and name tags. I loved teaching my invisible students – including my tired, but willing, parents when I could convince them to be my students for the day.
The idea of being a teacher was unquestionable – I loved kids, I loved the idea of teaching them new things and I loved the preparation and organization it took. Teaching was exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up.
However, I faced a bit of a reality check before I started college...
Any time I brought up the idea of being a teacher, people would react negatively.
Many would say I need to be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort into a field that would lead me to taking home a very small paycheck. Even some of my teachers told me about the harsh realities of teaching and how I must accept them before I decide to commit my life to it. One of my counselors even told me I must be prepared to put in so much work with very little reward.
All those years of desperately wanting to major in education and have an impact on younger generations was now gone. I was persuaded by so many not to pursue a career in education even with a strong passion to teach and an even stronger passion to be financially stable and successful.
But did I make the right decision?
Honestly, I still have regrets about not majoring in education...
Teachers are some of the most impactful people when it comes to the growth of children. Everyone has that one teacher that they’ll never forget, their favorite teacher that somehow impacted them for the better. Teachers are undoubtedly undervalued. They are molding our future generations, yet so many teachers are not fairly compensated for this huge responsibility.
It truly saddens me when I look back and reflect on how the negative impact of teaching outweighed my passion for a financially successful career. However, while I know I will do well in the business world, a part of me will always wonder about how good of a teacher I could have been. Who knows, maybe if this strong passion for teaching still burns inside me I could end up in your children’s classrooms one day.
