There are millions, maybe even billions, of people in the world attending a school of some form. All of these people need some kind of teacher or instructor. With an average ratio of 20:1, you have to figure there is a decent amount of teachers in the world too. Without these teachers, how would these millions of people receive an education? The answer is they wouldn't.
Being a teacher is not the most well-paying job by any means. I understand that, and any other education major understands as well. So we do not need to be reminded every time we talk about our future career. I do not wanna know how much doctors and lawyers make because I'm not doing it for a paycheck.
The fact of the matter is the majority of people who want to be a teacher do not do it for the money. They do it because they have a passion for teaching and helping young minds grow. Teaching is a very rewarding career. The rewards do not come in the form of a dollar bill but in the form of a child receiving their first A on a test, or finally understanding a concept they had been struggling with for weeks.
Being a teacher can be frustrating. You are responsible for helping children that have many different personality types. You have to know them and you have to know how each and every one of them will learn best from you. It is tough, but I am more than capable of handling it and doing it.
Another thing I wanna bring up is the fact that people always want to say that majoring in education is the "easy way out." Becoming a teacher is not easy at all. I went to a vocational high school and studied Early Childhood Education and even that was difficult at times. There is so much you have to learn and memorize in order to be an effective teacher. It is much more than reading books and grading tests. It is knowing every learning style and disability that could walk through your classroom door. It is knowing how to communicate with parents to make sure their child succeeds. It is learning how to create and implement lesson plans children will actually benefit from. It is not an easy way out at all. It requires a lot of attention, hard work, and commitment.
The bottom line is, I want to be a teacher. I want to receive teacher salary. I want to work over 40 hours a week. I want to be frustrated with my students sometimes. I want to grade tests over the weekend instead of going out. I want to devote a large part of my life to helping children. So if you are one of the many people who told me that I should not be a teacher, understand that I do not care about all of the cons this career path has. I am fully aware and I am ready for all of the challenges to come my way. I want to impact this world and I know that I can be successful in doing so with a career as a teacher.
To any other education majors, good luck and I can't wait to see how we all change the world.
