As a high school student, I remember constantly questioning my teachers and their motivation to teach. I criticized their delivery, assignments, classroom management, and abilities to do anything remotely normal in their lives. Most of all, I questioned their motives. Were they teaching to actually educate the youth of America, or did they just take the job for the benefits and vacations? And not once did I ever put myself in their shoes, or dream that one day I’d be doing the exact same job and dealing with the exact same ornery attitudes. And not once did I ever imagine the true benefits of that job, beyond the insurance and retirement (because what high school student actually thinks of that?), the short work days, and the summers off.
Growing up as the child of a teacher, I never paid attention to how much my mother actually worked. Her day began hours before that bell at 7:45 a.m., and ended long after we were tucked into bed. But children are clueless, so we blithely ignored her toil and just assumed she liked coffee, hated sleep, and graded essays at home for fun. Now that my chosen profession has become education, I understand just what she went through all those years.
Teaching high school is many things. It’s exhausting, intimidating, terrifying, exasperating, and altogether a harrowing experience. The workload alone is enough to scare away the weak of heart. The education classes we are forced to take for certification are pedantic and redundant and time-consuming, however, effective they may be. The observation hours and field experience requirements seem astronomical, especially to a student with a job and family and life. And let’s not forget the universal truth: high school students are mean. We all remember that from growing up, in spite of attempting to repress it over the years. That being said, one would question why anyone would ever willingly put themselves through the torture of certifications and education classes and *gasp* the mountains of standardized tests needed to prove your qualifications. However, in spite of all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, one truth remains (and all you education majors who question yourselves about your future career, pay attention): teaching may be the single most rewarding and fulfilling job there is to those who truly love it.
I’ll say again, teaching high school is many things. It’s satisfying when the lessons actually go according to the plans. It’s gratifying when the students finally begin to not only understand but apply the concepts you present to them. It’s exhilarating when the connections you build with your students enable you to become a teacher in more than your curriculum. Teachers have a unique opportunity to truly influence today’s youth in a positive way. Effective teachers produce more than just solid test scores and passing grades; they instill knowledge, concepts, and critical thinking skills that are applicable and beneficial past the walls and doors of the classroom. Beyond the hours of planning and grading and lecturing, there is the heart of a teacher, a heart that truly desires the students to succeed both in the classroom and beyond. There is a need to help students discover what it means to be a functional member of society; and when these desires actually come to fruition, when the students go from apathetic to empathetic, from uninterested and indifferent to motivated and compassionate, that change is enough to melt the hardest heart. All the other benefits (summers off, retirement, insurance, grown-up things) are just sideline perks to that.
So to those of you who are questioning your choice of profession, I say be at peace. To those of you who never thought of education as a viable career choice, I say consider it. There is always a need for teachers with a heart for the students, and there are always students who need teachers who care.