I am an education major and I am not going to teach young children.

For some people this is a shocking statement. Apparently, to almost anyone outside of the education department, being an education major automatically means being an elementary education major. I guess people forget that they had teachers after fifth grade. Maybe everyone else’s middle schools and high schools were taught by robots, but I definitely still had teachers, and they were important ones.

I don’t know how many times I have told people that I am an education major and they start telling me how they can see me with a “cute classroom full of little kids." First of all, nothing about teaching at any grade level is “cute”. Yeah, maybe some classrooms are well-decorated and have small desks, but teaching is not “cute”. Teaching is badass. If you don’t believe me, watch this:

Secondly, my classroom will not be full of little kids. It will be full of teenagers.

My students won’t all look up to me and call me Miss Ranft with love. Realistically, my students might look at me, roll their eyes and probably call me a bitch. A lot of them will be taller and bigger than me, and they will think they know better than me. Those are the students I will teach.

I want to teach secondary education. I am not going into education because I love kids. I am going into education to teach in my subject area, and to use that subject to help my students grow as learners and as young people contributing to society and finding their futures.

Secondary education and elementary education are quite different battlefields. Both are extremely challenging and rewarding careers (yes, teaching can be a career and not a fallback plan or a stepping stone towards a career), but they are different. Somehow, secondary education has been completely forgotten about and invalidated because it isn't what first comes to mind when people think about teaching.

After I correct the people who want to talk about how I will have “a cute classroom full of little kids," usually the conversation moves to them questioning why the hell I want to spend my days dealing with angst-filled, stubborn and disrespectful teenagers.

To respond to this question, I have formed a pretty standard response of just telling them that "I don't know, I guess I am crazy." They laugh and we can move on. I have spent enough time of my life defending my major already - but I do have a real answer.

Middle school and high school can make or break a student’s future. These are the years when young people are trying, failing and trying again and again to define who they are and who they will be. Their independence is increasing, and the decisions they make hold more and more consequences. The opportunity and inclination for risky behaviors are higher than ever. During all this, these students are spending the majority of their waking hours in school - with peers - and under the eye of teachers. That is why I want to teach the angst- filled, stubborn and disrespectful teenagers.

Small children are not the only students that need teachers who will teach with love; it just looks different in a secondary classroom. We have to be guardians, too. We have to advocate for the growth of our students, too. We have to walk into the classroom everyday ready to fight and battle with our students, because we see potential in the student who never turns in his homework. We see a future for the student who got into a fight in the cafeteria. We know that we have a classroom full of students who need someone to believe in them, in a society that disregards them. We are the last step of required education curriculum before these young people go on to be the people they make themselves to be. I'm not crazy. I am a guardian of futures and of dreams.

I am an education major and I am not going to teach young children. I have chosen to teach secondary education.