"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." The number one phrase that all education majors hear and constantly get irritated with. For some reason, people are constantly feeding every education major, that they chose a major that is "easy" and only allows for "playing with crayons and markers." No. Majoring in education is way more involved than playing with markers and putting together puzzles. (And please do not mistakenly take this as me talking down other career choices. I know that I, personally, could never be an engineer or doctor; and I have full respect for their work. I am truly wanting to just shine a light on education majors.)
Education majors, often times, see teaching as a calling and work harder and harder everyday to fulfill that calling. Education majors know that our job is to mold students into the students that will best help and influence the world. Therefore, even still in college and working toward an education degree, teacher candidates are passionate about the students they know they will be teaching throughout the years.
We know ahead of time that we will grow to become professional planners; planning lessons, bulletin boards, group projects, parent-teacher conferences, meetings with administration. Everything. We plan it all. Beyond planning, we know that our choice of becoming a teacher means not just keeping an eye out for one to two children at a time; but on average, we will have 22 students to watch and care for an entire class day - for nine months at a time. We know that and we are still beyond passionate about becoming the best we can be for our future students.
As Beth Lewis from About.com so wonderfully put it, “We’re not just teachers. The word ‘teacher’ just doesn’t cover it. We’re also nurses, psychologists, recess monitors, social workers, parental counselors, secretaries, copy machine mechanics, and almost literally parents, in some instances, to our students. If you’re in a corporate setting, you can say, ‘That’s not in my job description.’ When you’re a teacher, you have to be ready for everything and anything to be thrown at you on a given day. And there’s no turning it down.”
Education majors will and do become professionals in our area. Though we get a harsh view from others that being a teacher is "just like babysitting," we would beg to differ. Requirements to become a teacher are dreadful and long. Test after test after test. Studying and more studying. We know what it is like to work hard to get to where we are, even when we know the pay will not always result in owning a Porsche and million-dollar house. We are passionate. We love our job, and we want others to understand our passion without stomping over our dreams with negative words.
So next time you see a teacher, whether still working toward a degree, current teacher, or retired, thank them. Remember the hard work and passion that each of us have. We do this because it is our calling and we love it.
