"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." -Antoine de Saint-Exupé
ryGrowing up, I attended a number of elementary, middle, and high schools (due to multiple family moves), finishing secondary education with an Early College program that was the first of its kind in a rural area like the one that my parents finally decided to settle in. I managed to take advantage of the program–the college classes were free to take, so when I graduated with my high school diploma, I also graduated with two Associate’s Degrees. Once I graduated, I enrolled in a Surgical Technology program that was on the same campus but that did not work out, so I then joined the Navy. That did not work out either, so I began to reexamine what it was that I wanted to do.
I thought about it, and I decided that I wanted to become an English teacher. At first, the reasons were somewhat selfish–good job availability, and I could spend my days instilling my love of reading in the younger generation. As I have taken more classes here at the College, though, my motivations have shifted. Now that I know more about the education system, specifically here in America, I know that it is not a matter of simply getting kids interested in reading. There are so many intricate ways in which education is limiting certain students while ensuring others are helped ahead. There is an increasingly hostile climate here in America towards education and so-called minorities. I remember in my Foundations of Education class, how angry it made me to hear that schools could exist in the same district, yet possess savage inequalities. So of course, I began to think about how this could be remedied. And the most viable answer I can come up with is to roll up my sleeves and do my best to help the ones who the education system not only fails but sometimes seems to actively inhibit.
And it’s a daunting commitment. It’s hard. As a teacher in training, I have heard many discouraging things, like how whenever things go wrong in the school system, teachers are often the first ones to get blamed. Lack of administrative support is evidently also a problem. Pay here in America is, of course, not equal to the amount of work done. One aspect that has been particularly frustrating to me is knowing that I will have to jump through the hoops of standards and tests (I want to teach English, and think that tests are pretty useless generally, but especially so in that subject). Another challenge is that we as teachers will be given a room full of people with very different needs, learning styles, backgrounds, dreams and aspirations. And we will have to figure out how to make them care, and get them to respect us, and get them to learn, in an anti-intellectual society. This is, of course, a worsening problem (looking at you, Betsy DeVos).
Louie CK lays it out in the video below. Warning: if you you’re not cynical you might find this clip offensive rather than amusing. But if you’re going to be a teacher, you should probably start working on that thick skin early, right?
I’ve still got a year left, but as my student teaching is creeping up on me, I’m feeling nervous. What if I mess up? What if my students don’t like me? What if I can’t keep the classroom under control? And there’s some part of me that is also telling me that it will be fine, that there is always a period of time when learning something new where I’m going to be uncertain, and I’m going to mess up. It’s inevitable. But even though I’m nervous, and even though I keep hearing about so many cons to teaching, I plan to suck it up and keep going.
Because I see it as my responsibility to help in the best way that I can. There’s no point in complaining about a broken education system. It doesn’t get anyone anywhere. The only thing that will help is action, and to do my best to be the best teacher I can be. And while I hear about so many downsides to teaching, I also hear, invariably, about how rewarding of a profession it is. Talk to any “good” veteran teacher and their faces will light up as they talk about how much they love their kids. Invariably, I hear about how all the frustrating parts of the job are instantly made worth it when you reach a student, or when you see the look of comprehension on their faces. The reward in teaching appears to be centered around the students, and though I am inevitably naïve as I have never taught in a classroom, it seems that that is the way it should be. We shouldn’t be there to make money (though it would be nice), or necessarily to have easy days, or easy students. We should be there to cultivate the minds of our students and support them and encourage them. I think that in educating someone, you are doing the best possible thing that you could do for them.
I wanted this to be more encouraging, but pretty much all I’ve done is talk about how difficult it seems like it is going to be to teach. I think I can understand why my professors and other teachers have been careful to be realistic and let us know about the hardships of teaching. I think it takes a certain person to know (as much as one can know without doing it) what they’re getting into and still do it. And I wouldn’t characterize that person as a loser (as Louie jokingly does). Quite the opposite. I’d much sooner go with the descriptor “noble”. And that’s a corny and perhaps a self-congratulatory thing to say but I’m serious. I have so much respect for all the wonderful caring teachers that I have so far met, and it is inspiring to know people like that, and it makes me want to become someone like that.