I chose to major in Education my Freshman year of high school. I didn't have an interest in nursing (unlike half of the girls in my class), I'm not artistic, and I didn't want to make a career that involved doing any more math than I absolutely had to. I did know that I wanted to make a difference. I have yet to meet an educator whose main goal is not to make a difference. I think every educator's main goal is to be a positive influence, to make a change, to help better lives.

Here's something I didn't know when I started college a year ago: being an education major is hard. Harder than anyone would expect. Now, before anyone starts getting on their high horse about how their major is "way harder" let me explain what I mean by hard. Education is hard in the sense that because you will one day be a teacher, your professors expect the very best from you all the time. It's hard because we are all still trying to figure out how to be adults and yet, we are expected to go into classrooms in the surrounding community and act like we've got it all together in front of those students. It's especially hard because we're expected to know the signs for sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, neglect, suicide, all kinds of diseases, bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. The thought that one day I will see some of these signs in my students makes me sick to my stomach. In those ways, being an education major is hard.

One of the most challenging parts of being an education major is knowing how important you are even when other people don't acknowledge it. Educators are important, and there is a huge shortage of them all across America. Why? Because- as we've already established- being an educator is hard, and being paid next to nothing for educating children is ridiculous. In Finland, teachers are paid the same as doctors and respected the same as well. (No wonder their education system is through the roof compared to America's.) When asked what my major is I reply "Education", and unless I'm talking to another educator, I see it. The slight facial change when the first thing they think is about the salary I'll be making someday.

They'll still smile and say something nice because they know that teachers are important, but to them it's all about the money. "Why wouldn't you pick something that pays more?" or "You know nursing is a much better paying job!" Unless they are another educator, they don't understand how anyone could want to do something that doesn't pay nearly enough. Teaching is so much more than the paycheck. I have never met an educator -- past, present, or future -- who was in the profession for the money. The fact of the matter is there is no money in teaching.

So, Ed majors, this is for you. I know you're tired of writing papers and sitting in the front of the classroom for every class. I know your field practicum lessons are stressful and scary. I know you're ready to just switch your major to business or psychology, but don't give up. Look into your heart and remind yourself why you want to teach. You want to go out into the world someday and make a difference in the lives of children. When you're sitting on the floor of your apartment on the verge of tears over your lesson plans think of the kids. Think of their smiles, remember the feeling you get when you watch a student finally get it. You can do this, just keep going. With that, I leave you with a quote from Ghandi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world".