There is a big misconception about being an elementary education major.

Many people think that it is an easy major where all you do is crafts and babysit children but that cannot be farther from the truth. I came to college knowing that my major would not be easy but I don't think I fully understood how hard it is to become a teacher and how much work goes into the profession before you're even officially a teacher. Here is the truth about being an elementary education major and how it isn't all fun in crafts.

We have to volunteer A LOT.

What many people don't realize about education majors is that a lot of their courses have a minimum of service hours required. For instance, in one of my classes this semester I have to complete 50 hours volunteering and half of those hours have to be with elementary aged children. 50 hours is a lot of work and commitment but it helps shape your character and the teacher you will be in the future.

We aren't babysitters.

Being a teacher does not make you a babysitter. When you become a teacher you are taking on the role as every child's primary caretaker for the time that you spend with them at school. You take on the responsibility for 20+ kids wellbeing which is a huge responsibility all while trying to shape the lives of the younger generation for the better.

You cannot share your political views.

As a working towards becoming a teacher and even while you are a teacher, you are going to be asked a lot of questions by children that could possibly strike controversy in parents. If a child asks you a question and your answer contains an opinion or political view that is different than the parents, the child may repeat that and make their parent angry and you need to do your best to avoid that. For instance, if a child asks you about their friend who has two mothers you and the child's parent may have two conflicting views that could possibly spark controversy.

Yes, we also do arts and crafts.

Even though it is not by any means the majority of what we do as an education major, we do have to do a lot of arts and crafts which can be both fun and time-consuming.

We don't get summers off.

A lot of people think that we get summer vacation off when in reality that is far from the truth. Yes, we don't have to teach during the summers but many of us have a second job and we also have to spend the summer preparing for the next academic year.

Yes, we are aware how much we are going to be paid.

We know that the pay rate for being a teacher isn't the best but that is not why we chose this profession. We chose this profession to change children's lives every day and to make a difference in the world. Living off of this pay rate is possible and we will find ways to make it work

We love what we do.

Even though being an elementary education major is often overlooked, we work hard and put in a lot of hours to become the best teacher we can for children and after all of the blood, sweat, and tears we still love what we do and wouldn't trade it for the world.