Filed under: Advice, Career, Education, Life, Public School, Reading, Students, Teachers, Work
While on the one hand we’ve got a major teacher retirement upheaval about to hit the American school system, during which we’ll be losing a third of the current teaching force, on the other hand we’ve got a sketchy economy that’s sending boatloads of career-types running for the safety (I use the term loosely) of the business end of a classroom. Stock markets can crash, but barring a new world order, there will always be schools full of kids to teach.
For anyone out there who might be considering a career in the educating arts, please read this collection of short pieces in the New York Times written by three teachers, one professor of education, and one economist, about how hard teaching really is and the fact that, just because there’s a shortage coming down the pike, it doesn’t mean landing and keeping a teaching job is going to be a piece of cake.
You might also want to read Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt, the most realistic, unromantic, non-Hollywood memoir about McCourt’s career as an English teacher in the New York public school system. It’s amazing and beautiful, but it would never serve to convince anyone to become a teacher unless the urge to educate was present in their bones prior to reading the book and had managed to stay put through to the last page. Teacher Man does not do for the teaching profession what Top Gun did for naval fighter pilots. It doesn’t make the teaching profession sexy in the slightest; it makes it terrifying and frustrating and also a tad eviscerating. (Is it possible to only be a tad eviscerated?)
Teacher Man is a beautiful story because Frank McCourt is who he is and because he wrote the way he did about how he felt about his students and his teaching of them. No other teacher will have the same relationships or career experiences, so for god’s sake don’t go becoming a teacher so you can be the next Frank McCourt. He writes honestly enough (he’s painfully blunt) that I feel certain reading his book will serve as an excellent chaff separator.
Further Reading:
A ‘Tsunami’ of Boomer Teacher Retirements is on the Horizon
As Economy Falters, Interest in Teaching Surges
Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate
‘Relentless Pursuit’: A Year Teaching in America
Alternate Route to Teaching is Now a Road More Traveled
Education Degree Resources
Posted by Alexa Harrington
I don’t think anyone should go into a career solely because it is recession-proof or it is in demand or because someone else had the job and it served them well or even because it has a high salary. This goes for teaching or any other job. As for “teaching is hard” — life is hard, other jobs are hard too — it is hard to know how easy or hard a job is unless you’ve done it yourself. Often the things that are the hardest to do are the most rewarding if you have a desire to do it. The hardest thing to do is something you don’t enjoy. I’ve been a teacher and worked in the corporate world and what I’ve seen is that one side always sees it as greener on the other side. The truth is, there are positive aspects and negative aspects to both and most of the people I have met are pretty clueless about “the other side.” I say do what makes you happy, it is what you’ll do best.
Comment by Lynn M 04.21.09 @ 10:27 amLynn,
You make excellent points, and I agree with all of them (especially the bit about doing what makes you happy because it’s what you’ll do best). It seems so logical and simple, and yet humans manage to twist themselves into knots anyway.
Comment by alexa 04.21.09 @ 12:02 pm“about how hard teaching really is and the fact that, just because there’s a shortage coming down the pike, it doesn’t mean landing and keeping a teaching job is going to be a piece of cake.”
Sadly this is true. Before teaching is one of the most stable jobs by far. No matter how the economy was, education will always have students to reach out.
But I guess that assumption has fallen short with the recent recession times which has taken its toll on teachers globally.
Comment by Middle East Teaching Careers 05.13.09 @ 3:02 amRegarding the above comment, yes, teachers have also suffered during the recession, but as every action has a reaction — job loss and the recession has caused many people to enroll in courses and programs (often in community college where the cost of education is cheaper) thereby creating jobs in higher education. People want to add skills to their resume and want to up their education in an effort to compete in the job market or hold onto their current jobs. In other cases people are considering continuing their education in graduate school rather than heading to the workforce after graduation in the hopes of waiting out the recession. Whether this is a good move or not has been debated, but nevertheless, it does mean jobs for educators.
Comment by Lynn M 05.19.09 @ 10:04 amI sympathise with you. vigera overdose Oh, good joke) Why don’t fish play tennis? They might get caught in the net.
Comment by renadom 01.15.10 @ 6:04 pm