Teachers?

[McNulty]

I left a very lucrative ( I don't want to boast about salary and bonuses) position in the Insurance industry 15 years ago and turned in all the corporate b.s. to go back to school at 42 to get my teaching certificate. Teaching is not an easy profession. PERIOD! It has to be one of the most rewarding professions I've ever entered. I used to dread going to work every day, flying all over the country courting General Agencies, and not having time for myself. I traded that for a certificate that gives me the possibility of making a difference in one student's life. Along the way I look forward to getting up at 5 A.M. every day, driving 72 miles round trip through the mountains, putting up with students who want to learn (some don't), and have a lot of 60-80 hr. workweeks. Is it hard? YES! Do I enjoy it? I wished I would have started doing this 30 years ago.
Sure we work ONLY ten months a year, but during that period we put in more time prepping, grading, taking courses to make us better at what we do, going to meetings, dealing with parents, dealing with administrators, and finally we get to teach 3 1.5 hour classes each day. I get to school at 7:30 A.M. and usually do not leave until 4:00 P.M. The interaction that I have with my students leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment, and gives the student a really good feeling that someone cares because they sometimes don't get that at home.
Do I wish I got paid more? Sure, who feels that they are paid what they are worth. If I take my pay and average it out as apposed to the hours I put in I'd probably be below minimum wage for a guy with three degrees and half a Masters.
Would I trade that for the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a term. NO! For a change I feel, and a lot of other teachers feel, that we are doing something constructive for our society. Whatever the content area you work in, or whatever the grade level you teach we need more of us out there making a difference to our youth.
SO... should you go back to school and get your teaching certificate no matter what hoops you gotta jump through.........Do it. What you will be doing has more good to it than bad, you feel good at the end of the day (though exhausted), you'll make your mother proud, and you may get to wear your kilt to school on dress down Fridays.
There. I shot my bolt.
Nulty

My "Hey, what you doin' out in the hall?" look.

[ronstew]

I quit a well-paying job that was driving me nuts about five years ago. At age 43 I returned to college and then to university for a total of three years to get my science and education degrees. When I was kicked out of college at age 21 my average was something like 53%. Twenty-some years later I was on the Dean's List at a good university for having an A average. My experience is not unusual - mature learners tend to be motivated learners.

I work in a private high school teaching senior levels of math and physics. It is hard. The kids are just as dumb as I was when I was their age. When I am doing my job right I am working twelve or thirteen hours a day on top of the three hours I spend commuting. Like any workplace, mine has its share of politics, which I sometimes find disturbing. Some of my coworkers - in particular the younger ones - are not as idealistic as I am. My boss is great, but I would not say the same about his boss. It has been hard on the home life, since when I am at home I am either sleeping or marking. Curiously, and contrary to what I had been told, this second year of teaching has been bit harder than the first - probably because I have raised my own standards.

I do enjoy the teaching. I enjoy the kids. I hope that my school weathers the economic downturn. But if I lost my job, I would not restrict my job hunt solely to teaching jobs. It is one of the best jobs I have had, but it is very demanding and very tiring.