Dear Aspiring Teacher ,
When I was a senior in high school, my teachers began to inquire about my future career plans. I told them I wanted to be a high school English teacher.
I thought they would be proud of my choice, but their responses floored me. “Why would you want to be a teacher?” “You could do so much more.” “You’re a smart girl. You could be a lawyer or a doctor.”
In retrospect, I suppose they thought they were complimenting me, but for someone who had no desire to be a doctor or a lawyer, their comments were insulting. For the life of me, I could not understand how the profession was good enough for them, but somehow, not good enough for me. They made me feel like my career path was somehow settling for less than what I was capable of achieving. Sadly, I'm afraid our culture is sending the same mixed message to young people today. I am now colleagues with many of my former students, but at eighteen, very few of them would have admitted they actually wanted to be teachers.
Many decades ago teaching was a revered profession. It saddens me that today it is viewed as an act of settling, as if to say, I really want to be an astronaut, but if that doesn’t work out, I can always teach science. For me, teaching was never a second choice or a last resort. It was always, and still is, my heart. When I taught seniors, I vowed to never discourage any of my students from becoming teachers.
I wanted them on my team, and there is no greater honor than linking arms with them as adults to fight the same daily battle, but more than anything, I wanted my students to really understand what it means to settle.
Navigating the world of ambition can be tricky for young people and adults alike. Far too many times when it comes to career decisions, we allow culture to dictate what is trendy, popular, or economically advantageous. No wonder we have so many young people confused about who they are or what they want to do in life.
But if you ask me, pouring into the lives of others and having those same people pour into more people for generations to come is far from settling, but I suppose that all depends on a very important question.
“How do you define settling?”
-CDB
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