by Dan Wolthoff
Where is the motivation to becoming the absolute best teacher you can be? It certainly does not come with the paychecks, so I ask again, where is the motivation? It also does not come with the possibility of promotions, unless you want to go back to school again, and then again, and again.
Educators are a different breed in this country. They go through just as much, if not more school than many other people go through in college, but that is not reflected in their salaries. A business major can graduate in four years, and with the right connections, be making six digits right out of college. It does not matter how many education connections you have, you will never be making six digits coming out of college, let alone your entire teaching career. So, where is the motivation to become a teacher?
For everyone, I think the motivation is different. For some of us, we enjoy the luxury of knowing we will never have to work on Christmas or during many of the other holidays. For some of us, it is the stability of not having to worry about whether or not we have a job tomorrow when tenure is reached. And for some of us, it is the fact that you will be molding the minds of America’s youth. No matter what the motivation is, one thing is for sure, everyone has the motivation to become a great teacher or else they would not be going through everything it takes to become one.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
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2 comments:
This is an interesting topic. I often joke with my friends that I want to become a teacher because I have summers and weekends off, but in reality these perks alone are not worth all the time and effort. It takes a special sort of person to be a teacher. One has to have a special gift to desire a career in education. I know that for myself, that gift is manifested in how I see hope within every child. I desire to channel that hope and innocence into working toward a better tomorrow. Society may undervalue teachers, but without them we would not have anything.
I know with this crowd, I must just be preaching to the choir, but teaching is quite possibly the most important job in the world. It is almost scary to think what the world was like before schools were opened. It always upsets me to hear people say that teaching is their "fall back" carreer, because they think anyone can do it. Not everyone can do it. You HAVE to have motivation to be a teacher. The only motivation these people who use teaching as a fall back have is to keep themselves alive and salvage some of their pride. One thing I know is that where ever you find the motivation to be a teacher, it has to be the right place for you and you must make an honest effor to hold on to it because you cannot be a successful teacher without the motivation to inspire.
E.B.
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