Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Worked in industry for 15 years prior to teaching. There are three main reasons I like being a teacher.
Working with kids. I teach high school chemistry. I have fun with the kids, more fun than I ever had working with adults. I enjoy what goes into teaching chemistry, the labs, the math, planning activities, helping the kids, watching them get excited over simple things. They are easily amused, as am I.
Autonomy. At least in my district, I never see our principal or supervisors. They leave us alone. Nice to not have some middle manager up your butt all day. I'm there for the kids and I think they appreciate me more than any supervisor or manager.
Time off. Summers, all major holidays, winter and spring break, and snow days! I don't think I could ever go back to working in the private sector with their measly 2 weeks vacation. Life is too short.
Can I ask what county in NJ this is in where principals are not up your butt, so I can apply there?
Combination of stupidity and desperation. I burned out after a while and left. Will never go back. Still passionate, but no longer believe I can make any difference as a teacher. I recently googled some of my former students - my favorite ones; the ones I worked night and day for, went above and beyond for - combination of gang members, teen moms, and worse. I made no difference in the long run.
Can I ask what county in NJ this is in where principals are not up your butt, so I can apply there?
I worked in one district where the principal was visiting my classroom three times a week. She was a huge pain in the ass. I left after one year. I don't appreciate not being treated like a professional. And I think that stems from having poor administrators, which I believe is one of the problems with education.
Think about who runs schools, people with education degrees that no longer want to teach, they want to administrate. But, people with degrees in education have the lowest IQ's of all the degrees. So we have the least intelligent people running schools. No wonder our schools are kind of pathetic.
I am a first year teacher so I am not burned out yet- I actually love my school and my job. However I am in a small private school with a relatively hands-off admin and with parents who are neither insanely demanding nor insanely apathetic.
I chose to be a teacher for a lot of the reasons echoed on this thread. I know that I am making a difference in the lives of my children at least this year, if not long-term. In me, my kids have an advocate, a listening ear, a supporter of their many talents and gifts, and someone who hopefully will teach them something (some days I do wonder if I'm ACTUALLY teaching them anything ) I love seeing their 'aha' moments, their enthusiasm for learning, etc.
I love working in my particular school as it's a close community in a small town. My kids will go there when the time comes, and I'll be able to see most of my students grow up. I think that's really awesome. I love that I'll have summers and breaks off with my kids and that I will be able to have the same schedule as them day to day.
The state government provided very generous scholarships for potential teachers which covered all tuition fees and provided a small living allowance, sufficient for the majority of us who lived at home and commuted to college or university.
I had a fairly conservative family who were well off from their business, not from being tertiary educated. Protests about the Vietnam war were raging here and overseas. I was informed by my parents that if I really HAD to go to university, not work in a nice office as would have been preferred, I needed to get a teachers scholarship, promise never to march in moratoriums and also never to wear blue jeans. It was conceded that teaching was a suitable job for a married woman with all that time off, but of course it was preferable, in their opinion, to find a husband who would enable me to be a stay at home housewife like my mother.
Like, all great reasons to become a teacher but to be honest, not that unusual in my day. (Except for the orders on blue jeans and moratoriums, I have yet to find someone who was similarly restricted)
So I ended up with a career teaching. It had it good and bad points but now I am retired what I treasure most are the friendships I made.
I gave up on the idea of teaching after college, but may go into it again if the conditions are right and it's for more of an arts or encore subject and not math.
I'd say the reason for it is the sunken cost fallacy. Many other interns thought they went this far, so they'd lose a lot of time and money invested into being a teacher if they just took their degree and went to another career.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) I love seeing their 'aha' moments, their enthusiasm for learning, etc. 
