I was going to post this on a message board in response to somebody's statement about teaching. That board is having issues, but that is not going to stop me sharing my thoughts on Steemit.
Teaching is a bit of a trap. It's not the best job in the world, but pays relatively well, has decent benefits such as state pensions, long holidays etc; left wing, socialist types love it as there is no real need to compete against others in any way most of the time, such as those from rival companies, colleagues in the same office etc. Many people stuck in teaching need to admit to themselves that they're going to struggle to get a better paid job without doing any hard physical labour, dirty work or something; unless you're the sort that genuinely loves teaching and were somehow born to teach; teaching is a job for losers.
To get out of teaching, I ended up going back to school to do a Masters in a more worthwhile subject at a higher ranked university and then got hired by a guy starting up his own business. Doing that wasn't easy as it meant being out of work for a while, taking huge risks etc and even being genuinely scared about the future at times, even now I've still got a lot of hard work ahead of me.
Due to the sheer difficulty of getting out of teaching, most people who teach will sadly end up teaching forever, and there's every chance that even their most useless students could end up enjoying a happier, more fruitful life than they do, whether that be by getting higher paid jobs after leaving school (even without going to college), actually getting married and starting a family etc. That alone will subconsciously eat away at the self-esteem of teachers every single day, hence most are also incompetent useless bastards who have totally given up on life. Bossing little kids around is the only way that will ever feel that they have any control over anything in their lives at all.
When I grew up as a kid, I believed that teachers were the kind of people that I was supposed to look up to, as I came from a shitty rough neighbourhood, where most people worked in factory jobs, manual labour jobs etc. As I grew older, my ambitions grew as I realised that it was possible to achieve much greater things in life.
Once I start my own family, I will face a tough dilemma; I will need to tell my kids to be well disciplined, listen to and obey their teachers (well, maybe not the last one these days), yet also warn them against ever aiming to become a teacher.
good post...............
Your writing is very good. You must have had great teachers or very poor teachers against whom you rebelled and in so doing proved your excellence ;-) Either way you look at it, our teachers shape us for better or worse.
I always wanted to be a teacher, since my days at school. It was really just the prospect of making more money than a teacher which drew me to do a masters in Counselling. After several years of practising, growing miserable as I experienced my country move toward ruin, I took flight and have been teaching in Asia since 2001. I don't regret it one bit as I have managed to offer my kids a safe environment, good education and they have all adopted Korea and the language here as their own.
I enjoy teaching a great deal. But you are right, it can be a trap and sometimes, something of a 'net' which catches people who are not cut out or feel no real passion for this vocation at all. Depending how they respond to the challenge, they may do a lot of damage to others and ultimately, to themselves too.
I enjoyed what I read of your posts so far. I look forward to reading more of your shares and observations.