I need some inspiration. I teach high school in Mount Dora, FL, and have remained in the profession only because I enjoy working with the kids. This isn’t enough lately.
So, teachers of anything and anybody, why do you stick around?
I used to teach all ranges of people from high school grads to people on the verge of retirement. I discovered I had a knack for getting people to become numerate (the mathematical equivalent of literate) and actually learn to like algebra, geometry, etc. It gave me a case of the warm fuzzies when somebody who had never been able to deal with fractions was finally able to solve first order equations and actually understand what they were doing.
Teaching is my first choice for a career, and I stayed in the field for about twelve years. I finally gave it up because I had maxed-out on the pay scale, and it wasn’t enough. I taught electricity, electronics, semiconductor physics & the related math. It was in a technical college, which I guess pays better than public schools but it still wasn’t enough when you consider that I could be out working in the same field I am teaching and make twice as much.
I’m not sure about teaching high school though… maybe if it was a small class in a magnet school- you know, kids that really wanted to learn. But I couldn’t tolerate the zoo atmosphere that I suspect must be present in half of the inner city high schools. The warm fuzzies just wouldn’t be enough to keep me there.
Just hang tight there- I hear that GWB has his finger on the pulse of the school system as we speak, and is poised & ready to solve all our problems.
:rolleyes: