“So you’re telling me you had the chance to pursue any degree you wanted, to become anything you wanted in the world at no cost to you… and you chose to be a TEACHER? What!”
I get asked that question or variations of that question every time I tell someone the story of how I got into university. The full story of that is in a previous blog post but basically, I got a free ride, full scholarship, the works.
After the lady at the scholarship office was finished congratulating me, she asked, excitedly, “So what are you studying?”
“Teaching,” I said. “Education”
“You know this scholarship covers your tuition for anything you want to study at this university, right? Any degree at all.”
“Yes. I know.”
“And you still want to study teaching?”
I caught her drift.
“Yes,” I responded with solemnity so she would know I was serious.
She replied with a dismissive “OK” and proceeded to help me fill out the paper work.
I always tell that story a slightly different way because I don’t remember all the words but I do remember how I felt in the moment. I felt like I was fighting against all odds to pursue a passion that I truly felt was noble and that I felt was the best for my personality and for the life I wanted to lead. And I wasn’t going to let any person, any pressure or any stereotypes stop me.
So why did I choose to teach?
I had started studying law in high school and it was soul-sucking. I excelled at it, got one of the highest grades in the the country on the regional CSEC exams but I knew I couldn’t do it as a profession. At that point in my life, I was really focusing a lot on my mental health, which had deteriorated to a pulp. After beyond volleyed between different levels of depression for four years, I wanted a life that not only looked good but felt good. I wanted a simple life, not one that was complicated, not one that would take me away from the things that fed my spirit, the things that were truly important to me. By this time, I was tired of school and didn’t see the point of it so, medicine and law did not appeal to me because I couldn’t see myself spending another 5-7 years in school. In my final year of high school, I got into a special kind of ministry within my religion. I started learning Mandarin to volunteer to preach and teach the Bible’s message to the large Chinese population in my country. That really satisfied me. I knew I would have to work to support myself and help my family but I wanted a job that wouldn’t take me away from that ministry that I had grown to love. So I thought teaching from 8-3 each day would give me time after work to still sustain that part of my life.
At my high school, teaching wasn’t popular. Some people said they wanted to go into teaching, but only after they had made their career would they consider teaching, maybe as a lecturer or an extra lessons teacher making some side cash. Teaching was not the dream. Teaching was that thing you did at the end of your life after you had “made something of yourself” and for a while, I fell into that trap. I was good at teaching. I was good at making things simple for people to understand. But it was my end-of-life job too. So I spent my school years figuring out what my “real career” would be. And then, at the end of my high school life when none of those dream jobs seemed to fit, I thought, “Why wait? Why push teaching on the back burner? Why not become a teacher first and then see what happens with the rest of my life?”
I mentioned my decision to my teachers and even to my principal, who said that if I went and pursued teaching, I would be guaranteed a job at my alma mater. So I thought, “Great! I’ll have a stable job right out of university!”
Those are my reasons.
Is it what I thought it would be? No.
Do I love to teach? Yes.
Do I love being a teacher? No.
Am I looking for new opportunities? Definitely yes!
But do I regret my decision? No.
I made it with the right motivations. It has afforded me a stable career for my entire adult life. The money isn’t great but it pays the bills and it takes care of my needs.
And it was my decision, not anyone else’s.
I always say, “I chose the life I wanted, not the one that was set out for me” and I have never regretted that.
Check out the 3rd and final part of this series to learn why I love to teach but hate being a teacher.
Miss Education JA 