Education on my mind...

April 08, 2008

I am an educator. I want to be good at my job, as I feel one should do one's best in any employment situation. Education was not my first choice, but - although I love science - I was to lazy and immature in my early 20's to study properly to do well in those classes. Believe it or not, I have been known to actually read through some of those biology texts long after I've been done with the classes. Am I a nerd or what? Still, growing up with several teachers in my immediate familial vicinity, it was suggested numerous times that I should become a teacher. Well, of course I balked at that. Yes, I know there are those of you who will smile, knowing that my daughter will practically automatically gainsay any proposition put forth to her, not wondering at all where she should come by such a trait.

Still... I work with high school students, some of whom are among the poorest in a poor state. Some of whom are those who could most benefit emotionally, spiritually, and financially from the education they are being offered. Students who refuse to become engaged in the educational process, or concerned with the issues that affect them today, or will affect them in the future. There are days when I nearly despair that I am doing any good at all, and also times when there is a breakthrough that is a triumph for one or another. One of the students that I have been working with this semester has gone from reading at a 5th grade level to an 11th grade level. She's been working on this for close to two hours a day for about 10 or 11 weeks. She will be classified as a junior next year, and is really poised for some personal success!

So, how do I feel about the career in the sciences that I did not pursue? Well, I thought about being a doctor, and I think that it is a good thing that I am not one. I probably would do well as a research scientist working in a lab somewhere, but I really don't want to spend all my time being the doctor, living with the doctor, putting in all those hours of practice that take away time with your family and friends. I suppose that in a way, I'm just too selfish. I like being an educator, though. Good thing there have been wise people in my family, and that maybe, just perhaps, I am becoming one of them...