Why I quit the Business World to work in Education

[HockeyMom]

I have heard countless times, "Those who can't make it, teach". Oh, really? As a young woman, I worked in the Fortune 500 business world in NYC. I did the million dollar departmental fixed budgets for this corporation. They gave me a percent increase and I had to "compute" it all on a calculator. They didn't have accounting software then. Then there was the "politics" that went with it. "Can you give me more money for x, y, z"? I was wined, dined, given expensive gifts, etc., in order to do a little "creative accounting". Once, I even took a trip on their CORPORATE JET. Can't make it? I don't think so.

I quit to have my children. My younger daughter was speech delayed and learning disabled. I spent many a day in her school observing and talking to her teachers. They called and came to my home. By high school, my daughter was mainstreamed and a B+ student. In college she refused all services and graduated with a B average. She is a teacher today and so is her husband. Why did she become a teacher? She has said because she wanted to "give back" for all that her teachers gave to her.

I became a special needs teacher's assistant for precisely the same reasons. When I started working in this field, it was amazing how many of the aides and teachers in this field either had special needs children or had been themselves. Isn't that wonderful? Who better to meet the needs of these kids than those who had actually LIVED it themselves?

I/we are not in this for MONEY. We could/did make a lot more in the business world. However, you cannot put a price on the joy and satisfaction we can receive. Yes, it can be brutal and stressful, but the benefits far outweigh it. How can you put a price on a hug? How can you put a price on seeing the light in the eyes of a special needs child when they accomplish something that they have been struggling with for months, or even YEARS. "I love you". "I missed you". It breaks your heart sometimes. As someone said on another post, it's about HUMANITY over PROFITS.

Don't treat them, or us, like the dredges of society. We love and respect these kids. We couldn't do this job if we didn't.

[diddlysquat]

1. Bravo for you!

[femmocrat]

2. Thank you for posting this, HockeyMom.

I don't know how or when teachers became the "enemy". It breaks my heart. The teachers I work with are without exception, hard-working, dedicated professionals who genuinely care about and help their students to achieve. I would love to see the critics spend a week in an ordinary classroom. They would walk away with a new perspective on the challenges teachers face.

I have never worked with an "under-performing" teacher in my long career. I have met several "highly-qualified" (hate that NCLB-term) teachers who left the profession because of stupid administrative decisions, however.

[YvonneCa]

3. It was on March 15...

...2007. A sad and dreary day. :7 I am hopeful...for all my teacher colleagues...that the public education environment will get better...SOON. :)