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Please Read First: I welcome all comments both positive and negative, but please refrain from trolling for the sake of trolling 
Well here I am, babysitting 8th grade directed study (or study hall for us older folk) and have had some time to think and reflect.
How many people can actually say that they were able to choose their career path when they were still in high school, and follow through with it? I for one think it is utterly ridiculous to ask an 18 year old kid to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. I know that this is the reason that a majority of students change majors at some point in college. Most change within a couple years of starting, but some (like my brother-in-law) decided actually get a diploma in one thing, and then go back for something completely different without even taking a breath (and then use neither of those things for his career.......). Well I made this decision when I was in high school, so I was curious to see if it paid off.
First off, I am an aspiring teacher, in the final phase of schooling, which is student teaching. If you need to know a little bit more about me and I include a little longer description at the beginning of my other blog (here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=316597).
Well here's some background on how my day has been. I started off at the high school and worked with the two concert bands as normal. Right after this I got a call from my middle school cooperating teacher saying she had to go home sick. So I had the opportunity to take over for her, and while legally there has to be a paid employee of the school in the room with me (which I am not) I am able to run rehearsal as I saw fit. In other words, I get to pretend that I am an actual teacher for the day. Thus far I have had 3-4 lessons and two full band rehearsals to myself.
I am pleased to say that all the time, effort, and money that I have put into my studies was not done so in vain. I had a blast! It was stressful and they fought me at almost every turn, but that's to be expected of middle school kids. The best part about middle school, though, is that when you act like you're mad and look like you're mad and raise your voice, they shut up really really fast. I'm a bigger guy and have a more intimidating look than my tiny little cooperating teacher, so it comes naturally to me. I'm not actually being mean or pissed off, but they don't really know me all that well and don't know if I'm going to blow up and give detentions to everyone. Which I didn't.
I'm actually really glad (and this is the purpose of this blog) that I enjoyed myself immensely. I had begun to wonder when I was driving home if I was making the right decision, because I seemed to leave the school everyday with a pounding headache and just craving a beer. I know, what a hell of time start questioning my career path decision, but I suppose changing careers now is better than being a miserable dick and shitty teacher for 10 years before getting out.
I wanted to set a couple kids on fire, but I didn't because it's illegal.
TL;DR
I <3 You.
Just blogging about the happiness that I feel by knowing I made the right career decision. Both mentally and financially.
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In my experience, you're a rare breed. I feel adrift on a sea of long words and ill-conceived ambitions.
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I had known what I had wanted to do even before high school, which was to teach mathematics.
Weird, huh? I stayed focused, followed that goal, went to college to become a math teacher, and got my bachelor's in mathematics, master's in math education, and before I become an official high school math teacher/ college professor, I'm going to get my PhD in math education first.
So I've actually been on track all along. Most students have no idea what they want to do until college, nor do they need to. But teaching is one hell of a profession, and student teaching prepares you much more than any of the other education courses you take ^^ Good luck with whatever you end up doing!
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I look back at it now (I'm only 20 btw) and i seriously have to question who thought it was a good idea to let 18 year olds decide their future. I was fortunate i knew i wanted to do something space related so i took up engineering, but when i go home i know a lot of people from high school who either
didn't go to school because they didn't know what to do.
Or people who did go to school but after 2 years decided to switch majors.
Or the some older friends who got a degree in one thing, completely switched (One friend wanted to be a teacher she got her undergrad, now in the fall of 2012 shes going ot culinary school)
Honestly society puts a lot of pressure on high school students as well to pick a "respectable" major, you have the genius kids going to be the next Einstein and then the rest of the group who still don't know what to do.
Sorry for going on a bit of a rant xD
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I have thought the same thing a million times. If an 18 yr old isn't mature enought to drink alcohol legally, why are they mature enought to decide what to do with their lives? I mean sure, you have to choose to either continue education or not, but for those of us who end up sitting in a cubicle 10 years after high school saying what the heck was I thinking, it really blows.
For the record I'm a mechanical engineer and I don't hate it but I don't love it. My work day is just meh most of the time and crappy the rest. But hey I was good at math and science in high school so here I am.
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On March 21 2012 02:56 WarEagle wrote:
I have thought the same thing a million times. If an 18 yr old isn't mature enought to drink alcohol legally, why are they mature enought to decide what to do with their lives? I mean sure, you have to choose to either continue education or not, but for those of us who end up sitting in a cubicle 10 years after high school saying what the heck was I thinking, it really blows.
For the record I'm a mechanical engineer and I don't hate it but I don't love it. My work day is just meh most of the time and crappy the rest. But hey I was good at math and science in high school so here I am.
You cherry picked the one out of several legal actions that isn't permitted at 18. In the United States, you're an adult at 18. The other one is like... renting a car lol.
But also, your family and society tends to have a huge impact on your decision to continue education, which is good. It's indeed a huge decision, and you usually don't have to make it alone.
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Your right, in my case I was helped out by friends but mostly family to choose engineering. They also pushed me through when I wanted to drop out.
And really age doesn't have as much to do with it as I originally stated. I'm now 28 and I still have no clue what I want to do with my life. But I do know what I don't want to do, and that's being a cube dweller for a large corporation.
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On March 21 2012 03:32 WarEagle wrote:
Your right, in my case I was helped out by friends but mostly family to choose engineering. They also pushed me through when I wanted to drop out.
And really age doesn't have as much to do with it as I originally stated. I'm now 28 and I still have no clue what I want to do with my life. But I do know what I don't want to do, and that's being a cube dweller for a large corporation.
No clue what you actually want to do, right? I'm sure at some point you wanted to be an engineer, just like at some point I wanted to study mechanical engineering...then I saw that tons of math and science (who knew? Not 17 year old me) were required and promptly decided that was not for me.
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When I started out I wanted to be a structural engineer. Then I realized that was a masters program to civil engineering, so I started out with that. Two years later and multiple people had talked me into moving to mechanical because the job market was great for it and it didn't require a masters to make a lot of money.
Now I think that there are a few different things I would be happy doing: one is teaching. I love explaining things to people and trying to make them understand. Another is wrtiting. If I had the will power to quit my job and write a book I think I could write something publishable, but my life just doesn't allow me to write in my 'free time'. Lastly, I think I would have enjoyed being an architect. Being a mech engineer has allowed me to work along side of many and I like their role in the overall design process.
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Well, I chose what I wanted to do for the rest of my life during high school and that was nursing. Do I give a flying fuck about wiping people's asses? No. But I never intended to make a living off of something that I was interested in, I just wanted a secure job with stable income - a thing of much more importance for me. Things that I want to do are what i consider hobbies. I think a lot of Asians think this way (contrary to Westerners).
Honestly, whatever the job, shit becomes all the same after years of full time work so I just followed the money
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EPT
