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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m considering a career change to teaching and these comments are refreshing. I’ve done multiple searches on this board and I’ve found a lot of complaints from current teachers. I hope my kids get more teachers like those that commented above![/quote]

Hi, GL to you.  Fwiw, I'm the OP and have posted many positive things about teaching.  And I've posted very serious and troubling complaints in other threads.  For me it is both.  I would never, ever be able to sustain a teaching career with all the negative aspects about it if there weren't the significant things to love about it, too.  Most teachers I know would say the same.  Sometimes loving the kids is enough, sometimes it isn't.  For me, that love has sustained me through principals who covered up child abuse, openly cheated on state exams, teachers who spoke to students of color in openly racist tones and words, endless mandates that do nothing to help anyone, meetings that make me want to crawl in a hole and die, hours and hours of work that had me missing out of my own kids' lives and spending what should be going to my own kids' college accounts on someone else's kids. (and much, much more)   But on the flip side?  Every day there is something new.  There's the kid with serious behavior issue who changes incrementally (no big Stand and Deliver moments, just small changes) simply because he loves you.  There's the kids who struggle terribly to learn and when you continually call them out for what they are doing right, celebrating small successes, amazingly they don't give up.  The kids who tells you she loves math because you've made a point to explicitly tell your girls in particular you love math yourself to influence them.  There's the hugs, the tears, and the progress.  Once in a great while you see a principal putting her job on the line to do the right thing for kids.  That's amazing.  And colleagues, they make a huge difference too.  But the kids?  It is always, for me, and most teachers I know, about just how amazing it is to be with them all day.

But make no mistake.  It is both and.  I was the rose colored glasses teacher my first 3-4 years.  You learn really quickly this is a terribly hard job and often times the system sets kids and staff up to fail.  But, if you hang in there, and if you keep focused on the things you love, you can do it.  Lots of things to hate, lots of things to love.  I'm not sure I can exactly recommend teaching.  I certainly hope my own children choose a different profession.  But, we do need good people in the profession.  Please update us if you choose to pursue a teaching degree and about your experience.  I hope you have lots of good veterans around you to help you make it![/quote]

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