Career Change

Jx3 · Apr 26, 2017

Long story short being a teacher sucks balls.
I currently teach English at the high school level and it sucks. It feels more like retail than education, "gotta get those numbers up!" Instead of sales it's test scores.

I have a B.S. in education with a focus on secondary school (middle and high school), certified to teach Social Studies, Earth Science and English from 6th grade up to Adult in WV. I'm curious if I've gone and fucked myself with this degree, seems like it's only good for teaching.

So any ideas where or what I could start looking at? I have no desire to become a principal because it's the same shit but more of it.

tl:dr Being a teacher sucks balls, I want a new career, what is my degree even good for besides teaching?

kegkilla · Apr 26, 2017

you in a public school?

Jx3 · Apr 26, 2017

kegkilla said:
you in a public school?

Yes.
Sadly most of the private schools around here are religious. Not my cup of tea personally.

kegkilla · Apr 26, 2017

Jx3 said:
Yes.
Sadly most of the private schools around here are religious. Not my cup of tea personally.

You have one of the best jobs in the world. if you're miserable being a high school english teacher, you'll be miserable doing anything else in life. I suspect the career isn't the root cause of your unhappiness in life.

agripa · Apr 26, 2017

Performance metrics come with any job. I do admit being a teacher would suck balls. Have you thought about becoming a corporate trainer or teaching online classes.

Bullock · Apr 26, 2017

Frenzied Wombat · Apr 26, 2017

How is being a High School teacher one of the best jobs in the world lol? I dated a HS English teacher for a while and she was miserable. Overworked, underpaid, and in this day and age you have no authority over kids and parents hassle you incessantly.

Do what the teacher I dated did after she had enough-- move from teaching teenagers at school to teaching adults on the job-- become a corporate trainer.

Screamfeeder · Apr 26, 2017

Jx3 said:
tl:dr Being a teacher sucks balls, I want a new career, what is my degree even good for besides teaching?

I went from an architectural and engineering artist to a college level teacher to a writer. My degree is in none of those things.

How about this, what do you WANT to do? Clearly it isn't teaching.

Aldarion · Apr 26, 2017

Frenzied Wombat said:
How is being a High School teacher one of the best jobs in the world lol? I dated a HS English teacher for a while and she was miserable. Overworked, underpaid, and in this day and age you have no authority over kids and parents hassle you incessantly.

Do what the teacher I dated did after she had enough-- move from teaching teenagers at school to teaching adults on the job-- become a corporate trainer.

One of the intellectually easiest jobs in the world
Absurdly easy hours
Basically cant ever be fired
Takes almost no schooling to be qualified for the job

K-12 teachers are not underpaid, thats the market responding appropriately to a job that could be filled by almost anyone who graduated high school.

Not sure I'd call it one of the best jobs in the world but the pay to difficulty ratio is fantastic.

Frenzied Wombat · Apr 26, 2017

Aldarion said:
One of the intellectually easiest jobs in the world
Absurdly easy hours
Basically cant ever be fired
Takes almost no schooling to be qualified for the job

K-12 teachers are not underpaid, thats the market responding appropriately to a job that could be filled by almost anyone who graduated high school.

Not sure I'd call it one of the best jobs in the world but the pay to difficulty ratio is fantastic.

I honestly don't see/hear this, at least not in Texas. Tons of work grading papers and writing tests outside of work hours, dealing with bratty (and even violent) teenagers, crazy parents, shitty school administration.. Being paid 45K a year to endure this type of crap is a raw deal imho. I haven't met a happy HS teacher, ever, but when you press them as to why they stick around, it's either "what else can I do" or "but I make a difference in children's lives". The latter I have no pity for.

McCheese · Apr 26, 2017

Jx3 said:
Long story short being a teacher sucks balls.
I currently teach English at the high school level and it sucks. It feels more like retail than education, "gotta get those numbers up!" Instead of sales it's test scores.

I have a B.S. in education with a focus on secondary school (middle and high school), certified to teach Social Studies, Earth Science and English from 6th grade up to Adult in WV. I'm curious if I've gone and fucked myself with this degree, seems like it's only good for teaching.

So any ideas where or what I could start looking at? I have no desire to become a principal because it's the same shit but more of it.

tl:dr Being a teacher sucks balls, I want a new career, what is my degree even good for besides teaching?

You love teaching or else you wouldn't have become a teacher. Get into ESL teaching (your English experience would be perfect for this) and move into adult education. You get all the joys of teaching without any of the hassles of a) kids/teenagers; b) public school bureaucracy. Plus you still get Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring breaks.

You could start at a private language school (if there are any in your area) or get an adjunct position at a community college.

Adebisi · Apr 26, 2017

Jx3 said:
Long story short being a teacher sucks balls.
I currently teach English at the high school level and it sucks. It feels more like retail than education, "gotta get those numbers up!" Instead of sales it's test scores.

I have a B.S. in education with a focus on secondary school (middle and high school), certified to teach Social Studies, Earth Science and English from 6th grade up to Adult in WV. I'm curious if I've gone and fucked myself with this degree, seems like it's only good for teaching.

So any ideas where or what I could start looking at? I have no desire to become a principal because it's the same shit but more of it.

tl:dr Being a teacher sucks balls, I want a new career, what is my degree even good for besides teaching?

I do instructional design which is basically development of adult learning materials.

BA in education is great in that field. Just take a one year part time cert in eLearning or something and you're caught up with how it works.

ZyyzYzzy · Apr 26, 2017

Frenzied Wombat said:
How is being a High School teacher one of the best jobs in the world lol? I dated a HS English teacher for a while and she was miserable. Overworked, underpaid, and in this day and age you have no authority over kids and parents hassle you incessantly.

Do what the teacher I dated did after she had enough-- move from teaching teenagers at school to teaching adults on the job-- become a corporate trainer.

How the fuck is a teacher overworked? There are some weeks I do 60 hours, if not more when proposal work comes in or I have to write papers or plans that invovle advanced subject matter.

A teacher has set hours and should never be mentally strained, unless they are teaching at one of the top schools in the country and you have a room of actual sea_skeleton_03

ZyyzYzzy · Apr 26, 2017

Frenzied Wombat said:
I honestly don't see/hear this, at least not in Texas. Tons of work grading papers and writing tests outside of work hours, dealing with bratty (and even violent) teenagers, crazy parents, shitty school administration.. Being paid 45K a year to endure this type of crap is a raw deal imho. I haven't met a happy HS teacher, ever, but when you press them as to why they stick around, it's either "what else can I do" or "but I make a difference in children's lives". The latter I have no pity for.

Oh god writing fucking tests and grading children, very rough

McCheese · Apr 26, 2017

I know quite a few teachers, and it's overwork in the sense of having to deal with too much bullshit all day every day. Maybe if you teach at some upper-middle class suburban paradise it's fine. But if you have to deal with little Shaniqua and her bitch of a mom snapping her fingers in your face and complaining that they shouldn't have to pay for a school library book even though they took it and lost it, it grates on you really fast. Teachers at shitty schools are some of the most mentally exhausted and jaded people I know.

Alex · Apr 26, 2017

Yeah inner city school teaching sounds awful. Kids can get pretty violent. Parents don't give a shit. Teacher knows kids go home everyday to a nightmare of a situation. Can't be good emotionally or mentally.

Jx3 · Apr 26, 2017

Aldarion said:
One of the intellectually easiest jobs in the world
Absurdly easy hours
Basically cant ever be fired
Takes almost no schooling to be qualified for the job

K-12 teachers are not underpaid, thats the market responding appropriately to a job that could be filled by almost anyone who graduated high school.

Not sure I'd call it one of the best jobs in the world but the pay to difficulty ratio is fantastic.

I'm not complaining about the hours or the fact that unless I'm snorting coke off a teenagers titties while railing her best friend at school while on tape with 6 witnesses present I can't be fired.
Its the fact that I take pride in what I do, no matter what I'm doing. Whether it's working at a steel mill, on a printing press or cleaning floors at Wal-mart I do the best I can. It's just how I was raised and have always functioned. When I look around though I see my peers who don't give a fuck because they don't have to, I see students who fuck off their entire high school career, get shoved through with credit recovery in 4 months and graduate because if they don't graduate it hurts the school. There is no reason to ever do anything that requires effort because it gains you nothing. Part of it may be Southern WV, I've been looking at either going to Ohio or Virginia next year. Another possibility is getting my masters and getting with the DoD and teaching at base schools.

I came here to ask you people because A) As long as I've been on these boards we always give straight no bullshit answers and B) at the moment my only real career network contacts are teachers or in education. The worst thing you can do at a school is mention getting the fuck out.

ZyyzYzzy · Apr 26, 2017

Jx3 said:
I'm not complaining about the hours or the fact that unless I'm snorting coke off a teenagers titties while railing her best friend at school while on tape with 6 witnesses present I can't be fired.
Its the fact that I take pride in what I do, no matter what I'm doing. Whether it's working at a steel mill, on a printing press or cleaning floors at Wal-mart I do the best I can. It's just how I was raised and have always functioned. When I look around though I see my peers who don't give a fuck because they don't have to, I see students who fuck off their entire high school career, get shoved through with credit recovery in 4 months and graduate because if they don't graduate it hurts the school. There is no reason to ever do anything that requires effort because it gains you nothing. Part of it may be Southern WV, I've been looking at either going to Ohio or Virginia next year. Another possibility is getting my masters and getting with the DoD and teaching at base schools.

I came here to ask you people because A) As long as I've been on these boards we always give straight no bullshit answers and B) at the moment my only real career network contacts are teachers or in education. The worst thing you can do at a school is mention getting the fuck out.

There will always be stupid fuckups. Just try to get a position in an affluent district

kegkilla · Apr 26, 2017

Alex said:
Yeah inner city school teaching sounds awful. Kids can get pretty violent. Parents don't give a shit. Teacher knows kids go home everyday to a nightmare of a situation. Can't be good emotionally or mentally.

The inner city does not exist in WV

Jx3 · Apr 26, 2017

kegkilla said:
The inner city does not exist in WV

This is true, we have the same problems they just come from the "holler." Parents are drugged out and dont give a shit, kids dont give a shit and want to fight everyone. It's like Lean on Me but with white people.

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