i've been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. i realize that kr isn't always the best place for advice and only i can make this sort of decision etc etc but it doesn't hurt to ask.

i'm wondering whether i should just get my teacher certification and teach high school or if i should aim for grad school and teach college. i've been set on grad school for a long time, but at this point, to study what i'd want to, i'd have to get a second BA. i don't know how worthwhile that is. i don't think i'd mind it that much, but the cost of that plus the cost of grad school PLUS the amount of educational debt i'm in doesn't exactly thrill me.

i was anti-high school for a long time (i really don't like children of any sort) but the more i think about it, the more i realize that i'd probably enjoy it.

thoughts?

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are there options you are more passionate about than "i'd probably enjoy it"? i think you should do something that makes you excited to picture yourself doing it. i know that's a simplistic idea, but... yeah, it's still what i think.

teaching high school as a whole isn't all that exciting to me, but if i could teach a subject i'm passionate about, i can picture myself doing it and loving it.

when i was in high school i was set on teaching high school.

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College is a bit more detatched ... no?
But more grown up I guess

i say go for high school. people can say go for your passion all you want but the looming debt can sack your passion really fast. and the kids would totally dig you - you're young and cool and pierced and all that. the perfect high school teacher because the kids would listen to you and respect you.

my sister was going to teach.
she did some substituting for high school and younger kids.
she just got her masters.
she opted for high school guidance counselor.

& you'll get summers and vacations.
(and a decent pension plan?)

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[ o ]==#

"A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.” - Stella Adler

advertising= shitloads of money

where did i mention advertising?

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oh you didn't, I think she was just responding to that post where you said you wanted to make SHITLOADS OF MONEY. ASSTONS OF IT. Well, I may be paraphrasing a bit.

As to your question, I'm not sure. One part of me says you should go for something that lets you use your natural talent for picking up languages. I'm not sure what job that would be actually- but I feel like it wouldn't be teaching either high school or college. But then the other part of me thinks no one really gets to use all of their talents anyway so you might as well use whichever one you can. Some people don't even get to do that. (I'm thinking English majors who end up working as Borders or Starbucks managers). Financial stress is no joke either, so maybe teach h.s. for a couple of years and see how you like it? you can always go back to school later and you won't be in as much debt, hopefully.

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i'd love to do something like that, but unfortunately i cannot speak/write/understand/translate (nor am i interested in) any of the high demand languages. there are TONS of jobs if you know the right languages. even jobs i see that need a language i know some of or am willing to improve want me to have qualifications i don't have - i continue to see job postings for translators with engineering backgrounds or experience in programming.

i'm really starting to consider this. once i get certification in one area, i can take as many tests as i can afford to teach other subjects i'd be more passionate about. i'm not anti high school, i'm just scared that i'm going to get into it and it won't be for me or that i won't be good at it and all my students will despise me - but at the same time, it's something i can see myself doing.

so maybe i ought to get certified to teach something i really love and do that for a while until something better comes along? preferably maybe something that makes SHITLOADS OF MONEY. like advertising? shit maybe i ought to just drop everything i'm doing and go major in advertising.

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teaching highscool seems miserable. but maybe youlike being miserable.

ADVERTISING, MAN, -----SHTLOADS. LIKE AMANDA. AND THEN YOULL OWN YOUR OWN APT COMPLEX AND HAVE FIERCE ROOTS

Because you thought you could do it better? That was part of my motivation.

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

that and i was inspired by the few genuinely great teachers i had.

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Yeah, I was probably a combination of the two. I had a wee few amazing ones, a whole lot of average, but only one or two genuinely shit ones. I saw one (now about 70) on a bus once, and went up to him and said "you made me want to be a teacher!". It was partially true. Less than half an hour earlier, I'd been teaching out of a textbook he wrote! Coinicidence. He was genuinely surprised anyone still used it, but I thought it was quite good.

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

it's a hard choice. come up here and live with me!

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Sokkar I think that you could be a great teacher, only by reading you post. You seem to be patient and to be curious about many topics. And I like the way you share it. Just be prepared that the main part of the job has to do with improvising with human beings who are searching for themselves.
Misfitcult, I could not disagree more with you when you say that it seems miserable.

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Who needs love when there's Southern Comfort?

Ok maybe you should try more with the thing that "you are passionate about teaching". If you are passionate about the subject, then you maybe able to develop it more before you decide to teach it? If it was me I would be feeling as though the kids wont exactly share the same passion as me about the subject, and I would seek to develop my own interests with like minded people before giving something back. However not to dishearten you because I know a few people who have gone straight onto teach and they really enjoy even though they just happen to be quite boring people. But maybe that's just my experience - ask around in different places?

How quaint. Yeah, high school is miserable. I remember some of my teachers as miserable. It's all coming back to me now.

I didn't find where you said what your field was in this thread, but it seems that in the US secondary ed is primarily about pedagogy rather than topical areas, whereas college is all about the field and they could give a fuck about effective teaching methods. What is it that you want to teach? How long would a 2nd BA and teacher cert. take? (just the courses for the new topic, right? we're not talking from Liberal arts to biochemistry or anything, are we?) Maybe 1, 1 1/2 years? It's a toss up, to be sure. But high school students are fucking roaches.