Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Dear Abby

Dear Abby,

I have applied to a Master's Program, two actually, one of which takes me upon a path which I am passionate about, the other a field of which I love.  Herein is my problem, many will ask or rather state, there is no difference between what you are passionate about and what you love./?  I disagree, obviously.  One program is interdisciplinary, while the other is Rhetoric in English.  While they both call to me, I feel one I am truly passionate about, but as my Interdisciplinary advisor stated, or rather posed, "this is a great proposal, however I don't quite see where you are going with this."  

I imagine tens of thousands of high school students, ask the same thing of themselves.  "Do I become a doctor, which would make my family happy, or do I become a writer, which would make me happy."  My father didn't care if I didn't want to be a Doctor, or--as a nurse once said, "sit down you are turning yellow, and I can't pick you up if you faint," all he cared about was me becoming a Doctor.  I hated him for that while I was growing up.     

But this is why I decided to become a high school teacher a long time ago, I wanted to empower students and drive in the point that, parent(s) want you to become something that you may not like, because American society is fundamentally ruled by money, and money equates to security, and security provides a foundation for happiness.  But as we age, we being to understand that happiness is found in pursing what we want to do, whether we are poor or wealthy, we want to be happy, and our family will mitigate their expectation when they see that we are truly happy.  And this was meant to be my message to my high school students.  

But as it stands, I am unsure if this is a career I will pursue, quite frankly, I doubt.  My student teach experience was so bad, that perhaps I need to learn or understand that a school district doesn't want or expect a teacher with tattoos, jeans, and t-shirt who owns nothing but an old motorcycle.  They want the married, young, no tattoos, 2.5 kids with a white picket fence person, as an educator.  

Perhaps I shouldn't seek to empower anyone at the secondary level; as far as the college of university level is concerned, that is a whole other matter.  

Signed, 

Careerly Compromised

3 comments:

  1. Kudos to you for applying to two Master's programs! That is amazing Antony! I think I have to agree with your concept of there being a difference between something you love and something you are passionate about.
    "But as we age, we being to understand that happiness is found in pursing what we want to do, whether we are poor or wealthy, we want to be happy, and our family will mitigate their expectation when they see that we are truly happy." I wanted to copy and paste that statement simply because of the fact that I have barely come to this very conclusion, at the age of 22 and during the last year of my academic career(which I have decided). Why not teach students this concept? Why not help them out to prepare themselves for those moments where they will want to pull their hair out because of a decision they cant make? Why not be that little voice in their heads that cheers them on every step of the way to follow their dreams because we can still dream, right?
    I completely understand your dilemma, I love teaching students as I have done for COMMS 437 (CYI Program), but I am truly not passionate about it.
    Good luck on your decision Antony, hang in there. Keep going. It's all out there. Everything you need, you just need to be patient and take it when its presented. Is this all making sense or am I rambling?
    If only you would have had a teacher to tell you that could grow up to be something that makes YOU happy and not society...hm...just a thought. (I'm playing devils advocate.)

    Work Hard and Be Nice to People!

    Jess

    ReplyDelete
  2. As always Jessica, I appreciate your words, see you in class tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As always Jessica, I appreciate your words, see you in class tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete