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ADVICE NEEDED FOR A COLLEGE MAJOR

How old is he?
One of the best ideas I've seen is for prospective teachers to have the opportunity to student teach before they get too far in their major. Lots of people get their degree and only teach for a year or two because they realize, too late, that they don't like it.
Clemson has student teaching experiences through all four years of their education program. I'm sure other schools do as well.
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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I guess he should major in education because its usually required. I taught history and found that many if my colleagues did not kniw history all thst wel. I think that was because they didnt read it much in their own.

I substitute taught while I was taking education courses. I found that very helpful as I got exposed to a variety if schools and ended up getting hired with a provisional contract.

Unfortunately, I has to quit my paying teachinh job to pay to "student teach" in order to complete the requirements for my degree. Crazy, huh?
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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Don't do it. America is now the country where education is taboo. If he really wants to teach, advise him to move to a country where education is valued.
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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I retired from a school district months ago. As far as the teaching job specifically, I have no information. Pay and career-wise, the district I was in is very well funded in an upper-middle-class suburb of St. Louis MO. Starting out Pay is not so good, and Math teachers get paid the same as art and gym teachers. Your income increases yearly, and there is a very good 3rd party managed pension. The district will also assist in a majority of continuing ed costs. We have art teachers and gym teachers with 25 years of experience, making 120,000.00 per year. In addition, they have a pension that will pay nearly that sum per year after they retire.

Of course, that is not all districts, but if it were me, I would be working to get hired by a district like that. And God bless him if he can do the job and enjoy it. After working in a district for 10 years as a maintenance manager, I know I could never do the job of teaching.
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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Move to Canada. NOT joking. My wife was a teacher of 40 years. Well paid, well respected. No one accusing her of grooming kids or teaching woke ideology. No need to learn the Lord's Prayer or swear allegiance to the Queen (though that used to be a thing back in the day).

The only issue is the extra hours. Usually next day's prep work is done from home. A dedicated teacher (and not all teachers are dedicated) will even stay later in the day if a pupil is having a crisis of some sort.

Again, we respect our teachers, we pay them well, and they get to retire with a generous pension at the end of it all.
 
Should go without saying that if he is teaching history or English, he'll have more freedom to do it in a blue state.
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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Yes.

#1 Get a hard science or math degree.

Education as a minor or flow into a Master Program for the education peace.

I work in a School System HR and I will guarantee that with a hard math or hard science degree and teaching credentials your grandson will never be unemployed and can live anywhere in the country.


#2
Attempt to take as many dual enrollment/AP classes in high school as possible. They earn college credits for low level classes that then don't have to be taken at University providing much more flexibility in University course selection.

WW
 
SNOWFLAKE said:
Again, we respect our teachers, we pay them well, and they get to retire with a generous pension at the end of it all.
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No kidding. The Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan is one of the largest plans in the world.
 
WorldWatcher said:
Yes.

#1 Get a hard science or math degree.

Education as a minor or flow into a Master Program for the education peace.

I work in a School System HR and I will guarantee that with a hard math or hard science degree and teaching credentials your grandson will never be unemployed and can live anywhere in the country.


#2
Attempt to take as many dual enrollment/AP classes in high school as possible. They earn college credits for low level classes that then don't have to be taken at University providing much more flexibility in University course selection.

WW
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Good advice. A Masters is a must for the earning power it affords.
 
Airyaman said:
Don't do it. America is now the country where education is taboo. If he really wants to teach, advise him to move to a country where education is valued.
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My cousin did that. Started off in NYC inner city schools to try to make a difference. Very bad experience. Impossible to teach the kids that actually want to learn when there are so many others causing fights and general disruption. Ended up teaching abroad. Demand is good. Pay is not stellar of course, but you get the opportunity to live in many different parts of the world. Speaks four or five languages now, I believe.
 
j brown's body said:
Should go without saying that if he is teaching history or English, he'll have more freedom to do it in a blue state.
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Why is literacy so low in California?
 
Allan said:
Good advice. A Masters is a must for the earning power it affords.
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To tell the truth I'm not a big fan of early Masters programs. They are a fact of life today, so it's what we have to deal with.

They are typically designed to get undergrad subject degree, then do one or two years additional for the education peace. The result is people with Master's just entering the teaching force.

As an old fart, I preferred the model where you got your undergrad, after couple of years in the classroom (with peer mentoring) you went back to earn your Masters. You now had a pool of actual real world relatable experience as you were studying for your Master.
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And don't get me started on what we call "The 3-year Wonders". When you are hiring a new teacher and their transcripts show heavy administration courses and their license endorsement includes "Administration & Supervision" (As we call it in VA) you can tell that person isn't interested in teaching. They want to get the 3 year ticket punch to then move to administration and get out of the classroom.

In the past, Administrators weren't considered remotely qualified without at least 10 years in the classroom. Which - IMHO - is part of the problem, the Administrators don't have the breadth of experience for the jobs. (Sometimes, I'm talking the younger pole climbers here.)

WW
 
L88 said:
Yep, very, very sad. I think many parents in the US don't understand the importance of education.
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Yup.
 
tshade said:
My grandson wants to be a teacher. Any advice for him??
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If he wants to work with kids, other things he could consider are speech or occupational therapy, child life specialist or psychology degree working towards a masters in therapy.
 
Parrish said:
Not necessarily. The madman in the WH has a sharpie. History is being rewritten, and books are being banned as we speak.
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I dont think blue states will oblige him, especially in areas that have a diverse population.
 
L88 said:
Why is literacy so low in California?
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Literacy will always struggle in states with high immigration, but California schools in general have been in decline. This is largely due to spending priorities. People revolted over high taxes and the education system took the hit. Funding went from local level to state level. California public schools went from being among the best in the country to being among the worst, though things were improving last I checked.
 
Allan said:
Yup.
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Wild guess on my part, with what I know. But I would bet the English literacy rate is higher in Germany than in the US.
 
j brown's body said:
They vary within each state.
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No shit. But if a blue state is so good for teachers of English, what's going wrong in the Blue Utopia of CA? You brought it up.
 
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