Choosing a career path now is hard. There is a lot out there, especially some careers that need more passionate people, yet do not pay them the bare minimum for basic living. Despite the poor pay, teaching is needed and important.
Over the last few years, the number of college graduates choosing to do education has met a massive decline. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 85,000 bachelor’s degrees are given to those who pursued this profession each year. However, ten years ago that number used to be significantly higher, at 150,000 bachelor’s degrees per year.
FVHS history teacher Carrie Shaw said, “Combined with low pay for the required amount of education and continued training, I think that many people choose to go into fields that make more money, even if they want to teach. It’s sad really, as a lot of potentially talented teachers are just not going into education.”
People may think of teachers only teaching because it’s simply just their job, but there is deeper meaning to it. Considering it to be just teaching, rather than the foundation of shaping future generations easily discredits their reputation. It is truly a job of pure role modeling.
Teachers play a huge role in students’ day to day lives, meaning those who struggle with mental health could really use that trusted adult support if they may not have that at home. In a way, everyone always has at least one teacher they remember as a kid or maybe right now that they feel a sense of comfort in or just love being around in general.
Building bonds in this day and age as an educator is one of the most important things to society, so giving support to those who want to pursue teaching or to teachers in general helps the community come together much more than you’d think.
