Teachers, why did you become a teacher?

Question

I got this from a different person who asked the same question in a different section. And I agree with it 100%.

"My question to you is, why did you become a teacher? The salaries suck, dealing with students all day isn't fun, you have to put up with their parents, and one wrong word out of your mouth could get you fired. So why in the h**l did you become a teacher?" Adding onto that, students don't show you any respect and you know that. They're overly critical and backtalk everything you say and complain about everything you do. So where did your motivation come from?

Answer 1

Why do you do what you do? Why does anyone do what they do for a living? If there weren't people willing to teach, what would we do then? And, teaching is the profession that leads to all the other professions.

Personally, I teach because from the 10 students who give bad attitude, there are always 20 more who give their best.

Answer 2

the students that you refer to are the ones I can help the most.

Answer 3

thats a bunch of garbage.

I get along with my students and their parents - I enjoy dealing with students. Yes, saying the wrong thing might get you in trouble - but I never do. I never even have the urge - I *enjoy* being at work.

So let me ask you... Does your career allow you to truly make a difference>? Mine does....

Answer 4

We have this student-mentors' club in high school wherein we become substitute teachers when a teacher is absent.  I enjoyed it but I never planned or dreamed of becoming a teacher.  I just hated the paperworks that go with teaching.  So, I studied Communication Arts in college and worked my way in media-related, administrative, public relations jobs for years.

Five years ago, I just feel burnt out and remembered a promise that my friends and I had that we will give 2 years of our lives to teaching, a sort of giving back what we owe to our teachers (we have had nightmares with some teachers but admittedly, most of them are just great persons.), so I took a crash course to have a teaching certificate and a license and teach. I enjoyed it immensely.  The paperworks which I still dislike (no longer "hate"), the low pay (it was a dive from my previous jobs) and the emotional pressures PALE with the fulfillment that I feel when these "badly-behaving" students do better in class, when parents express their gratitude (teachers are like parents so we don't really put up with the students' parents.  talking with them is like talking about our very own children.), when students give you little notes of gratitude and love (disrespectful students are actually very few) and when I go to bed at night, i am content.

I used to think that once you have the knowledge, you can already teach.  That's not likely the case.  Teaching entails passion, patience, compassion, flexibility and hardwork. I'm not saying that other jobs don't  require them.

But teaching is like parenting, you give your all and you don't give up on your "children" no matter how they misbehave and how some days get rough.  At the end of the day, when you learn about how well your former students had done in life, professionally and personally, you feel proud and you somewhat share in their success - the way parents do.

I've fulfilled the 2-year promise but I've chosen to stay in the academe because I could never leave the only place that always feels like home.  That two years had been the most fulfilling years of my life.

I'm still teaching and until now, I don't exactly know where the motivation comes from.  What I only know is that I was once a student and I know what and how they feel.