Well, today was the first truly difficult day I’ve had at my favorite school.
I had two kids go AWOL during one of my classes. I’m pretty sure I let one of them go to the bathroom, and he just never came back. The other one? Not exactly sure.
I got a call from the attendance office asking if they were there. I checked. Nope.
I got another call from someone in the office who had apparently caught them in the parking lot. They told her Mrs. B (their regular teacher) had given them permission to go out to their cars and get their homework. (Gee, did they think no one would figure out that Mrs. B wasn’t in school?) I assured her that they did not have my permission to be outside.
This same person came to find me in the faculty room during my lunch period, just to make sure these two boys came to class and then left, and had not skipped out earlier. She wanted to be sure of the situation before writing them up.
Sigh.
Also, I met another English sub who is coming in to fill in for a maternity leave. I hate meeting other English subs. Other English subs are my competition. And knowing that he’s doing the maternity leave sort of ruined my day. Because if someone retires, wouldn’t they be more likely to hire the guy who’s worked there in a long-term position?
But on the other hand, today I was leaning VERY heavily toward wanting to teach college full time. I vacillate on this daily. And I don’t know how likely I am to be able to do this without a doctorate, and I absolutely, positively cannot go back to school right now. I can’t. I need to pay my loans BACK, not take out more. I already feel like a huge loser when I think about my loans.
Speaking of jobs…I did hear from the principal at that Catholic school. They hired someone else. Like I said, I wasn’t sure if it was what I wanted…but it sure would be nice to be the one doing the rejecting…
Well you could look at the doctorate this way: Hawk spent years in school getting his degree, came out and worked three years of residency and is now making a great salary. Of course he’s still paying back loans and “loan repayment” is part of his salary (he has to pay taxes on the money but it’s kind of a nice bonus.”
It’s kind of an investment. You just have to weigh the reward. Student loan interest rates are much lower than, say, a credit card. It’s a good debt to have IMO.
Not saying you need more debt or another degree but that’s the flip side of taking out more loans. Just my $.02.
That’s a bummer all around. But you never know what will happen next…could be that the maternity leave guy (that sounds funny) won’t work out, or perhaps he has another gig lined up after this one, or who knows. As for teaching college vs. high school — only you can figure out what will make you feel happy and fulfilled. Once you make that decision, the rest will flow. Good luck!
[Utter strangness – my word-verification word has a “u” with an umlaut. And since I don’t know how to type an umlaut, it wouldnt’ verify me and gave me a new word instead. What’s up with that?]