Back to School...

As the new year begins, another thought popped into my mind.

Teaching was a stable and yet relatively simple career to pursue without the stress of the corporate world. Recently a friend of mine joined the teaching force and this has inspired me to take a closer look at following her footsteps.

Simply put, how difficult is it to handle a bunch of kids or teenagers?
Realistically speaking, kids (ages between 7-12), might not be too difficult to handle. In my country, to teach such ages, one would require a teaching diploma along with other qualifications. Nonetheless, the syllabus for kids is not extremely difficult and a typical graduate would be able to do well in such a career should they have a passion for kids and making a difference in shaping a child's life.

Ages 13-18 would be a lot harder to handle as these are the teenage years. Also, much higher qualifications would be required to teach these ages. A specialised degree would be required to teach respective subjects. (i.e. a degree in Mathematics would be required to teach Math, a degree in Economics would be required to teach Economics, etc.) Furthermore, as these are the more rebellious years in a person's life, it would be more stressful to be teaching such ages. However, these might also be the most rewarding years to be teaching as these are the years which shape teenagers to be better people in the future. (aka, To Sir With Love - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Sir_With_Love)

Ages above 18 would truely require alot of additional education which most people would not have. To be able to teach/lecture in a College as a professor would require a Masters or Doctorate. Furthermore, professors also have to come up with a written paper every quarter or so to be published. At the time of writing this blog, this option is totally irrelavent as I have no intention of getting such higher education. But, if acquired, such a career would be quite interesting as College lectures are significantly less than High School. Thus, there would be much more free time teaching in College as compared to High School. Pay would also be significantly higher but there would be stress to produce a paper every few months so maintain the mark of a professor.

After consideration, I feel that this does not fit into my idea of something which I would like to do as yet.

I once had an idea to drive my small car to school, teach physical education, make people run around and play games and teach new games to students. Earn money whilst keeping myself fit as well. Maybe end my day about 6-7p.m. after teaching gym classes as additional curricular activities. Then drive my small car home, enjoy a simple dinner with my wife, and the next day repeat the same simple routine. =) On top of that, enjoy the summer and winter vacation, the short 1 week break in March and September. It seemed a nice relaxing life. However, these thoughts will be reserved as a back up plan should my other plans fail. (Other plans still yet to be determined.) =)

Analysis
Pros:
Rewarding.
Not too stressful.
Holidays follow school terms. Thus, holidays in June and December and some weeks in between.
Job security.
Predictable job timings.

Cons:
Not a lot of income, not very high yearly increments.
Depending on personality. Job might be too stressful if students cannot be controlled.
Hanging around children might make one unrealistic about the real world outside. (i.e. might be staying in an ivory tower.)
Lack of social circle. (I know of some friends who have difficulty in finding their other half due to the lack of social interaction.)