What to do?

I have many days when I sit and wonder about what to do with my future-career. Teaching elementary aged students has been a career choice for me in the past and remains heavy on my mind still today. I started to pursue my degree for teaching when all the lay offs and pay cuts began in many school districts around the nation. While researching this article had statistics that jumped out at me, "Thousands of Teachers Face Layoffs."Districts in California have given pink slips to 22,000 teachers; Illinois has given 17,000 pink slips; and, New York has warned 15,000 teachers that their jobs would be gone by June 2011. Yet, is it necessarily true that these statistics would hurt my career in teaching if I were to pursue with the degree? My teaching degree will have been completed in late 2014; will these problems come to a rest by then?

     A career in teaching would not be successful for me to begin if numbers exceed 22,000 pink slips, imagine the number of students that will be shuttled into classrooms, surpassing the usual limit of 19 students per classroom when I was a student. Teaching gives our younger generation of students the knowledge and the skills needed to be successful. Students’ learning is in jeopardy when classroom size is too high and the nation’s best teachers are underpaid or warned of losing their jobs, thus jeopardizing teacher retention and effectiveness.

     Some readers may challenge Saturn Smith’s view in, "Thousands of Teachers Face Layoffs," that there is talent across America and it is in our classrooms. I agree with Smith, effective teachers have a talent to teach in ways that are beneficial to students. One thing that makes a good teacher is the ability and desire to help others while at the same time not taking credit for it. Teachers who have this drive and philosophy are being laid off or absorbing cuts in pay. Due to sever budget cuts, teachers who have the desire to help a student succeed, are reclassified to just a pay-check or just another warm body in a building.  I am disgusted with today’s way of trying to fix our country. It is affecting what could be a resolution to our future; it’s affecting students and keeping people, like me, from becoming teachers.