Mar 31, 2005 21:54
In all honesty, I think part of the reason that I was a good engineer, if not a successful one is that I am incredibly lazy. There is an odd combination in being lazy and intelligent where they actually work well with each other. I find I am the type of person, who will spend hours working out a simpler way to accomplish something, that normally, if done straight and traditional, would have easily taken a quarter of the time. This appears bad at first, however when you realize that much of work that is done today is simply a slight variation on work that was previously done, there becomes a distinct method to my madness. By spending an entire day at work, writing out an Excel spread sheet program that could check all my calculations and formulae just be changing one or two variables, I ended up saving myself a ton of time in the long run. For some reason though, this is discouraged, as it (at first) appears to be an inefficient use of time, then it is seen as non-traditional (thus scary, kind of like programming a VCR to record a show), then it is detrimental because you rely on it more than you should (says the engineer trying to start a fire using a slide rule and a bone), then they are bothering you to teach them how to use it. All in all, it caused me to run out of work quickly, which led to me realizing that engineering was not for me.
At this point in my life I knew that I needed a change, badly. I was absolutely positive that I could make a difference by teaching high school science or math courses. I enrolled at a local college that had a teaching certification program and dove right in. It was at this point that I remembered an old adage, ‘Those who don’t know, teach.’ I always chuckled at this, and thought it true to a certain degree throughout my life. Taking classes about teaching from teachers really made me wonder about that statement. If those who don’t know, teach… what does that say about those who teach about teaching? In all honestly is says more than I really wanted.
I found that actual high school and middle school teachers were really good people for the most part. I have nothing but respect for a person who can survive in the environment that our current school system is in. The students simply do not care whether they learn or not. If the parents have money, they automatically assume they will be going to college. If the parents don’t, they automatically assume they won’t go to college, so why bother trying to better themselves. The saddest thing of all was that it wasn’t the students who were the major disappointments to me when doing my teacher experiences. It was honestly the parents. We would have student after student who had severe problems that could really only be addressed at home. We, doing our duty to the students, would call the parents to inform them on what was going on. The best we were often able to get was, ‘You are the teacher, I pay tax money to send my kid off to school, once they are there they are your problem.’ This was an honest to god quote from a parent to the teacher I was sitting in with. Needless to say this was also the point that I realized that I probably could not handle teaching at a middle or high school level. That did leave elementary school. I have taught an after school science program for elementary kids. I have come to the conclusion that a person who teaches elementary school must either be a saint, or a sadist, and I am neither. Thus that was not for me.