Career Choices Made In Childhood

 

 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”  

 

Who hasn’t asked or been asked that question at least once in their lifetime? Besides “an astronaut” or a “super hero” response, do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?

 

 

I don’t know when or who planted the seed in my head about wanting to become a teacher, but for as long as I can remember I always wanted to be one. So after graduating from high school, I headed off to college where I received a BS Degree in Elementary Education from Delaware State College in 1983.  

I even had a job offer before the last semester to teach third grade at McIllvaine Elementary School in Camden-Wyoming, Delaware…however, I only taught for one year.

 

 

A few weeks ago, I read an article in the local paper about how most students spend their lives preparing for one thing: getting a job.  

Unemployment among college grads has been on the decline in the past decade, but finding a job or career within their major is another story.  Finding a job in the field of their degree is getting harder, no matter what it is.  

Click this link to read the entire article.  

 

It’s stressful and frustrating when you are searching for a job in your field and can’t find one, especially if it’s your childhood dream.

Reading this article started me thinking about my childhood career choice, would I have chosen a different major or what if anything would I have done differently during my years at Delaware State (College) University. 

 

 

My childhood dream was to teach school because I enjoyed giving lessons to my sister and reading to my cousins, I even stole books from the library so that I could create one at home.  I would have my sister and cousins sign out the library cards and everything – sorry William B. Ward Elementary School!

 

 

 

I lived my dream, but for only one short year, it wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy it because I loved teaching, it was the salary…$12,145 annually.  

Even back then, that wasn’t enough money to cover all of my expenses.  After paying rent on a two bedroom apartment that my sister and I shared and a car payment on a car that didn’t have air conditioning, I couldn’t afford to buy food and had to eat most meals at my grandmother’s house.

 

Hubby and I had a conversation about our career choices and reasons for attending college, I even found my college transcripts.  Looking at those transcripts I realized that I had received one “D” and that it was given by a professor that both he and I had and the subject was Media.  Ironic huh….

This was a required class for students seeking a degree in Elementary Education.  Thinking back on it now, learning how to load a projector with a reel of tape wasn’t hard, it was just boring so I never learned how to properly do it…fast forward 34 years…does anyone even remember this?

 

 

 

Anywho, after teaching for just one year, I left and moved back to New York where I was eventually hired by IBM and then subsequently laid off after 20 years.  I don’t regret this decision, but sometimes hubby reminds me that had I stayed in the field of education I would have probably been an administrator, retired and now be receiving a nice pension.  

However, I remind him that had I stayed, I would probably never have met and married him, nor had our two great sons or soon be heading back into a classroom to teach adults how to build a blog starting in September!   Woohoo!

 

 

I will admit that I have come full circle and like my college roommate and fellow blogger said, “that’s a sign of completion!”

Let’s Chat:  Did you grow up to be what you always wanted to be?

 

 

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