My Public Profession

A while back a buddy of mine, Mike Goodspeed, wrote about his party profession. What he meant by this is changing what he did for a living when people would ask what he did. Computer programming just isn’t that interesting to most people (especially the ladies). Since reading this, I’ve noticed I get the same two questions when people ask me what I do. When I would tell them I am (going to be) a teacher they either say:

Cool, are you going to coach?

or

Wow, that’s awesome. That is so noble. Teachers really should get paid more. They, like, shape the future.

I’d say the first one I get more often than the latter. Now, I don’t want to not tell people I teach. I’m not ashamed of it, I’m proud of the fact that I will be doing this. What I get tired of is those two questions people ask me. Will I coach, it’s a possibility, but unlike the majority of history majors, I did not become a teacher so I could go back to my old high school and coach. Coaching is not my life-long goal, and to me, is not much of a goal at all. As for teaching being noble and teachers should be paid more, I agree, but most people don’t really feel that way. Most people hated their teachers in high school. They just tell you what they think you want to hear. Every profession is noble in some way. Since I don’t want to lie, I continue to tell people I’ll teach, but I’ll continue to smile and nod while they go on an on about how great teachers are.