Choosing a profession is one of the biggest decisions we make in our adult lives. It affects our social life, socioeconomic status, and almost every area of our existence.
More specifically, becoming a teacher has its own unique set of challenges. Whatever your reasons are for considering this profession, there are some harsh and heartwarming truths you need to know.
There are many things I wish I knew before becoming a teacher. I wish I knew the extent to which the low salary would affect every area of my life. I also wish I had known the unacceptable ways that teachers are routinely treated.
If you are thinking of becoming a teacher, I would advise you not to do so blindly. You deserve to make an informed decision, especially when it’s such a big one. It will affect your life and well-being in more ways than you can imagine.
Here are a few common truths about teaching I wish I had known.
You’ll Probably Always Need to Have a Second Source of Income Just to Survive
I am single with no children and a pretty simple lifestyle. Yet I’ve almost always had a second job just to have a decent quality of life. This seems to be the case for most teachers I know, even if they are married, and especially if they have children.
Most teachers I know are always looking for more ways to make money- tutoring, being an adjunct professor, having a side business, etc.
While I think it’s always a good idea to diversify your income, you shouldn’t have to do so just to cover the rent. I want to diversify my income because it allows me to save and invest. I want to diversify my income because it provides me a security blanket if any one stream of income dries up for any reason. It should allow me to thrive, not just survive.
On top of this, there is little room for financial growth in education if you choose to stay in the classroom. I, for one, have no interest in becoming an administrator. Most school districts pay teachers based on a step scale. Every year of teaching moves you up one step. You also get paid a little more (usually $2,000-$3,000 per step) if you have a graduate degree. The same is true if you have a specialist or doctorate degree.
However, the pay increases are usually meager and do not come close to keeping up with the cost of inflation. They also do not come close to keeping up with the type of raises you see in the corporate world, especially if you are intentionally switching companies every 1-3 years. Furthermore, there’s no room for negotiation no matter how great of a job you do.
Even if you are not a materialistic person, money should be a serious consideration in your career choice. Money does not equal happiness, but not having enough of it can create a world of stressors.
Teachers obviously don’t enter the profession for the money. Unfortunately, we’re not exempt from needing it to survive. And we deserve to do more than survive. We deserve to thrive.
It Will Probably Be a Love-Hate Relationship
Like I said above and as we all already know, teachers do not enter this profession for money. We usually do it for love.
We love kids. We love teaching. We love the idea of meaningful work. (Maybe some do it because they think it will be easy or practical. I wish them the best!)
But do you always feel warm, fuzzy feelings about everyone and everything you love? Probably not.
Yet, there’s some teacher trope out there that we’re just supposed to love every second of our job all day every day! Can we please stop expecting teachers to be superhuman?
You don’t have to love your job to be good at it. You don’t even really have to like it. Most teachers do a good job because that’s just who we are.
If you decide to become an educator, please don’t expect yourself to be positive about your job all the time. You might hate certain aspects of it at times. There might be times when you hate most of it. You might lose your passion at some point or it might come and go.
Throw in all the abuse and injustice that teachers face, and you might definitely have some strong and uncomfortable feelings about the work you chose.
Please allow yourself to be human. Even if the world doesn’t.
And if you want to or need to, allow yourself to leave. Guilt-free.
You are allowed to grow. You are allowed to change. You are allowed to do what’s best for you and put yourself first.
The world will keep turning. I promise you.
So whatever you decide, be kind to yourself in the process.
You Will Need an Exit Strategy in Place at All Times
No matter how much you once loved teaching, you might get burnt out at some point from:
- Always working a second job.
- Being disrespected (and often downright abused) at the whim of policies, administrators, and parents.
- The emotional rollercoaster of loving what you do and not truly being able to do it due to maddening policies and red tape.
- The constant caretaking nature of the job.
Or any other number of reasons.
Please, please, please …
Always have an exit strategy in place.
While late is always better than never, I wish I had started thinking like this years ago. You don’t want to wait until things are unbearable and then realize you don’t have any options. Start creating income streams that have the potential to be even more lucrative than teaching. It will take a while to get them there, but when they do you will not be beholden to your job or any other one of them.
I decided to go the freelance writing route for a while, but then I decided to spend that time building this online business instead.
There were several reasons for this.
- Freelancing is still trading time for money. While you can keep charging more as your experience grows, there is still a ceiling. I want my earning potential to be limitless, or at least determined by me.
- I was still beholden to my clients. While a freelancer-client relationship is more like a partnership than a boss-employee situation, there are still customers to please. The older I get, the more troubled I am by answering to anyone else. I aim only to please myself.
- Freelancing has deadlines. Strict ones. It’s hard to deal with them on top of school deadlines and the ebb and flow of the busyness of the school year. I work on my business at my discretion. Consistency is still key, but I get to determine what that looks like.
These are also the reasons I went this route instead of seeking another second job. I wanted a source of income that:
- Is remote.
- Is flexible.
- Has unlimited earning potential.
- Has potential for scaling and diversification.
- Is fully controlled by ME!
I hope I’ve given you some food for thought. Whatever your exit strategy looks like, start planning and acting on it NOW! Don’t wait until you are physically and/or mentally sick like many teachers have to.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
- Keep your resume current. Keep a record of all your job accomplishments and know that many companies LOVE hiring teachers. Consider switching positions every 1-3 years for maximum salary increase. I also highly recommend following Teacher Career Coach. Her feed will remind you that you are NEVER stuck, you are capable and wanted, and you always have options!
- Start a Teachers Pay Teachers Store. This is one of the income streams I plan on adding to my online content business. A TPT store can take a while to get traction, but much like the blogging world, those who keep learning and persevering tend to see the biggest payoffs in the long term.
- Start a business blog. This income stream takes time and dedication, but you can use it as a starting point for income from multiple sources: ad revenue, affiliate marketing, product creation, courses, and so much more!
Please start thinking about how you can create multiple streams of income, especially at least one that can surpass your teaching salary one day and keep on growing.
Closing Thoughts
Your experience will vary from district-to-district and state-to-state, but the themes mentioned above are systemic.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked in three school districts in three different states. The low pay, lack of time and respect, and unrealistic expectations have been present in all of them. And these experiences are not unique to these places. Far from it.
Despite all of the above, I’ve missed teaching both times I left. It was bittersweet.
I didn’t miss being overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid. But I did miss collaborating and socializing with my colleagues, seeing my students grow and thrive, and all the other fulfilling aspects of being an educator.
If I had to do it all over again, I probably would still become a teacher. It’s a gratifying experience unlike any other.
What I would do differently is build my income streams on the side from the beginning of my career. I would make sure I always had other viable income options. I’ve seen too many bitter teachers stuck in the classroom, and that’s a horrible situation for everybody.
If you’re still reading and you haven’t run for the hills yet, you’ve probably got the stomach it takes to be a teacher. Just take care of yourself and put yourself in a position to leave should you ever need to. Even one school year of a particularly rough administration, class, or teaching team can wreak havoc on your mental health. No one should be subjected to that, and it’s always good to have options.