All throughout my life, I have never really had a set ambition. I wasn't passionate enough about anything that I could take it up as a career. Although writing was a hobby, I never considered doing it full-time because I know that my work isn't good enough to provide me stability. Besides, I can't write well under pressure.
Upon entering middle school, I found solace in a completely different subject: Math. After publishing my first book, Coming Home, I found myself under a lot of pressure. I submerged myself in schoolwork, specifically, Math. Math was completely different from writing and that's what I loved about it. It seemed sort of "simple" to me. There could be so many ways to get to an answer but there could only be one right answer. It was fascinating. By Class 12, I knew that I wanted a career in Math. So, I decided to drop Biology and focus on Math.
In Class 12, I found many of my friends coming to me for help, not just in Math but in classes I wasn't even good at. Some of them said that I made that concepts much easier for them to understand. I realized that I enjoyed teaching as well.
Up until the week before the scholarship interviews were held, I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Physics wasn't my strong suit so engineering was out of the question. I found out that they had a scholarship for B.Sc. in Mathematics in the U.S. Sure, I have to admit that the place did appeal to me but I would never choose my career based on a location where you only got to spend four years at. I talked to my parents and thought about it a lot. I realized that I didn't have much talents but teaching was something I was good at as well as enjoyed.
I took up the scholarship and was very excited for whatever the future had in store for me. However, when I went back to my high school and told my teachers about it, I was shocked to find that they were disappointed. They shook their heads at me. I think I may have gotten around two or three positive feedback from around ten teachers I saw that day. I saw the happy and proud looks on their faces drop as soon as I told them that I would have to be a teacher after graduation. One of my teachers even asked if there was any way I could go back and change my scholarship to something else.
It never really hit me until that day how much teaching was looked down upon by our society. Sure, it is underpaid and under appreciated but I hadn't expected my teachers to frown upon my decision. I mean, after all, all the teachers that I have had until now were part of the reason I chose this path. They had taught me so much more than just textbooks and all of them were inspirations for me and my friends. I couldn't believe that these were the same people who were dissuading me from the very job that they did. Even after I left for college, I found many of my younger cousins or juniors telling me that the teachers were disappointed that my potential was lost in such a field. My colleagues and other students talked about how the location must have been the reason why I had chosen such a dead end career.
I'm not angry at anyone who thought that or still thinks that way. I just feel that those thoughts are exactly what is wrong with our society. It was disheartening to see that such a respected job was scorned upon by so many. Teaching has been and still is one of the most noble jobs in the world. Teachers have the rare opportunity to mold the young minds who the future belongs to. In a way, the future of the world is in the hands of teachers.
This summer, I taught kids from Grade 3-8 some basic Computer Science classes. This experience has further confirmed my feelings in the field that I have chosen. I do not know if I will continue to love teaching the way I do right now and I can't tell what the future has in hold for me. However, the purpose of this rant was to bring forward a topic that isn't really talked about. I would really appreciate it if all of us would understand and value each and every career. The world would be a better place if everyone chose to support and appreciate other people and their choices.