For some of us, this school year is the beginning of a new adventure, perhaps even a new chapter in our life.
However, we all have one common purpose: to become part of the great American workforce.
We all have our chosen fields of study -†communications, biology, foreign language, et cetera -†and have decided what type of career we will have in that field.
Sometimes how we follow our career path, and major, are simple choices. Either we have know someone in the field, or have done extensive research on that career, becoming familiar with salaries and its job description.
But nowadays, it really isn’t what you know, but who you know that will get your foot in the door.
While obtaining a good education is essential to having a successful career, in some industries it is preferred but sometimes does give you any real-world experience.
Journalism and English majors, particularly those at UH, have opportunities to expand their writing skills by writing for The Daily Cougar, or even being published in a literary publication.
These majors have hands-on experience that allows the student to not only improve and enhance their skills as writers but as professionals as well.
Other majors, such as education, teach you how to be a teacher, how to handle certain situations that occur in the classroom and how to prepare, execute and be successful for a fulfilling career as a teacher.
Just like in any other major, education students have opportunities to intern at a school district and are actually able to see first hand the typical day of a teacher.
Many prospective teachers, however, need to look at the motivations on why they want to teach.
Is it really for the children and ensuring that our future has a fighting chance at success and the world like we do, or could it possibly be for the money and the three-month summer vacation?
While one hopes that the first question is answered quickly and with lots of heartfelt excitement, that is not always the case.
Most education majors would more than likely choose to be elementary educators rather than secondary, simply because sometimes the younger students are much easier to "handle" than the older students.
The older students know how to talk back and rebel against the teacher. Sometimes those students are even taller or stronger than the teacher.
But even if that is the case, high school students need those special teachers that will pay attention to their strong points, encourage them to use their given talents and nurture them in a way that makes them believe in themselves.
And in order to really reach a student, it really doesn’t matter if the teacher is a man or woman.
Some say that young men need strong, solid male role models to show them the way. That would be great, but let’s face the facts and realize that the ratio of female-to-male teachers usually favors the female teachers.
Nonetheless, just as we need professors to remember they were once students who sometimes struggled to get through class, high school students need to be reminded their teachers understand too.
So many inner city students need that guidance as well.
But young teachers do not want to go to those types of schools because those school districts do not pay enough.
If one would just take the chance to make a difference in one student’s life, perhaps that student will do the same in his or her career.
If one teacher, or potential teacher, would actually think back to when they were in school and which teachers took him or her under their wings and helped them through all the many facets of teenage life, they could do the same for another student.
Some may be saying, "I am only one person," but all it really takes is one good teacher to change a child’s life.
Latimer, a creative writing graduate student, can be reached via [email protected]
