Why I want to become a teacher

An editorial.

By Anna Khazenzon

On Friday, August 3rd, during my second City Search, I rediscovered the fact that I want to become an educator. Listening to the growing list of the problems the Los Angeles Unified School District is facing was a wake-up call. I had gotten used to my school, even though the filth, overcrowding, and poor quality of certain teachers were definitely not unnoticed. I just accepted it though. Learning about the problems of all of Los Angeles, however, struck me. Schools are not just child care facilities for working parents. They mold the minds of future generations; without a proper foundation, college will have less purpose, and so will the workplace. People will be less skilled, and because of initial poor management of money in schools, the lives of the students could lead to nothing more than repetitive, dead-end jobs at minimum wage. Yet they could have had great success like finding a cure for cancer or saving the environment. 

When I was much younger, still in elementary schools, I wanted to become a teacher. I loved to help out with younger kids even then, and I wanted them to have as good of an education as I did, or even better. Then I realized how low the pay is. But now I realized that just for this reason most of the people who opt for teaching jobs are those who have to settle for low salaries. If someone is not qualified enough to be in a position to make more money, particularly if they were not able to earn high enough grades, then how can they teach hundreds and hundreds of kids to grow up and be bright young go-getters? If higher-qualified applicants worked in ducation, it might get more competitive, increasing wages and increasing the number of good applicants even more.

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