Why I Stopped Applying for Teaching Positions

Friends and family continue to ask me why I’m not teaching. This is my response.

In 2006, the summer after I graduated high school, I took a job teaching a classroom full of toddlers. As an assistant teacher, I made $8.00 an hour and was tasked with setting up the classroom before families arrived, distributing snacks and meals, helping with diapers and toilet training, teaching through song and play, and general supervision outside and inside. The center was publicly funded and survived on government subsidies, which meant that every teacher had to be creative with resources. I spent the majority of my time with the 2 and 3 year olds, but also got to spend a few hours each day with the babies and the 4 and 5 year olds. It was a diverse environment that was loud, messy, and playful. I loved every minute of it.

Almost every teacher on staff had a child enrolled in the center and had also enrolled in school themselves; some for a CDA (child development associates), some for medical billing and coding, some for licensed practical nursing. As far as I could tell, none of them saw their job as a career choice except the director of the center. As a result, I didn’t see early childhood as a career option either. I was incredibly privileged to live rent-free at home during the summers, and this paycheck barely covered gas and meals with friends…