I Wanted to Be a Teacher by Emily

I Wanted to Be a Teacher by Emily - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

In kindergarten, our teacher sat us down on the circle rug and looked at all of is in our eyes and said “Children, what...do you want to be when you grow up?” The question hung in the hot, muggy, August air. My first school year had just begun, I was 4 years old. I didn't know the answer to that question. I sat there wondering.
When I was 6, I was in 2nd grade. Most people are in 1st grade at this age, but I was born exactly on the cut-off date, September 1st so I have always been the young one compared to my classmates. 2nd grade was very different from kindergarten, but, I remember my 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Hodges, asking our class the very same question.”What do you want to be when you grow up?” Kids responded with the stereotypical, “Fireman”, “Policeman”, and “Doctor”. But I questioned all of this.“What is the importance of this,” I wondered, “Why do I need to decide what I want now? I'm only a little girl? How can I know now what I will want when I'm grown up?”
But I was in 2nd grade now, older and wiser than I was in kindergarten. So this time, I did more than just sit and wonder, I sat there and thought, as hard as a 6 year old can, and I decided. I, Emily Ramm, would be a teacher, jut like Ms. Hodges, whom I knew to be the best teacher in the world....However, I was so right when I was a little 6 year old. How could a little girl know what she will want when she is grown?
As I went to school, I learned a lot. I learned my times tables, I learned how to spell and write, how to manage my time, and countless other lessons inside and out of the classroom. But, one of the biggest patterns that I began to observe, and one of the biggest lessons that I have learned, is that being a teacher, isn't always great. Being a teacher is hard. Kids are mean, kids are loud, kids are annoying, kids, of all ages, don't pay attention. I often wonder how all of the amazing teachers that I have had did it. How did they deal with us? When we were young, we were crazy, slobbery, nose picking children. When we were a little older than that, we were awkward, mean, moody pre-teens. And now, we are only slightly older, more developed people, but we are still those same kids. Our level of willingness to learn, to work hard, and to pay attention have not changed all that much. How do teachers do it?
Seeing all of this, made me change my mind. I would never wish upon any human being, much less myself, to have to work with my generation, and try to get them to learn something, anything. The teachers that were my idols in elementary school were amazing. If I were to become a teacher as originally planned, it would tarnish their memory. I would become disillusioned and maybe a bit cynical of how magical these teachers were for me. It is due to this fact that I have set my sights on becoming a Nurse Practitioner, a job that deals with a variety of people in a variety of situations. Teachers, have it much harder. They deal with the same irritating, noisy children everyday for 180 days of the school year. How do they do it? How?
Well, I finally figured it out. After all of my years of schooling, and all my years of observing the teachers that have attempted to teach me and my classmates, it has become clear to me. It is their love for the students. Good teachers love, are patient with, and care about all of the kids they teach, both the well-behaved ones, and the bad. They want to help these kids understand the world around them. Teachers are truly amazing people with kind hearts and a determination to educate. However, I have realized that that kind of person will never be me. I do not have endless patience. I do not have a great love for smaller, less knowledgeable human beings, who have the potential to be greatly annoying. I simply do not. It is not in me. I have an aptitude for science, for English, and for math. I have an aptitude for working hard. I will be a Nurse Practitioner. I will analyze, assess, and implement plans for patients that come to see me. I will teach them how to care for themselves, but I will not be a teacher. I admire those who have what it takes, because it was these kinds of teachers who shaped me, and because I know that I do not.