There is a controversy that exists as the teaching profession is concerned. Compared to other professions, teaching is one of the poorly rated in the entire globe and hence, much gossip has been spread around the profession without any solid evidence. A notion occurs that most teachers do not love their jobs but instead work to make ends meet and pay their bills. This is a hypothesis that has been spread repeatedly around the profession. Do current teachers love their jobs or work to get paid?
In uncovering the truth, I interviewed Mr. Georgia Johnson, a phycologist teacher at the University of Florida, on Jan. 2, 2022. This was my first time with Johson, and during the meeting, we discussed matters entirely engaging the life of teachers. Although he agreed that most teachers work for money today, he confirmed that he loved and enjoyed teaching and would do that until he retires. In his response, he said that there would be no engineers, doctors, economists, or other professionals without education.
Johnson said, “teaching, just like other professions, is necessary for the community.” “Teaching nurtures able community who can make an informed decision at critical times.” He further reinstated that without education, there would be no language, and the society would be useless and formless due to difficulty in communication and understanding. In other words, Johnson meant that education transforms lives and makes interaction in society easy.
Concerning his day-to-day routine, Johson said that teachers, just like other workers in other professions, work for a maximum of 8 hours a day, starting at 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Each teacher is allocated a maximum of 2 lessons per day, each lasting 3 hours from Monday to Friday,” stated Johnson. He also stated that the remaining two hours are meant for marking assignments and preparing for the next day’s lessons.
On success, Johnson said that each individual could register victory at one point in their life. He defined success as doing your best in your endeavors, not for selfish gain but to put the world in a better place. Johnson branded himself as a hero and acknowledged all hardworking teachers for doing commendable work shaping the future generation. He congratulated and urged teachers to work tirelessly and enthusiastically in delivering their duties in his statements.
Johnson mentioned that he had developed an interest in being a teacher from his lower education grade. He says that his parents and well-organized teachers shaped his teaching career. He named one specific teacher, Prof. Gladson Kimberly, who he attributes much for choosing a teaching career. According to Johnson, Kimberly was a kind and caring teacher and was passionate and did beyond his might just for the students.
Johnson had advice for the young youths as choosing their careers is concerned. He first acknowledged that there are promising careers to choose from. His first advice for potential young children is determination. He calls on young professionals to detach themselves from peers when choosing their career paths since everyone has unique potential and further lamented parents who force their kids to follow specific career paths.
However, Johnson identified some problems and difficulties teachers go through in delivering their duties. The first and the most significant challenge facing teachers are doing the same activity and repeating the same syllabus year in year out. Other challenges that teachers face, according to Johnson, are work monotony and dealing with indisciplined children, among other many challenges that he could not mention due to inadequate time. Despite the challenges, Johnson acknowledges that the teaching profession is generally a good profession that the government should invest many resources to smoothen teaching programs.