I am here at a Starbucks in Chicago starting this new journey of mine. I am transitioning into possibly a new hobby which could potentially lead me to a new career, blogging. I am not much of a writer and haven't been most of my life. School was very easy most of my life. The public school system never put me in a position to be a writer. At Goshen College, a small school in Goshen, Indiana, writing was finally introduced to me and I struggled. I never wrote papers before and I surely didn't know what the processes were to write decent college papers. I was so bad at writing that I took enough English classes to include as a minor. I had to get better in order to graduate.
After college I stopped writing and went on to work at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (UCLS). It is a private school which runs from nursery to 12th grade. I worked as a substitute teacher and an assistant teacher for 4-year-olds and 2nd grade. I considered myself a teacher but I did half the work of a head teacher at the school or any other public school teacher. I was just an assistant helping the head teachers with whatever they needed. It was a fun job at times because some of the kids were funny. We would play together at the playgrounds and laugh at things they did. Some of the projects were fun to teach and the coworkers were fun to teach with. However, I saw myself slowly disliking the fact that I am only an assistant making assistant teacher money while I am qualified to be a head teacher making head teacher money. Yes, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a wonderful school to work at. The faculty and staff are top-notch, resources are always available, parental involvement is high, and the students are wonderful to teach. Why would I leave this place? If I am teacher I should stay and work my way up because this school is so great.
Here is what I need to do in order to be a head teacher at this school. I have to go back to school to receive a masters, which will take three to four years because I have to go part time. I have to be an assistant teacher for that amount of time. After, if I am a great teacher and the administration notices, I might become a head teacher if there are any positions available. Teachers at this school never leave so available positions are rare to open up. If there aren't any positions available I could stay as an assistant or leave to teach at a public school. The second route would give me head teaching experience and would take at least two to five years to consider returning to UCLS. At that point I will be past 30 years old.Well that is too long of a process for me to consider working at UCLS. I don't want to spend $20,000 extra to receive a masters. I don't want to work at a public school in Chicago. Chicago Public School teachers are always on strike and the system seems to be corrupt. I don't want to wait until I am 30 to make $60,000 a year or less.
I don't want to take that road. I have struggled to much in my life. I grew up poor, hungry, inner city, no father, no role models, domestic violence, worrying about a roof over my head, heartbreaks, and little hope. That's just the tip of the ice burg. I could say that everything was my father's fault. He wasn't there but still managed to lock my mother down. I could say that he is the reason for all the pain we went through. It is so easy to blame him but I won't. I believe that everything happens for a reason and some people just go through these things because it is meant to happen. It's the best way to think about life in order to push yourself.
Now, I am considering blogging as a path to lead me to no struggle, to lead me into a new career of writing, and to lead my life to places unimaginable. If you are reading this you are probably saying, "What the heck is this guy doing? There is no money in writing!" I would probably think the same thing if I were you. Well there is this opportunity to work for a startup company that could promise to make huge financial gains. This company will allow me to write for them and make their brand great. At 25 years old I think I will take my chances. It is the best time to take a risk and I won't regret taking it.
