Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in

Have you ever considered becoming a high school teacher? 5

Status
Not open for further replies.
curiousmechanical

curiousmechanical

Mechanical
Dec 14, 2006
54
0
0
US
Hello Everyone,

Recently, I had a conversation with a teacher friend of mine and he was telling me how desperate high schools are for math and science teachers (nothing new there). I think it would be fairly easy for an engineer to switch careers and become a high school math or science teacher. Not only that, he or she would be bring some valuable real world experience to the classroom as well. I am curious why more engineers don’t make this transition.

Engineering can be very demanding and stressful. Not only that, we get bogged down with many nontechnical and mundane tasks. When you’re having a bad day at the office, summers off is a nice fantasy. Teaching seems like it could be fun, but I think I would miss the action too much. Not to mention, the money isn’t so good. But even then, I’m surprised I don’t hear of many engineers throwing in the towel to become a teacher. With the economy as bad as it is, becoming a teacher could be a stable alternative.

Has anyone ever seriously considered becoming a high school teacher? Do you know anyone who has actually made the switch? If so, were they happy with their decision?

I hope others will find this topic interesting.

Thanks everyone!
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Sort by date Sort by votes
I had thought that it would be interesting to teach high school. When I found out that almost all of my education would count for naught and that I was looking at a four-year education degree, I decided that it might be better to teach at the university-level where there is no education degree nor teaching certificate required.

At least in my state in the US, the system does not place any value on what an experienced engineer has to offer high school students.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sure I have thought about it.. And some schools will grant you a waiver (if they are real desperate) but expect you to get the ED credits you need within say 2 years. Actually - you don't often need that many - maybe 20 or 24 hours - depending on requirements.

But then go watch a high school "special" on TV - the reason concealed carry was allowed in many states....

The pay is not that good - but the benefits may be - depends on time in service...

Look into private schools.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Based on what I know about it in my state:

Pay isn't that good.

Benefits often aren't as good as they used to be.

It's no longer a secure/stable profession.

You have to put up with kids.

You have to put up with kids parents.

You have to put up with the principal (plus possibly dept head)

You have to put up with the school district bureaucracy.

You have to put up with the teachers union.

You have to put up on advancement etc. generally based on time served, with little allowance for merit.

You get to teach the same thing over and over again, bar the ever changing syllabus and testing requirements etc.

I'm sure there are other reasons not to do it, many of them relating to boring and mundane tasks.

That said, one of my Physics teachers at school had been a material engineer/scientist previously.

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'm married to a middle school teacher.

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of stupidly designed, repetitious, useless paperwork she has to generate, update, and process, including individual customized learning plans for each of her hundreds of students, and daily plans specifying what will be taught in each class, and reports ad infinitum, and grading papers, and calling parents begging them to induce their kids to do their homework.

Summers off? Yeah, sure, but she's also required to take continuing education classes, in summer, at her expense, to maintain her certification.

She also has to get back to school a couple weeks before classes start in order to get the classroom in shape, inventory and physically move tons of books, get materials ordered, and start to wade into the new year's mountain of paperwork, and attend mind-numbing meetings conducted by people who've never taught a class, telling her how to do something she's been doing for 45 years.

No way would I want to deal with the current and future criminals she has to teach. They don't get less dangerous as they age.
They're big and mean. The boys are almost as bad.
I worry about her physical safety every day.

If I had any money, I'd make her stay at home and give it up. ... if I could make her do or not do anything, that is.


She would divorce me first, of course. She loves it. Certainly not all of it, certainly not most of it, .... but every once in a while she meets a former student who thanks her for caring and for working so hard on their behalf and for trying to maintain high standards despite the general dumbing down of the entire educational system.

The school district here does have some kind of transition program for technical people who want to teach. They can defer some of the paperwork in order to speed your entry and give you some classroom time. You still have to, eventually, take the 'education' classes. AFAIK, much worse than economics.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I know a couple of high school teachers who used to be really positive and up beat. Not any more. No Child Left Behind removed all of the fun. Now they teach to a test. Period. No time to explore a concept that the kids get interested in. No latitude to make math or science interesting. They used to talk about that one student that makes the rest worth putting up with. Now they talk about the rest.

At the elementary school my granddaughters go to there are two principals, and NINE Assistant principals. Every one of them justifies their existence by holding meetings and requiring the useless paperwork that MikeHalloran was talking about. In that school the budget for administration is much higher than the sum of the teachers salaries. I understand that this is not the norm, but it isn't that far from the norm.

It is sad, many engineers are out of work and most schools are screaming for math and science teachers. Sounds like a fit until you factor in a bureaucracy that devalues a technical education and only rewards a curriculum that most of us call a very small step from "Film Appreciation" or "Underwater Basket Weaving".

I may end up teaching in college some day, but never in middle or high school for me.

David

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I actually started out my undergrad program intending to teach high school calculus.

I still think about teach high school calculus or physics at some point, but it would be far off in the future.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My daughter, who was originally enrolled in science education, tells the story of tutoring a young black freshman by the name of Shith Ade, no exaggeration. How he ever got to first base is a mystery.

When she saw that the pre-eng students were no smarter than she, she switched to engineering and did very well. She never made any less that me in her engineering career.

Switch to education? What a joke.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
And you wonder why the educational system in the US has a problem? Part of the problem is the that educated want no part of it.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have a friend who went from studying engineering to becoming a Montessori school teacher. Apparently, they are always looking for people with a science or engineering background not only to teach but to also help develop practical experiments and/or projects for the students. She got hired without any prior experience and/or training because she was an engineer. Most Montessori schools are willing to pay for the training, which I believe takes about three summers to complete. Because the Montessori school system allows the children to learn what they want at their own pace, I think the teachers have more fun and have less headaches than those teaching in public schools. It's not a bad alternative for someone who wants to change careers from engineering to education.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
curiousmechanical: don't know where you are, but in Canada there's a big surplus of teachers relative to the number of board positions available. We train far more than we have positions for, and then those who don't get into our own teachers colleges simply pay to go to one of the colleges in the border States. The positions are unionized so the pay and bennies are excellent. Their defined benefits pension fund owns half of Ontario. Stressful job though- just as much social work as education involved these days.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My wife is a high school math teacher and she makes more per hour than I do. She works 185 days a year and never works an 8 hour day. Her schedule is perfect for our kids. She uses her planning period to prepare for class so she doesn't bring work home. Teachers do teach to test but my wife still enjoys her job and finds it rewarding. In this area once you are tenured your job is secure besides if you are a good teacher the school system will find a way to keep you. She doesn't have a lot of problems with parents or students. My wife has never complained about paperwork or anything that everyone else on here is complaining about. I don't think it would be a joke to switch to education and if you are interested in it I would give it a shot.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What I've observed from teachers vs. engineers leads me to believe that they require completely different skill sets. A lot of the issues raised above are just part of the job. Engineers are conditioned to black and white reasoning, right or wrong. Teachers have to be flexible, and able to reach students in many different ways. Patience is a real virtue with teachers, but engineers can be more demanding, as much of the time they're dealing with peers.
I'm not saying someone can't be good at both, but just because you know math doesn't mean you can be a teacher.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've thought about becoming a university-level teacher at some point, but never a grade school one. I don't have the patience for kids. At the university level, since you're paying for it, it's expected that you're there because you really want to be.

As Jed brought attention to, I know I don't have the most patience and tend to see a lot of things as pointless and ignorable in favor of focusing on the hard facts. This type of attitude is great when solving problems but I can't imagine it going over well when trying to control a room of 8th graders.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks for the great posts!

moltenmetal: I'm in NJ.

Lburg: Your wife’s experience sounds closest to what my friend was telling me. It almost sounds too good to be true. That’s why I was wondering why more engineers don’t get fed up with the grind and make the switch.

JedClampett: I agree with you. Many engineers would not make good teachers. However, I have been lucky enough to work with many experienced engineers and have often felt a strong teacher/student relationship develop. In addition, I feel like college learning (with its right or wrong answers) conditioned me for black and white reasoning. Although, with time, I realized that few things are that simple (and I think most do the same). Also, from my experience, most engineers are flexible and patient. We have to be. All day long, I work with other people to solve problems and get things done. We are more social than we give ourselves credit for.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

milkshakelake
  • Locked
  • Question
Becoming friends with clients, and mixing work/life? 10
2 3
Replies
41
Views
57
NorthCivil
NorthCivil
sportscar
  • Locked
  • Question
What justification do you need to take a pay cut? 5
Replies
16
Views
17
geesaman.d
geesaman.d
MarcoGreengineer314
  • Locked
  • Question
Foreign engineer (Mexico) that wants to get out of mfg. to apply for graduate school in the USA 1
Replies
7
Views
20
lacajun
lacajun
ccpe
  • Question
How much time is needed to learn to build a structural model for a steel structure warehouse by RAM? 1
Replies
4
Views
67
ccpe
ccpe
Amogh Deshpande
  • Locked
  • Question
I am doing a Mathcad sheet for the
Replies
1
Views
33
IRstuff
IRstuff
Back
Top