Back to School… Not for Everyone

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with my best friends from college. I went to undergrad at Pace University in Westchester and was lucky enough to find six girls that I bonded with deeply. We lived together all four years and remain extremely close.

Post-college, we all moved to different areas – I’m in Brookly, and the rest are scattered across Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester. But, we do our best to get together as often as possible. This weekend, we got to update each other on what’s new in our lives and we had a long talk about how hard it is to find a job in today’s difficult economy. Only half of us have full time jobs in the field that we studied in school.

I feel terrible for my friends that are still struggling to find work. The three who are not working yet were education majors – all three also just finished their Master’s Degree, yet given the hiring freeze, the situation is quite bleak at the moment. But, I find it hard to comfort them, given that I am happily in a job that I love and can’t really relate. I started working full time the day after I graduated.

Although I can’t directly relate I find it frustrating because I saw them through all of the late nights studying and exams and certifications they had to pass in order to become teachers. I can only imagine how unnerving it must be to able to find a position. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I really admire the work teachers do. I know that I don’t have the patience for such a profession. And although I don’t have children, I feel like the quality of education in New York has really gone down. Children seem to get less one-on-one attention and are only learning to pass tests rather than really absorb the material. Yet there are less teachers in the classrooms.

For all the teachers out there (or those hoping to get placed), the work you do is so important. So don’t give up hope that you’ll find your classroom – hopefully sooner than later!