Confidence is Key

By: Megan Ross

        
Senior year of high school; it seems crazy to me that I was living through it only a year ago. High school seems like a lifetime ago. Throughout the whole year people were constantly trying to tell us to enjoy the "lasts" of senior year. We experienced our last homecoming dances, our last school lunches, and eventually our last days of being in high school. Leading up to graduation and especially afterwards, I felt like all the adults in my life were saying the same things and asking the same questions. They would start with  Congratulations and Hey, look at you, you made it! But suddenly they would turn to the dark side asking, Where are you going to school?  Finally they would turn to the dreaded So, what are you going to study?  Every time I was faced with this question, I would put on my biggest smile and say calmly that my major was going to be english. I would brace myself and watch as their face turned into something like this:

 

Quickly, I would try to redeem myself, assuring them that I was on the path to being a high school english teacher, as if that made things better. If it wasn't already bad enough, my older brother was an engineering major and my older sister a nursing major. Let's just say that by the time people got down to me, they were less than interested to hear about my career path. 

I was conditioned to expect bad reactions from people after I told them the plans for my future. I had been so used to the negative responses. However, one time after someone had forced a smile at me and mumbled the obligatory good for you, I didn't feel hurt. I actually felt sorry for them. I had a future ahead of me that I was excited for. It didn't matter that they thought I was crazy. I realized that if I simply had confidence in myself and in my decisions, that I would be content. 

      

I think that's what we all need to remember everyday. Living in such an opinionated world, we are surrounded by stereotypes. Everyone is not going to see the world the way you do. As humans, we disagree with one another and that's okay. The education field isn't everyone's cup of tea. There are going to be negative reactions and shocked expressions. However, I think that if you are confident in yourself, and in your choices, then nobody can truly bring you down. 

    

The education field faces many stereotypes. Teachers are seen as incompetent, underpaid, ignorant and sometimes even worthless. It seems like the majority of the world is telling me to choose something different or to be something different. Nobody has faith in teachers, or in what they can do. The stereotypes are unfair and untrue. It might take a while for everyone else to see it the way us education majors do, but for now we're going to have to be okay with that. I'm going to be a teacher one day. I'm confident in my decision and I stand by it. So what are they going to say about that? 

Media Sources:

- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/500955158530210118/

- http://giphy.com/gifs/annoyed-eye-roll-judge-judy-Rhhr8D5mKSX7O

- http://replygif.net/504