Should Our Best and Brightest Become Teachers?

“How would you respond when someone you respect tells you your talents and abilities are being ‘wasted’ as a teacher?”

I saw this question posted on Twitter, and I’ve been thinking of an appropriate response. I know that the “best and brightest” are often encouraged to become attorneys or doctors or engineers and discouraged from going into teaching. How do we change the perception that teaching is not for our best and brightest?

Through my years as an educator, I worked with or connected with teachers who were in their second career. They worked in businesses or had jobs in the travel industry or were engineers out of college. Some of them took big pay cuts to become teachers, and when questioned, their responses were similar. They shared that they didn’t feel fulfilled in their previous profession and absolutely did not regret their decision to become a teacher.

What motivates us in our decision to pursue a career? Is it status? Economic stability? The ability to grow professionally? The opportunity to make a difference? Impacting our next generation? Something that stokes a passion? If we pursue a career for the "wrong" reasons, we may not feel fulfilled and may not give our best effort.

Not everyone can be a teacher. It takes a special kind of person to spend their whole day with kids and to commit to all the expectations of an educator. Teachers teach much more than academic skills. School is an opportunity for students to learn empathy, to work with others who have different strengths and challenges, to gain confidence through support from not just teachers but from classmates as well, to care about our world, to be exposed to new ideas, to have opportunities to pursue passions they didn’t know about before, and so much more! Teachers don’t just teach content. Teachers teach students, and therefore, teachers impact our future. These students will be our workforce, our leaders, our innovators to tackle the challenges in our community, our state, our country, and our world.

I can’t think of a more influential profession than teaching. After all, every other profession depends on teachers to do their job in educating our children. Journalist Charles Kuralt stated, “When we become a mature, grown-up, wise society, we will put teachers at the center of the community, where they belong. We don’t honor them enough; we don’t pay them enough.” Nelson Mandela shared, “Education is the most powerful weapon for changing the world.” 

I recently read this article by Valerie Strauss, a writer for the Washington Post: "What teaching is and isn't." I think she accurately and succinctly explains why others may think that the "best and brightest" should aspire to a different profession. As for me, I was thrilled to hire the "best and brightest" at our school. Giving them opportunities to grow professionally and to take on leadership roles made a difference for our school community.