When I was a junior in high school, I was stressed about college and AP classes, and I told my mom, "I want to go to an easy college and I want to be a kindergarten teacher. That'll be easy. I don't have to really learn anything."
I went on to only apply to five colleges I was sure I'd get in, no "reach" schools, and then I decided on the mid-level of pretentiousness between the five, because I didn't want to ever feel like the dumbest person in the room. I had grown to love math in my last two years of high school, so I fine-tuned my life plan to become a math teacher. Being a math major was not that hard. For me, it was easier to learn mathematical processes than to read and analyze history or literature or social theories.
Then I went to grad school. Again, I only applied to schools I knew I'd get in. And I chose the school that looked more appealing just because it's in Nashville. Even though it cost 4x as much as the other school, I was "prepared" to take on a mountain of student loans (that's another When-I-Was-a-Dummy post in itself).Grad school classes weren't really that hard. In fact, they were easier than undergrad. But then I got thrown to the
I graduated by the skin of my teeth, narrowly missing falling into a back hole of, "I can't do it... it's way too much... I think I actually died four days ago."
Skipping the most dramatic part of my story, we'll leave it at this: I have mad respect for public school teachers. It is the hardest job on the planet. I cannot do it. You are all amazing.
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