The Major

So, I'm changing my major. Actually, I haven't declared a major yet (you do that second semester of sophomore year...), so I guess the correct phrase is: I'm changing my mind. I'm not sure that I'm meant to teach high-school history...Don't get me wrong, I love history. I've always known that I wanted to teach, at least for a few years, but it was just a matter of what grade, and what subject. Somewhere in highschool I decided to be a history teacher because my history teachers were the ones who taught me to love history and made me passionate about it. (Or maybe I was always passionate, and they just opened me up enough to discover that about myself). Their passion, certainly, was contagious. I can actually say that about most, if not all, of my teachers in high school, regardless of subject. And there was something about the history classes and the teachers that made me want to go to class, made me want to do my homework, made me want to learn more, read more. And maybe I'm a dork, or maybe there really was something unique about their classes. I'm pretty sure which one it was, but regardless of which you believe, I decided I wanted to teach history. I decided that if you're passoinate about a subject and you're enthusiastic, you ought to at least teach for a few years.

But I also realized that I was doing this on the assumption that I could teach at MY high school. I wanted to be in the environment where it was expected that students wanted to be there, where citizenship and a rigorous academic curriculum were the norms. Any old high school, I realized the other night in the shower, simply wouldn't do. And I can't build my life on "Assuming this happens..." or "I'll do ____ if _____." And I certainly am not going to spend four years of my education assuming I'll get my first choice in teaching environments.

So that is to say, that I know for a fact that I love younger kids, know that I can impact their lives, and interrupt a cycle of a failing system before it's too late...So, I have decided to switch to Elementary Education (with possible concentrations in: Spanish, Psychology, Dance or History.) Nothing is of course set in stone; it hasn't been ever, because you can't declare a major yet. But I'm feeling more and more comfortable with this "decision." I woke up this morning feeling different, like I wasn't reaching for something that might or might not happen. So, that's the long way of saying that I went from a History major with a license in social studies education (and a minor in Spanish), to an Elementary Education major with an undecided concentration and still possibly a minor.