Education, industry and the business world need to understand that things are changing. Before the 1980’s people were expected to work for one company for their entire lives. They saw the “Gold Watch” in their future. Now statistics reveal that most people born during the tail end of the “Baby-Boomer” years have had anywhere from seven to twelve jobs by the time they were 44.
My husband and I are both filmmakers and we have other jobs to pay bills consistently. We are multi-tasking our careers. Last week I wrote about how I came to be a teacher and how my high school guidance counselor labeled this choice “my back-up career.” I’m here to declare, there’s no such thing as a “back-up career.”
What I said last week, and I’ll say again, is that I found my second passion in life. I realize that 
and accomplish specific goals.
I began as a helpful older sister assisting my Mother and helping my younger brother. Later I became a baby-sitter and formed a Baby-sitter’s Club after being inspired by the book series. I became interested in theater and acting and joined acting troops and performed in plays, eventually becoming an assistant director. In high school I taught younger students how to perform poetry as entertainment for other kids. I started making movies and became a film director. As a filmmaker and writer I was and still am a workshop facilitator, acting coach and director. In college, I was a teaching assistant and tutor. As a Mother I mentor and teach my own son on a daily basis as his first teacher. Now I am a formal teacher, with a title and a license. Yet, I’ve been a teacher my whole life.
I once believed in the old saying, “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Americans have made teaching seem like a second rate profession left to losers who can’t find “real” jobs. 
They are the people we turn to for help, those who can show us how to do things we don’t know how to do and perhaps did not think we could do. They are dream facilitators.
Looking back, teachers have always been a positive influence in my life. They’ve encouraged me to strive to reach my own goals in life, to continue my education, even to become a teacher. My friends remind me constantly of the teachers who made a difference in their lives and how they do certain things to honor their favorite and most inspirational teachers.
It’s amazing to me that Americans would ever treat a person who is entrusted with educating the youth of our Nation with so little respect. Yet, it happens everyday. I was once guilty of it. We pay our teachers very little to do a very demanding job. We give them very little support or supplies. We require more from them than we would be willing to give, more than I was willing to give before I took on the title of teacher.
I had to admit that I was treating teachers with little respect and then I had to admit that I’ve been a teacher my whole life, I just chose to give my self other titles to make my position seem more important and more powerful. I did recognize, long ago, that teachers are treated like second-class citizens in America, and I did not want to be one.
I’ve changed my mind and my actions. How embarrassing to admit that I once despised the idea of being a teacher, yet I have always been one. I deluded my self into thinking that my “other” career choices were more important or more “real” than teaching. Now I see that I can do both and it’s all the same thing. I’ve been teaching in many ways throughout my life without realizing it. Now I am conscious, educated and prepared. I make a direct and purposeful impact on the lives of children.
I am proud of all the hats I wear now. The idea that somehow what I was doing before I became a teacher doesn’t count, doesn’t matter or does not inform my teaching is a lie. So is the idea that I will not continue to contribute to filmmaking, blogging, politics, authorship and other things that ignite my passion. I’ve realized two important things: teaching is the most “real” job anyone can do, and everything I am and have learned, done, seen or experienced goes into my teaching.
Perhaps we are restricting people’s choices in America by asking them to be only one thing in a lifetime. Our greatest gift as humans is our ability to learn new things and adapt. We champion technology that allows us to multi-task. We require employees to be able to conduct web research, type memos and use computers in conjunctions with any specific requirements of any particular field. Yet, we don’t see an advantage to adding to a resume by exploring multiple points of view, multiple fields of study or industry, thought or creativity.
I was curious about this ideological stance so I spent some time studying the press release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that was released late last year. I wanted to know how many jobs people hold within a lifetime and how education affects earning potential. I wanted to know if people really just pick one career, one job, one sector and work their whole lives doing just one thing, or if this is a polite lie we tell at cocktail parties to cover up any side paths we found ourselves traveling down in life.
I found a few things extremely interesting and important to teachers who serve in low-income, high-risk schools. Employment rates were very low for Black and Hispanic high school drop-outs, but not as bad for white high school drop-outs. A high school degree means the difference between consistent employment and consistent unemployment. Women faired the worst overall. Women without a high school education spent the most time unemployed out of any sub-group studied.
The true equalizing factor in education was a college degree. This was the one factor that created consistent statistical equality among all races for consistent employment, earnings and class results. The only downside, women still lag behind in pay and time spent being unemployed. Motherhood could have a lot to do with being an educated and unemployed woman. I have experienced this first-hand.
What does this mean for teachers and debunking the myth of a “back-up career?” It means that teachers need to be aware of how they present employment opportunities to their students. 
At the very least, it means the job of every teacher is to ensure that every student graduates from high school and has a fair chance at employment and self-preservation.
When a student says to you, “I want to play in the NBA when I grow up.” You should not wince and begin talking about a “back-up career.” You should instead talk about how NBA stars diversify their portfolio of investments and what they do with their income after they retire from the game. Magic Johnson is an amazing example of an NBA professional transforming into a business professional and creating growth in a sector other businesses run from due to fear, racism and misconceptions. And many college athletes are amazing scholars who become debt-free entrepreneurs after graduating and enjoying a degree fully paid for thanks to their athletic abilities.
As teachers, we never know what our students can truly accomplish or who they will become in the future. We nurture their potential. We guide and challenge. Above all, we encourage. Don’t waste your time trying to talk a kid out of a dream. Instead, figure out how that dream can turn into multiple realities.
