Im a college student and want some advice on what to do?

Question

I am a history guru and want to be a person who digs in the dirt and teaches it for the rest of my life however, my parents want me to get a teaching degree. I want them to be happy and i want to be happy. I heard that tenure is hard to get but to be honest it want it really bad. Should i get a major in english education because the univrsity doesnt offer history educatuon or should i get my degree in european history like i disire and go for broke. If i do opion 2 what career options do i have?

Answer 1

Well, you can certainly teach with a degree in European history. You don't need a degree in "teaching" to be a teacher.

I'd go for what you want. if you get the degree your parents want you to get you'll more likely than not regret it later on. College is a time for self-discovery and for knowledge gaining.

Tenure can be hard to get, I guess. First you need a PhD. ;) Do you want to teach at a college/university? Or at a secondary level?

A degree in history really limits you to being a history teacher. There are other positions you *could* get, but teacher is by far the most common for a history major.

Answer 2

If you want to "dig in the dirt and TEACH" you will have to earn a teaching degree. Getting tenure is nothing more than teaching for a period of time at one school. Most schools offer a teacher tenure after 5 years of actual teaching. English is great major, but if history is your cup of tea, then seek other colleges that offer history as a major. I find it hard to believe that you can't get an education degree (BSE) in history. Check with your advisor on this again.

Answer 3

Archaeologists dig in the dirt. Historians mostly dig in books. Sounds like you really want to be the former. Granted, archaeologists know a lot of history.

Contrary to what some of the previous respondents have said, a teaching degree will qualify you to teach in public high school or grade school, but that's all. If you get a Bachelor's degree in teaching, then apply to grad school (presumably to get a Ph.D.), you'll be viewed as a joke. And rejected. If you want an advanced degree in some field, get your undergraduate education in some relevant area that prepares you to do graduate level work. Contrary to what some evidently believe, no university professor has a degree in teaching.

Your parents want you to be happy, but you won't be that if you foolishly do just what they want instead of doing what you want. Be your own woman, girl. Stand up. It's YOUR life. Your parents have had their shot.

How tough it is to get tenure in a university varies from place to place. But the whole point is to prove yourself as a researcher in your field. You do this by publishing your research in refereed professional journals. You'll also be expected to teach and probably eventually participate in administrative tasks at your school. If you work at a four-year college, the emphasis is probably on the teaching and admin; if you work at a real university, it is more on the research. At the highest tier, little but research matters. Whether that is really hard sort of depends on you; some people find it just the natural flow of their careers, while others find it impossible and eventually end up in non-university, or even non-academic, careers.

Some magazine article that I recently read listed professor as one of the top best jobs. Go for it.

Answer 4

Sounds like you want to be an archaeologist ( a differ in the dirt to find artifacts of ancient times) and a college professor. The best thing to do, I think, would be to get your degree in history as you would like, or a degree in archaeology. In order to teach at the university level, you will need to get a Masters degree and/or a PhD in your area of expertise. Tenure is not that difficult, it just takes time. If you are teaching in the public system, like at the HS level, you will need a teaching credential, but you don't need one for the University level. Either way, you have a lot of college ahead.

Go for the degree you want, but also make sure you polish up those typing, proofreading and general English skills. That way you can be assured of some sort of employment as you move along your life's dream's path.

Answer 5

Get a PhD in History or Archaeology (depending on how literally you want to do that digging). You'll have many more opportunities to do as well as teach at the college level than teaching younger students. Wouldn't we all rather have people teaching us who really do things as well as teach them.

According to a recent "Chronicle of Higher Education," there are currently more jobs available for PhDs than new PhDs. Talk to your profs about this. Maybe one of them can get you a copy of the article. They can also explain the whole process (like what you're going to need to do to keep from paying for grad school) so that you can tell your parents and they'll worry less.

Tenure is not that hard. The time it takes to get it depends on the school that hires you. At the university where I went to grad school its 4 yrs, 3 if you can show outstanding qualifications. Just pick a grad school that will help you become a good teacher. By that, I mean one where you'll get to teach and you'll have good teachers as role models. Then look for jobs in schools where the profs actually teach, not the ones where you supervise grad students, teach a few graduate classes, and have to publish something every couple of years.

I had a conversation with my department chair and a couple of my profs right before graduation about what it takes to succeed. They all said that they were not the smartest person in their program (2 of these people have PhDs from Ivy League schools) but they wanted it more than the people who didn't finish. So, you've already got the most important ingredient. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Well guru means a leader or a teacher so it does not matter as long as it is in the teaching field if that is what you want to do I went for a english major and teach eng/social science in a high school here

Answer 7

My advice would be go for broke. If you cannot find your major of choice where you're currently attending school then transfer to antoher school. Your education is one of the most important parts of your life. I'm about 5 years out of university and I wish I'd trusted my gut and changed majors. It gets very hard to consider going back to school after working for a few years. Also, you will always learn more if you really truly enjoy your course of study.

Also, I would not make a decision just to make your parents happy. I think you'll find that your parents will be happy if you're happy with your choices. It just may take them some time to realize that you are indeed capable of making those choices.

Answer 8

Lot of schools offer a teaching in history curriculum as well. Maybe you should change your school to where that is possible.