I had started teaching because I love brainteasers. At some point, I had taken every standardized test out there - the SATs, the GREs, the GMATs, the MCATs. I just took them for fun.
There will be people who will teach for the sake of greed or for the sake of ego. So watch their lives. Do they look and act like Jesus?
My teaching was animated by what I was reading and being excited by as a poet.
If we were interested in making money, we wouldn't have become teachers.
Given the professionalism of Michigan teachers, I think they're not teaching because of the financial rewards.
When I ask teachers why they teach, they almost always say that it is because they want to make a difference in the lives of children.
I was teaching, which I didn't love or hate; it was just OK. I was OK with it, and the hours were good for surfing or whatever. All not good reasons to go into teaching.
I think that's a part of what motivates me in my teaching and writing. Once the Gospel feels mainstream and becomes a nicely organized, orchestrated belief system, frankly, I don't think there is even an attraction to the human spirit.
Money is not the reason that people enter teaching.
I can tell you I'm not exactly sure why I teach. I think a lot of it is just it's the sense of community. A real desire to be involved both with people older than myself and people younger.
Now, we believe that the majority of teachers in America know our system must be reformed, to put students first so that America can compete, that teachers don't teach to become rich or famous. They teach because they love children.
They taught us because they wanted to pass the knowledge on and educate young musicians. It was not because they had to teach because they failed as musicians. There is a huge difference in the reasons why someone is teaching and what they can offer and what they cannot offer.
