Scalar Naturae's shoutbox - Help.com

hi there, sorry for my late reply…. ok well these sort of things arnt necessarilly my specialty. I have a father who was a university lecturer and a mother that was a highschool teacher. So i have had experience of both. There are pros and cons to both and ill try and give you a few. But im no expert and you may want to talk to people in your country especially about relative saleries, because im from England and they are wuite different.

Ok so if your a high school teacher, You can go straight into earning and after your education qualification so you will be getting money in sooner and more money than you would get for doing a Phd i would presume. So that provides quicker and greater stability especially if your other half has plans of a family. Also if that was your original dream then id follow it.

Having said that the down sides are that you might earn less than you might teaching in a colledge after the Phd. Plus of course you have to deal with high school kids, meaning more messing about more hands on crowd control. This is not for everyone, a lot of people join teaching hoping to inspire and help, but get disalusioned by the behaviour and beurocracy. Where as n university your less hands on and the students are older. Just as much paperwork though lol. But you have a greater control over what your teach and how you teach it (there is not a set sylabus that you have to follow or else! lol so its more up to you).

Although you can always climb the ladder in the teaching world advancing to higher paid positions. In the uk the pay is very similar so its not that much of a draw to teach in universities, where as i have a feeling in the Us they get paid more. (might be wrong)….

Anyway univerity teaching also has its problems…… You have to do a PhD first which is a few years of crap pay before you can even get a job, then you have the fact that possitions are less abundent. The material to teach is harder and the teaching is less hands on and personal with the students. Marking can be harder as well.

But the chance of being able to do your own reaserch and explore the frountiers of what is known is a big draw, but more work.

So the truth is I dont know the right answer especially not the right answer for you. I dont know the relative pay in the US so you might have to ask else where for that, but in the uk its not hughly differnt and in both feilds there is the chance to advance.

SO it really comes down to who you are and what you want…… A phd is a reasurch project so you need a drive and a really love of wanting to explore and advance human knowlede into the unknown aspects of your field. If not you might find it hard going. Alot of university posts are joint teaching reasurch posts. So unless you enjoy both and really have a passion for more knowledge this might not be the path for you.

Where as if your passion is to teach and interact with people what ever the level and thats where your passion lies, then i guess teaching might be the best idea. Its a faster root to stability and the job prospects are much more numerous and SECURE!!! (reasurch posts can end after a few years, or tho teaching ones are usually secure also).

So anyway thats my rundown hope it helps a little. Like i said in the UK the money is not much different so its about what you really enjoy doing. Where as you will need to find out the details for the US.

oooo just thought of something….. I have been teaching well since i was in early teens and before and have been doing for over 10 years….. So its second nature to me. A lot of people tell me im a natural teacher, but not all people are…….
I dont know you so i dont know if you have strengths as a teacher. But By this i mean Teaching at a high school will be easier. Remember teaching is about getting others to undersand. A lot of very inteligent people are rubish at teaching anfd the two arnt connected. So What im saying is, if your not strong at helping people to understand, it will be easier if the thing your trying to get across is easier.
I always remember the words that were said to me, “You can only really teach something if you fully understand it your self” and trust me if you dont you will know it pretty quickly once you try lol :P. There is always some student who asks the one thing you are not sure of and throws you.

Hope this helps, all the best to you in which either path you choose. Let me know how it goes :).

i am also a non traditional student. i would like to be online friends with you based on that.