Quitting my major

[shwnbob]

So, like the topic of this thread says, I'm maybe thinking of dropping out of/quitting my major. I've been going for almost three years now and everything's been fine; I'm majoring in Early Childhood Education with the intent of being a Pre-K teacher. However, once I started doing my actual fieldwork, I saw how much different being a teacher really is compared to what I thought it was going be like. I knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, but the amount of paperwork they force teachers to do is a bit ridiculous.
So now I have no desire to be a teacher at all and I kind of just want to get out of the Education Program too. However, it's the middle of the semester so I can't just drop out of the program; that would be a huge waste of money considering I would be dropping three out of my four classes I'm taking this semester (my schedule this semester includes three education classes and a modern culture class.) I don't know what to do anymore. I know most of you will probably say stick it out until the end of the semester and then drop the major then, but I can't. Like, I seriously cannot deal with these education classes anymore. I'm trapped in this "I don't give a crap" mindset and my grades are starting to get affected by it. I don't study for tests anymore, I don't pay attention in class anymore, and I can barely sit still to do the homework for the education classes all because of this mindset.
So I'm asking you guys, what do you think I should do, because I'm completely out of ideas...

 

[bluepilot]

I am not sure how your education system works but I think that you should talk to your course supervisor about the following options.

1) Change major

2) take a unrelated minor

3) take credits in other subjects to make up enough to graduate

4) graduate in the current field and do a post graduate in something else

 

[dmase]

I am really having a hard time thinking about any potential career where you would be able to avoid doing paperwork. Any science, math, literature career is out the window. And even if you planned on doing something unrelated to your degree like becoming a financial something that gets you 50k a year obviously still requires paperwork.

There are of course jobs like landscaping or construction that are obviously physical and you wouldn't but you know they don't pay for shit and everyday your working with your hands. Even most art majors don't end up just posting pictures at exhibitions they end up working for a magazine or something where they would also have to fill out some amount of paperwork.

All I can tell you is everything in your life will come with good and bad. You may fucking hate filling out paperwork but almost every job that pays half way decent you have to. So my opinion is suck it up and realize that paperwork is only 25% or less of what you'll being doing the other 75% will be working with kids.

Make a list of every occupation you would want to do, then mark off the ones where you know there will be paperwork see what your left with and see if they are viable options. And those that you think won't have paperwork you might want to ask someone in the field because literally every realistic career has paperwork.

 

[Luca72]

Think about what you would want to do with your life if money wasn't an issue. Why did you want to go into the education field in the first place? Figure this out before you even think about the college aspect, and then decide what you want to do. Maybe college isn't even the answer. But I've been in your situation too - when you realize you're pursuing a track that you have passion for, you can't just fake it and stick it out. It starts to eat away at you.

I know this isn't an easy decision to make, but you really have to step completely away and ask yourself (and I mean ask YOURself, don't try to get advice from people on what THEY think you should do) what is worth doing with your life. I get the feeling most people just stick with whatever track they've chosen/been assigned to. It sounds like you've figured out that that's not an option.

 

[Batou667]

I'd say one of the biggest mistakes I made when I was in my late teens/early 20s was not switching degrees when it became abundantly apparent that I simply wasn't cut out for the one I was enrolled on. You absolutely must look out for Numero Uno - do what YOU want, don't be a martyr.

Having said that, you should still think long and hard about what you actually want to do, and what a suitable new major would be. Don't just sign up for Contemporary Dance because, hey, YOLO. Your college must have a careers/educational advisor? Explain to them your situation (education has a very high drop-out rate, both during training and in the field. You won't be the first case they've dealt with) and hopefully they can suggest you some alternatives.

 

[Lilani]

So, like the topic of this thread says, I'm maybe thinking of dropping out of/quitting my major. I've been going for almost three years now and everything's been fine; I'm majoring in Early Childhood Education with the intent of being a Pre-K teacher. However, once I started doing my actual fieldwork, I saw how much different being a teacher really is compared to what I thought it was going be like. I knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, but the amount of paperwork they force teachers to do is a bit ridiculous.
So now I have no desire to be a teacher at all and I kind of just want to get out of the Education Program too. However, it's the middle of the semester so I can't just drop out of the program; that would be a huge waste of money considering I would be dropping three out of my four classes I'm taking this semester (my schedule this semester includes three education classes and a modern culture class.) I don't know what to do anymore. I know most of you will probably say stick it out until the end of the semester and then drop the major then, but I can't. Like, I seriously cannot deal with these education classes anymore. I'm trapped in this "I don't give a crap" mindset and my grades are starting to get affected by it. I don't study for tests anymore, I don't pay attention in class anymore, and I can barely sit still to do the homework for the education classes all because of this mindset.
So I'm asking you guys, what do you think I should do, because I'm completely out of ideas...

The only sorts of jobs I can think that don't involve a lot of paperwork is retail and labor, neither of which really involve degrees. You are never really going to get away from paperwork, like reports and memos and such. Science, math and engineering will require a lot of paperwork, and even in the arts like graphic design you'll be doing a lot of communicating with clients and filling out contracts. Maybe culinary wouldn't require much paperwork, but I'm afraid pretty much any job you need a degree for will involve paperwork. In fact, that's sort of the idea behind getting the degree--shifting your workload from straight labor to stuff like paperwork.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm being patronizing here, but to me this is really coming off as a lame excuse. I've had lots of friends who were at some point education majors, and several have quit the field for various reasons--they don't like the money, they don't like the workload, they don't like the kids, they don't like the structure of the system...but I have never heard any list because of paperwork specifically. Like yeah, paperwork sucks and nobody likes it, but that's just a part of being an adult with a job. And yeah getting approved to teach grades is tedious, but it's not like that's something you have to do on a yearly basis. I imagine the early stages of teaching requires the highest concentration of paperwork, because you're writing papers, learning how to write curriculum, applying for student-teaching jobs and observations, getting your teaching certificate or whatever, and maybe even applying for graduate school.

So I guess my question to you is, are you sure it's the paperwork that's bothering you? Or is this you waffling on the entire idea of school and what you want to do afterward? You wouldn't be the first, there are lots of people who change their majors late in the game because they are just terrified of the prospect of having to actually leave the safe environment of college and enter the real world.

 

[Nocenious]

I would ask my self:
If you do not have to worry about the schoolwork to get to the job that you want, would it still be in education? If you still want to be in education, can you move to an older age group and still keep your credits?

Make sure that the job or education that you will have to go through will make you happy in the end of the day. As others said you should not try to make yourself a martyr just to make someone else happy. They are not going to be unhappy and dealing with the consequences of your decision.

 

[Batou667]

The only sorts of jobs I can think that don't involve a lot of paperwork is retail and labor, neither of which really involve degrees. You are never really going to get away from paperwork, like reports and memos and such. ...
Sorry if it sounds like I'm being patronizing here, but to me this is really coming off as a lame excuse.

To be fair to the guy, I also got put-off classroom teaching, at least in part due to the paperwork. Not (shock! horror!) the obligation to write things, that's surely a given, but the sheer amount of bureaucracy and red tape involved. I had worked in classrooms before and assumed the move up to being a teacher would give me more freedom, more power to inspire, more opportunity to put my own spin on the pedagogy. The reality is, depressingly, almost the opposite. Viewing teaching from a teachers-eye-view makes you realise how utterly constrained teachers are, how they're constantly having to soldier through the curriculum to meet at least three conflicting sets of demands (the government, the head, the parents, and if the school inspector is doing the rounds then that's another merry tune you're obliged to dance to). It's not an exaggeration to say that many teachers spend more time planning, assessing, marking, resourcing, and attending meetings than they do actually doing the inspirational "hands-on" stuff. Most infuriating is the knowledge that half of this bureaucracy is completely self-serving and actually doesn't raise standards, or enhance the children's enjoyment or quality of learning.

In a nutshell, the OP could be forgiven for becoming disillusioned with classroom teaching.

 

[mokes310]

Brah, don't quit, get the degree. It's so hard to quit and go back.

Just because your degree is in early ed doesn't mean you'll be stuck there for all eternity. You could do corporate training, ESL around the globe, really, you could parlay the degree into almost anything...cept for being a whale biologist, you couldn't do that with an early ed degree...just sayin...