Sorry Sliver, I was reacting to your initial post which seemed to have some condescension towards the profession and all the great perks they get. If I took that wrong, my apologies. My girlfriend and I get a lot of snobbery when we tell people we'd rather teach abroad than make money in oil and gas (or some offshoot of that). Calgary in general is a very individually-oriented city it terms of the attitudes of most people and it's becoming increasingly bothersome.
But as ma-skis above points out, the perks of the job are obviously nice, but it is certainly not the reason I look to be a teacher and isn't really the type of advice I was looking for here. We all know the nice parts of being a teacher, as you said, we saw it all the time as kids. Being back on that type of schedule would be nice, no question. My reasons for wanting to teach stem from my belief that I would be good at it and my experience as a coach has exposed me to the great feeling you get when you witness someone learn from you and apply their new knowledge.
It also comes from what I think I need to do in order to have the best possible positive impact on the world with my knowledge, interests and skillset. I feel like we're on the cusp of some major changes in the way we educate our youth and I want to be part of that. I want to make sure people of the next generation can view our world globally, not as individuals and that they are going to improve upon the mistakes that even my young generation is making. Teaching is the best way I know how to do that.
I thank everyone for the advice, keep it coming!
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