A thought

[jedusor]

The whole point of human existence--the whole point of the existence of any organism--is to reproduce. That's basic biology. It's self-preservation once removed; by having babies, we make sure there's as much of us left in the world when we leave as possible.

I think I'm just as driven to pass myself along as anyone, but not genetically. For me, what's important is the stuff that happened to me after the blueprints were done. I care about what experience has done to my neurons, not the initial tabula rasa configuration. I want to share my knowledge, my thoughts, my gradually changing perception of the world as I find out more about it. Genetics affects all that, certainly, but all it gives us is potential. It's experience that determines, in the long run, who we are.

Maybe that's why I blog. Maybe that's why one of my favorite feelings in the world is the feeling I get when I phrase something a certain way and someone looks at me and goes, "WHOA. Yes. That." Maybe that's why, despite all my certainty that I never want biological children, I've always left the possibility of adoption open. It's because the DNA isn't what's important to me. The ideas are.

Maybe teaching wouldn't be so terrible a career path for me, after all.

Comments

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

"WHOA. Yes. That." Except for the adoption part. I like to be able to send students back to their own families so I don't have to deal with them. ;{)}

[macey-muse.livejournal.com]

There's this kinda awesome program in the UK called 'Teach First'; it's aimed at first-class uni graduates who would otherwise be bound for any number of graduate recruitment schemes. You get extensive training over a summer, then teach in a troubled school for two years, with loads of support and personal developement training. Loads of big businesses are backing (and recruiting out of) it; it came 8th this year in the Times Top 100 Graduates Employers, which is cool ^_^ I'm almost considering it - not that I graduate for another 2.5 years, but still. 's important to start looking early, right?

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Hey, I didn't say I want any right now, or for the foreseeable future. Kids are not in my life plan. But I could conceivably change my mind about that. (Whereas I would happily remove my ability to have biological children if I could, as discussed and defended ad nauseum on this journal a year and a half ago.)

[uncanny-npl.livejournal.com]

One of the coolest things about teaching, for me anyway, is that I learn as much as, and sometimes more than, I teach. So that's a plus you may wish to consider as well.

[uncanny-npl.livejournal.com]

Same thing with motherhood, for that matter.

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I agree that the ideas are more important than the biology. (In fact, I feel that shared experience trumps genetics as what holds a family together, but that's not my point here.)

I find that as a tutor, I get to work with kids who are right at the age sweet-spot that I find I work best with, to whom I can give the most help, for whom I am happiest to serve, and from whom I get the greatest sense of having done good in the world.

And I do this multiple times a week, every week, until they outgrow my ability to be super-useful to them, at which point a new crop comes along. Meanwhile, the "Graduates" often keep in touch, and I get to feel that I have made the world a better place all over again.

I'm telling you. Any time you want to be psyched about teaching, you just give me a call, mmmkay?

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I'm probably going to have to get psyched about teaching at some point, since it's so intertwined professionally with the academic research I want to do. The main reason I don't want to teach is the apathy I've seen in my classmates, even with teachers who are passionate and good at what they do. I feel like it would keep me constantly depressed to see so many people just not caring.

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

To me, that's like saying you don't want to get your driver's license because you've seen so many cars up on blocks in driveways, or that you don't want to eat because you find McDonald's so horrifying.

Your classmates are not, I repeat not, necessarily representative of the population you would have to teach. Granted, it's unwise to ignore what data you have, but please consider that there are a wide variety of student populations (in the statistical sense) represented in the population (in the cultural sense) at large.

Again, happy to be your teaching cheering section. ;-)

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

Also, consider one other piece of data: you aren't apathetic. Yet you are one of the members of the population in question. Perhaps there is hope even closer to home than I'd implied.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Well, if most of the cars I saw were up on blocks in driveways, and only a tiny percentage were actually driving around, I might buy a subway pass, you know? It's not that I couldn't handle having any apathetic students, it's that apathy is the generally accepted attitude (in, yes, my experience). And the teachers expect me to be apathetic too--their initial reaction to my questions is nearly always "oh, that won't be on the test, don't worry about it." I have to demonstrate to them that I actually give a shit before they treat me how I think students should be treated by default.

I guess that's another reason to do it (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1085).