Professor as a Career

[Danmire]

This is my first year in college, and my favorite class is History of Architecture. I've been taking many art classes, but this is my first one with a professor. Through my years in art classes and High school(one more to go, because I am doing Dual Enrollment), teaching has been on the tip of my tongue. Specifically, teaching art. My current Architecture professor teaches very well, and he's also super informal.

I know not all professors are like this(my English one isn't all that nice, but it's college, so whatever, I'm not really complaining), but it's something about teaching that specific area that keeps bringing me back to the thought of "Should I be a Professor?".

I'm not going to stop my pursue in the field of art, but that doesn't mean I can't be a professor on the subject. So my question is, for those who are thinking about careers as professor or being just a regular school teacher, what type of area are you wanting to teach? What made you take that step into wanting to be a professor or school teacher?

 

[Matthew]

As much as I would love becoming a doctor, and my grades (so far) are good enough; I can't stop thinking about teaching English at the college or high school level.

It's a huge step down when I think about it but honestly I really would enjoy doing it. Though then I'm going down the Stellar path and I really don't want to steal a job away from him because they'll like me more.

:)

 

[v]

they won't let you teach english if you use semicolons like that

 

[ck49]

My Dad's was a professor at the university of Iowa for 10 years, at which point he got an offer to start a stem cell research institute here in India and we moved. As such I know a lot of professors in various fields, mostly science and economics (no art). In sciences you get to do a lot of research as well as teaching, and although some don't care for their classes and focus on research (I'm sure you've had TAs from profs who couldn't care less), most of the ones I know are pretty happy with teaching and working on their own stuff. Obviously you aren't going to be making millions like someone who starts a company in their field, but its a pretty steady income which is pretty high. I can't tell you much about art, but I'm guessing you'll be doing something with the university you teach at along with teaching. History would probably have some research aspects though. If you're planning on doing post-grad you'll be working under a professor (at least in sciences and economics), and you could end up teaching some classes for them. I suppose from there you can make the jump, though going straight out of undergraduate studies probably isn't going to happen unless its teaching at the high school level (which imo seems pretty boring, though most teachers are satisfied by the fact that they help the youth).

 

[scampy]

So my question is, for those who are thinking about careers as professor or being just a regular school teacher, what type of area are you wanting to teach? What made you take that step into wanting to be a professor or school teacher?

I recently graduated with a degree in Astrophysics. During the later years of the course I did some voluntary tutoring/mentoring for students in lower years who were struggling with their studies. It was highly rewarding work and it ended up making a big difference to those I helped. If your High School has a similar programme, I strongly recommend checking it out. It's great preliminary experience if you're interested in teaching/tutoring and it looks fantastic on a CV.

 

[Byrne]

I'd be down to teach psychology.

 

[Hipmonlee]

I dunno if it is the same in other parts, but here professors have huge workloads between teaching, marking, their own research, coordinating the research of postgrads and generally dealing with the absurd bureaucracy of a large government institution..

Still seems like a pretty sweet job though..