In Your Own Words
Teachers share their stories

Teaching Is Hard—and Worth It
By Preston Jones, author of REA's CLEP Western Civilization II, The Best Test Prep

The first class I taught had ninety students—ninety bright, motivated, and mostly bilingual Canadian university students. Before them stood an American, four or five years older than they, who spoke some French badly, and who knew almost nothing about the class's topic: the history of twentieth-century Europe. I was a graduate student desperate for teaching experience; the university was just desperate. I got the job. And I found out how hard teaching is.

All across the country—all around the world—people are now learning, or rediscovering, that teaching is hard. It's hard because some students don't care, and it's hard because some students care a lot and ask challenging questions. Teaching is hard because some parents are absent, and others are over-involved. Teaching is hard because some administrators are lost in political wildernesses.

Teaching junior high school students is hard because those kids come up with the most amazing questions over and over again. Teaching freshmen is hard because—well, because they're freshmen. A former student of mine who happens to be young, female, and very attractive is finding that teaching high school is hard because young men are easily distracted. Teaching college kids is hard because they have more freedom than they know what to do with.

Teaching is hard because it consumes your life.

All across the country—all around the world—people are learning, or rediscovering, that liking kids and having a vague desire to change the world for the better isn't enough to make for successful teaching.

Here's the key to successful teaching: Being so in love with learning, being so deeply committed to the cause of education, that all the hardness of it seems worth it—a fair trade for the gift of seeing minds come alive.

Preston Jones has taught at the middle school, high school, and university levels. He currently teaches History and Latin at John Brown University.

What is your story? Do you have an inspirational, exasperating, or insightful story about your early teaching experiences to share with your fellow teachers? Send your stories to teachers@rea.com, and we'll publish our favorites in future newsletters.