Posted by Plate-O on March 14, 2003 at 13:45:17:
In Reply to: Re: Concerned about my future posted by Rob on March 14, 2003 at 12:03:51:
Rob, I hope you don't mind if I offer a little counterpoint to your post.
Life consists of many elements. We want to produce something meaningful, provide for our needs, give and receive love (spelled T-I-M-E, for anyone not 100% clear on that), have a few laughs, travel, eat well, NOT lay awake worrying how we'll pay the bills.... The choice of a career path will typically involve a trade-off on those life elements. In general, the more fulfilling a job is, the less it pays; that's simple economics, because everyone would like to have a fulfilling job (high supply of workers) whereas there are relatively few fulfilling jobs available (low supply of jobs). Don't accuse me of saying it's always fair, I'm just saying it's true.
So, with a fulfilling but low paying job, you may find that you are working an extra job (SELDOM fulfilling), that money to travel, be generous, have nice things -- most of us sooner or later like having at least SOME nice things -- is not available. So ultimately the high satisfaction/low pay job comes at a cost in other parts of your life. It falls to the individual, then, to decide if (s)he is willing to pay that cost. By far the more common thing to do is to get the job that provides well, and be able to fund fulfilling activities during non-working hours.
The other thing to consider is that the fulfilling jobs are seldom as fulfilling as they seem. We have read from so many about the hassles with school boards/orchestra management/etc., where yes, they love their job, but there are more negatives than they realized.
Bottom line: make your own decision, but get the facts first (yes, it is ironic that I would say that when you are asking these questions, but really this is only going to get the opinions, not the facts). The world would not work well if we were all meant to make the same choices, and I admire, respect and appreciate those who choose to teach; but be sure you are making the decision with your eyes open to ALL aspects of the life you will lead.
Oh, one other thing: you might investigate the viability of getting an accounting MBA on top of your music ed degree; you might find that you can teach, but still make a move to accounting without too much grief later on if you find that the financial needs of a family cannot be adequately met on a teacher's salary. Just a thought.
Joe Baker, who is very fulfilled in his non-working hours, and still derives considerable satisfaction from his work.