Recently I have been sort of questioning my plan for education and thinking more along the lines of a sociology major. Now, I understand that this topic is very broad, but I have come to this idea through various thoughts and experiences including, my working at Girls Inc (after school program), my intense dislike for long term planning, and my drive of working with people- this includes children- in a helpful environment.
This school year I have been working at an after-school facility for Manchester girls ages 5-15- Girls Incorporated. This is a well renowned, national, non-profit program which has helped the lives of many local community members, including my family. I have worked there for the last two summers and this year, upon my transfer to SNHU I have been able to work there after school as well. I enjoy working there very much and everyday I am able to pull something good or happy from my time spent working/teaching, but it has become very stressful and rather concerning. I have come to realize my habit of favoritism towards certain children, and in the teaching field, that is a huge no-no. Also, I have become aware of my sinking level of patience for some of the girls I work with, and that concerns me for my patience level when it comes to education. I am not trying to sound like a big cry baby about this, simply stating that various (rather negative) personal qualities have come to the surface as a result of working at Girls Inc after school.
I have never liked planning. Not even vacations or birthdays or exciting events. The idea of it is daunting to me. I am what some may call a "fly by the seat of my pants" sort of planner in that I sort of do what is best and right at the time and make it up as I go. That's no to say I don't plan ANYTHING simply, I don't go out of my way to plan things. Teaching is a profession where everything for pretty much the entire year is planned out perfectly with little wiggle room, because in order to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished within 180 days, it needs to be. This idea terrifies me, and I simply don't want to do it.
Finally, I have learned throughout the course of this pat summer and this school year that I enjoy working with individuals of all ages and feel good about helping them in anyway possible. Therefore with that thought in mind (helping everying not simply helping kids), sociology opens up a broad range of professional fields to work in: Counseling, Case Management, Advocacy, Mental Health Services, Programming, and Administration to name a few. This idea is not only appealing to me because it incorporates more of what I want to do, the less stressful path of getting to where I want to be, and it leads to potential professional happiness-more so than I think teaching could offer.
Now this is not to say that I will never want to be a teachers, simply that I might have jumped into the idea of education too quick before taking time to explore various fields. College is the perfect time in which to change you mind and explore new interest, and i intend to so just that (assuming it doesn't cost too much...)
