I'm so torn! The cirriculum I'm studying now would make me more happy and less stressed but less $. I also have great opportunities and many people encouraging me to persue a field that would intrest me and pay me more but not do as much good and heap the stress on me.

What should I go after?

I grew up poor compared to American standards and want to give my kids better but I'm not sure that would make my offspring better people. I'd love to be a teacher but I am faced with the reality of making significantly less $ but I feel that I would make a difference in the lives of young people.

What would you all do in my situation?

Hellbent

Hi Hellbent,
Only you and your family can make that decision.
If it was myself, i would go for the happiness and less stressed job. I think it is important to be happy and comfortable in your environment even if it means sacrificing a few luxuries due to less money. If money does become tight could you get a part time job, like working in a bar or such to increase your income.
Good luck with your decision.
Andy

As Andy said - only you and your family can or should make the final decision. So, take a really close look at yourself in the mirror and do what's right for you.

My two cents is that if you sacrafice your day for a job that you don't like you will resent the fact that you are not doing something you like. It may take a week to get there, it may take 5 years, but it will.
I think you should at least go down a path that involves something you like. I would not take a job that I don't like 'just for the money'.

Here are two stories - my Dad worked for 'the man' for 15 years and then threw it out the window and made wooden toys for a living. He busted his butt to make ends meet - but at the end of the day I always had food, I went to school, we went on vacations (sure it was camping not resorts but it was time). He was and still is happy about what he does and likes what he does. He does not get the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he gets up to go to a job that he hates. He has never 'take a mental health day' or 'taken a day away'.

My sisters degree is a liberal arts degree (read no money) and has never used it directly in her job(s). She has always had to have two or three jobs to make ends meet. But they were all jobs she liked so it wasn't work.

Long story short - if you do what you want you will find a way.

Sarge, that's a tough one. As one who has been in the workforce since 1974, I can tell you without a doubt that money isn't everything. I've been in the same field since I started working and am making more money than I ever thought possible. For the last 15 years I've been stuck in this field because changing careers would have meant a big paycut which was a burden I couldn't place on my family. Sure, we have a nice house in the country, relatively new vehicles, go on vacations, money in the bank, etc... The downside is I hate what I do. I hate the job, the stress, the hours, the drive, etc...

In your case, the one thing you have in your favor is your youth. You have plenty of time to settle into a career. Maybe try the high dollar, high stress job for a while. You say that you're interested in the subject so the stress may be something you could deal with. If not, then you could always go into teaching later.

Oh and by the way, if you think there is no stress involved in a teaching position, you should talk to a few teachers. Especially those in a public school system. Lack of funding, huge beauracracies (sp?), students that don't care, or worse, parents that don't care. Sure, the rewards are there, but rest assured, so are the headaches.

But whatever you decide, good luck. You sound like someone with their head on straight so I'm sure you'll do fine in whatever you choose.

Join the national guards son!
I was considering joining the army in hight school, but then i discovered i had a passion for economics and history on my last year. I became fasinated to see how it was possible to link world war one to our present, and it goes even further. I loved studying economics, i jsut have a love for it. Then the obvious hight school girl i chased for 4 years, we began dating and things went well, still are after a year and half almost

Currantly iam in my first year of college in general social science, planning to change into a commerce profile next semester.

Iam lucky because the job i want to do pays well, but on the other hand i might be cutting people's jobs for the sake of a company, and perhaps miss out on some family things because of all the work required.

So why am i aiming to do this? Because i like it, and eventhought i think the reserve might be a nice experience, i dont feel like being shipped to afgan especialy when harper is talking about extending the Canadian mission.

Then again, i come from a family with an average income, and my parents are having a long time paying for my college education so i pay my own clothes etc now that i work. Am i misserable? No. Would other children be miserable if they were raised in the same enviroment as mine? i doubt.

So all i'd suggest if you want to become as teacher, perhaps consider university... or if you realy wanyt to stick to hight school and grade school, invest in a bursury program for you children so they can go to university.

And never forget, Money doesnt make a kid happy, Loving parents do, no matter the size of the house or the brand of the car.

My father resently had the oppertunity to partner up in a good business with a friend but refused because he preffered to be a good father with less money, than a busy man at a garage.

Just my 2 cents
Frank

There's an old adage that goes, No man ever said on his death bed. "I should have spent more time at the office."

If you take a career path with a job you hate, it will eat you alive, destroy your spirit and it will be reflected in your job performance. I once left a job where I was happy and had friends to go to one that paid just a bit more but had a very unpleasant staff. I didn't last there six months and hated the last three with a passion.

My wife and I are both in human services in the field of mental retardation. We both make decent salaries and she was able to get out of a state job with a voluntary layoof that let her retire at a very young age. I left the institution (wher work conditions were oppressive and highly negative) to work in the community, and while I'm looking forward to retirement in a few years, I am reasonably happy and get great reviews from my supervisors. There are times I feel I've really made some folks lives better. We own a nice home, have good cars, get away for at least a vacation a year. I get to go to all the contests I want and build a stash. She gets to buy all the plants she wants for the garden.We chose early on not to have kids so that did make life a little easier, but even my colleagues with kids are doing fine.

I don't know salaries in Kansas, but up here, a masters level teacher with a few years experience can easily make $50 K in a decent publiccschool. Our property costs are higher but not out of reach.

You're going to be working for 40 years. It can be a career or a sentence.