Were You Aware?

Were you aware that I was genetically crafted to be an educator? It's true!

That's what I tell everyone who responds to my admission that I am an English Major thus: "So what will you do with your English degree? Teach?" Most people don't realize the kind of tone that comes with that word. I shiver upon hearing it. For the non-English majors among you, I'm sure you sometimes get a similar response when you confess your intended concentration: " What will you do with your history degree? Teach?" Or perhaps: "What will you do with your business degree? Ruin the world with capitalism and greed?"

You know what I'm talking about. But if you don't, I'm sure you will be put in a similar box soon enough.

So when people spit out that word - Teach - it's like I suddenly find myself sinking in quicksand. Most assume that is the only viable option for my future. But that isn't just from being an Englisher; I really think there's a basis to what I say about being bred to teach, which comes with the territory of having a teacher as a parent. That would make it teacher by nurture, not by nature (Argue amongst yourselves on that one). No matter what the decider, my degree or my pedigree, it seems like a sure thing that I would pursue a career in teaching!

Well I'm not okay with that.

Not the part about being a teacher/educator; no, what really combs my mullet* is the idea that I was raised a certain way and chose a certain major and those small moments force the decision about what I will do for the rest of my life. It's like I boarded a train and can't transfer at any of the stations I ride through. That's stupid. Genetics and college degrees don't designate what you must do, but rather what you can do. They are arrows and guideposts, not one way streets. And lame automobile analogy aside (they gasp at my amazing alliteration), there are a so many other factors influencing what life path to take.

I am a firm believer that a BA in chemistry is a great degree for an interior designer AND a brewery chemist. That degree is saying more than "I'm adequate at chemistry"; I hear it screaming at the top of its lungs, "I'm a thinker and a problem-solver and a genuine workaholic" and whatever else you want it to say. It means you have been challenging yourself and preparing for intricacies and difficulties of "The Real World."

I have goals. I don't yet know how I am to accomplish them. My predisposition for communication and my choice of university program are adding to the vast array of knowledge and techniques I will use to achieve big in whatever I decide is worth doing, whether it's teaching, writing, speaking, cleaning, creating, undermining, or imagineering. I will not be decided by a diploma nor my genetic AAGTCGTGATG. Yeah I said it.

Next time someone says, "What will you do with your biology degree? Teach?" Go ahead and say yes. Then tell them you'll also use it kindling for your future wildfire of life experiences.

Then tell them not to wait for your smoke to clear - you'll be far out of sight by then.

*A term wit the same connotations of What really chaps my hide, et. al.