I'm Going to Be an Art Teacher

I'm currently attending college to obtain a degree in Art Education.

Yep. I'm going to be an art teacher.

I've always loved art and would love to simply be an artist, but I also see the potential that becoming an educator has. Not everyone else sees what I see though. I often get met with questions like these:

"Aren't you afraid you won't make any money?"

"You're so smart! Why waste that on being a teacher?"

"You want to work with kids?"

You get the picture. Why would I ever want to subject myself to the horrors of educating young people? I have a lot of reasons but my main point is this: most people went through high school and hated it, but even if you hated it, didn't you have that one class or that one teacher that inspired you? Maybe not with eloquent speeches or with their numerous degrees, but their effort, their passion, their unbridled desire to teach. That's who I want to be for some group of kids out there.

Am I worried about money? Sometimes, yes, but I know that money is not the sole source of happiness, nor is it the most fulfilling.

Do I want to work with kids? Yeah, I do. They're our future and they're the minds that will produce wonderful and creative ideas if given the encouragement they deserve.

Why "waste" my intellect or talents on being a teacher? I'm sorry to answer a question with a question... but shouldn't the best and brightest be the ones who teach? How is sharing your knowledge, effort, skills, and experiences considered a waste?

Being a teacher is a crazy amount of responsibility on its own...so why an art teacher specifically?

Call me cheesy, but I believe that art holds a lot of power. Sometimes, there are people who are born artists, that simply don't know it yet. With art being brushed aside (pun intended), there are so many students who are restless in their academic lives and don't know why. There are kids who aren't the top of their class, aren't good at sports, and can't play an instrument. If you aren't good at any of that, what are you good at? Sometimes it's art, and I want to be the one who helps someone discover that.

Without an art program in high school, I would not have had the opportunity to grow in my artistic skill or fall in love with what art can do for the artist.

I want to break the stigma that art and creativity are useless skills. I’ve met artists who make thousands of dollars selling only one piece. I shook the hand of a man who sold artwork to Stephen King, Bill Clinton, Mark Ruffalo, and so many more celebrity collectors. I have taken a picture with the man who hand-sculpted the mirror (the focal point) for the movie Oculus. It isn’t impossible to make it in the world of art. Of course, I know that not everyone makes the big time, but why not give young artists something to strive for?

Somewhere out there, there is a kid who loathes school with everything they have and they just know that there's no class, subject, or teacher that can change their mind. They're wrong, and I have every intention of proving it.

Somewhere out there, there is a child who is waiting to find the something that they are good at. I want to be there to help them find that it’s drawing, or painting, or sculpting, or even making comics. There are kids out there that will become the next Picasso, the next Michaelangelo, the next Bruce Larsen, the next number-one-best-selling-graphic-novelist, because that's what artists become when given the chance to grow. They become unstoppable.