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Four Steps to Staying Sane as a Teacher

By Dina Strasser

A talented young pre-service teacher recently posed a thought-provoking question on my blog :

I am pursuing a professional degree in education … One part of me feels like it's crazy to go into debt for a proper education prep program in the current climate of corporate ed reform. On the other hand, if well-intentioned teachers are turning away from the profession, it would be like letting them win. Am I in way over my head? ... Is it worth it?

I realized that this was my own opportunity to write a "letter to a young teacher," à la Jonathan Kozol. But the prospect of encouraging a young person to go into teaching today is daunting—it is a different world than when I entered the profession in 2000. If I say, "Follow your heart," where exactly am I telling this...