The Worst Career Advice Parents Can Offer Options

[Mommy]

Honestly, I think whoever wrote this article is an idiot. Tell me what you think.

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/32601

Basically, she says that worst advice parents can give is:
1) Get a graduate degree

2) Don't job hop

3) Don't ask about time off until you have the job

4) Don't have gaps in your resume

5) Earn enough money to pay rent and buy food

She explains why each point is bad advice, including saying that a graduate degree is pretty much useless these days and that job hopping is somehow good? My parents didn't teach me that shit. My friends in the workforce, college professors, and managers have. I would be surprised if anyone on here agreed with her.

[notorious j.c.b.]

James, I know what you mean on the teaching degree part. My girlfriend "graduated" with a Spanish major and is finishing up her Early Childhood major and student teaching in the fall so she can take the test and be certified for Pre-K through 4. We have been looking at different school districts for her to apply to and there is absolutely NO incentive for her to get a Master's because of the $2K OR LESS difference in salary for teachers with 0 yrs experience and then each year the pay scale raise is no different than a teacher with just a bachelors.

[RitalinJunkie]

James, I know what you mean on the teaching degree part. My girlfriend "graduated" with a Spanish major and is finishing up her Early Childhood major and student teaching in the fall so she can take the test and be certified for Pre-K through 4. We have been looking at different school districts for her to apply to and there is absolutely NO incentive for her to get a Master's because of the $2K OR LESS difference in salary for teachers with 0 yrs experience and then each year the pay scale raise is no different than a teacher with just a bachelors.

I wouldnt quite say thats true. Granted you dont get much of a pay raise from the Masters, It does allow you more opportunity to run a department and actually make things in the school less sucky. A lot of schools actually will not hire teachers unless they have a minimum of 3 years teaching experience and/or a masters degree (Allen, Katy, etc). Of course in my case its a little different because Im music k-12....so getting a job is not so much a problem...

I didnt think they still offered elementery certification? I thought you had to get all level now. In any case Tech makes us do all level in our program. Also you dont have to wait until after student teaching to take your TExES certification test. You can do it at any time...and most ed profs will tell you to do it before student teaching since the test is all idealistic crap that will never happen in a real classroom.

[James]

I wouldnt quite say thats true. Granted you dont get much of a pay raise from the Masters, It does allow you more opportunity to run a department and actually make things in the school less sucky. A lot of schools actually will not hire teachers unless they have a minimum of 3 years teaching experience and/or a masters degree (Allen, Katy, etc). Of course in my case its a little different because Im music k-12....so getting a job is not so much a problem...

I didnt think they still offered elementery certification? I thought you had to get all level now. In any case Tech makes us do all level in our program. Also you dont have to wait until after student teaching to take your TExES certification test. You can do it at any time...and most ed profs will tell you to do it before student teaching since the test is all idealistic crap that will never happen in a real classroom.

You can't do all-level english, math, and science because of the way our schools are structured - one teacher teaching multiple subjects in elementary schools. Those are still broken down into EC-4 (general studies), 4-8 (english and social studies or math and science), and 8-12 (math, english, science, history, etc.). The programs the state considers unnecessary - fine arts, physical education, etc - have all-level programs though. And yeah, the state considers those unnecessary. Look at the removal of recess and requiring 4 yrs of math and science instead of the previous 3, effectively reducing the number of hours a student can devote to the non-core courses. I can see the state trying to remove them completely from curriculum 20 years down the road all in the name of "making the economy better because we need more scientists and engineers." Bullspit is what I say to that, but I don't get to make the rules.