I'm a licensed teacher. Postgraduate professional licensure.
Two Master's degrees:
My first thesis an excerpt of a novel that ended up being represented and requested for consideration for publication by HarperCollins Children and three imprints of Penguin Random House. Despite the rejections that followed, having written something that editors at imprints of the biggest publishing conglomerate in the world would consider worthy enough to take the time to read is still an accomplishment (I'm working on editing based on their feedback and trying again, btw).
My second Master's thesis was formulated on a theory I created that impressed my department so much that it is now being used as teaching material for a number of classes at my alma mater.
I spent two years as an Adjunct English Professor.
The rest of my history basically affirms to me how I was antiwork before I even knew what antiwork was. I went to undergraduate and studied Creative Writing because it was what I enjoyed. I never had the mindset that university was for qualifying for a particular career that would yield a job right after where I would plant myself and stay forever because that's just what good, dutiful drones do.
I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated. And that was fine. I just spent the following years pursuing what I loved, which was education, in general. The field was fascinating to me and I wanted to have many different experiences and just learn….for me, learning wasn't just something one does to get skills to make a career and a job and an income. It was just a lifetime passion.
As such, I went after these experiences. I spent seven years in early childhood settings. I often chose places where the kids were underserved and troubled; as such, these environments weren't what really anyone can sustain long-term, so I moved around as I saw fit because I always felt that I was entitled to do so; when a situation no longer worked for me, or the working conditions or posturing of the administration proved to be unsatisfactory, I simply chose to move on.
And I got my Master's degrees. I decided to do the adjunct thing, because I enjoyed it. The happiest time was when I was a preschool teacher during the day, and a professor at night. However, the time came when the low wages, lack of security, benefits, and the overall exploitative nature of it became problematic for me, I decided to make a change again.
For a while, I decided to stay home and raise my children. I created my own early learning curriculum based on a number of approaches combined and ran a cottage school from my home.
Eventually, due to having a family to help support and the unstable nature of the pay for both early childhood and adjuncting, I decided it was time to go ahead and get my license and teach middle or high school.
I did this for three years, and I enjoyed it, until Fall of 2021 and everyone came back from the pandemic and the kids were herded back into school way too quickly and everything was absolute chaos to the point that it gave me a severe mental breakdown and I had to withdraw.
I immediately went to work as a virtual teacher from home through a third party company and I've done that ever since.
I've decided that I am ready to go back to in-person and…. fuck my life.
I get tons of interviews, but few offers. I mean I'll get a cold call based on an application from several years prior for a position I didn't apply for that isn't even listed but even then, nothing. For one, I'm expensive as you're given additional $$$ for advanced degrees and years of experience; a candidate with no experience and a bachelor's degree is infinitely cheaper. And for two… well, I'm fucked because I didn't just get a degree and commit myself to some place long term bc… the overlords want that shit.
It is just fucked because… I've worked hard, I'm highly qualified, I'm about to start working toward a Ph.D within the year….but somehow, someone else beats me in whatever pool of applicants I'm contending with and I don't understand how in the hell.