Here is my question: If you knew someone who was trying to decide whether to go to school to become a nurse or a teacher, and they asked for your opinion, what advice would you give them?
The reason I am asking this question: I am a teacher who is planning on leaving the field after three years (burnout, bureaucracy, 60-70 hour weeks during the school year all for the grand total salary of $36k). I know that no job is perfect, and certainly nursing has plenty of challenges. But my line of reasoning is that if I am going to work my buns off, be stressed out all the time, and not be supported properly by the powers that be, I need to be paid more money for it. Beginning LPNs in my city earn as much or more than beginning teachers who already have bachelor's and master's degrees!
I was recently on the teachers.net chatboards, and someone there had posted the question that she was trying to decide whether to go to nursing school, or whether to become a teacher. She asked for advice and opinions.
Overwhelmingly, the teachers said that if they had it to do over again, they would choose nursing rather than teaching.
So I am curious to know how nurses would respond to the same question.
nursesail
80 Posts
I've done both. Go into nursing.