Should I become a nurse or a teacher?

Fraggle · Sep 20, 2005

1. Money

2. What you can do when not working

Two very important factors. And yet, they don't say anything about what you want to do 3-5 days per week. Don't get me wrong, you need to consider those things. But while teaching and nursing have commonalities, they're very different. You can rationalize it any number of ways. I'ver heard teachers don't make that much per hour when you include the number of hours they work outside of the school day. Or that nurses salaries as a whole don't increase much over time.

What do you want to do? What kind of things do you want to do all day? And yeah, we all want to help people and not be sit around all day. :chuckle One of these professions is more right for you at this point in your life. Identify what you want, then you'll know what's fulfilling day in and day out.

kimtab · Sep 20, 2005

The starting salary for a new teacher in Dekalb Co., Georgia is $38,900. The starting salary (based on an hourly wage of $20) for a new graduate nurse in a hospital setting in the same area is $41,600.

Not much of a difference. You also need to look at benefits (the government probably provides better ones than your local hospital I'll bet...). Working hours and conditions, Ability to advance, etc. Many teachers do spend hours outside of the school day doing their work. I can tell you that my sons teacher is there when I drop him off at 0700, and is frequently still there when I pick him up at 1700. With most types of nursing, you just can't take you work home with you. Then again, nursing has some weird schedules as well. There is often on-call work that you have to oblige yourself to, But if you get sick of your oncology floor, you can request a transfer to mother-baby. If you get tired of teaching High School English, they just aren't going to let you transfer to kindergarten, that's a whole 'nother degree.

I'm a big fan of job-shadowing. Spend a day with a teacher in the age group you have the most interest in, and spend a day with a nurse on a unit you think would be of interest to you.

Nursing school can be quite brutal, make sure it's what you really want before you subject yourself to it:)

casi, ASN, RN · Sep 20, 2005

Definately get out there and try to expeirence each job. A lot of people I know who contemplated switching to nursing went and got their nursing assistant certification so they could get a tase of what it would be like.

Also, as another posted mentioned try job shadowing, or even volunteer work.

Good Luck

tencat · Sep 21, 2005

Howdy. I was a teacher for 12 years, and now am a nursing student. Yes, I had a lot of time off, which I know I am going to miss, but as someone else said, with nursing you can work different areas, and there are so many choices. There are few choices in teaching. Teach, administrate, counselor. And the other two require whole new degrees. I hear nurses say that they have no respect from people for the jobs they do, but I'll tell you that there is WAY more respect for nursing than for teaching. In teaching you are held accountable for many things that are totally beyond your control, like a kid's attendence at school, his/her behavior at school, etc. I don't hear a lot of nurses saying they get blamed for the high blood pressure, or the two pack a day smoking habit that their patient has. Teachers are blamed for EVERYTHING that doesn't go right, and not given any credit at all for anything that does. It's a horrible, demeaning profession. For a while the time off and the kids were enough to go for, but that doesn't last forever for most teachers. Most of the older teachers I know are bitter, have high blood pressure, and count the years, hours, minutes until retirement. It really isn't worth it, in my opinion. I think a person can be excited about it for about 5 or 6 years. Then you either decide to stay teaching for the time off, or you get out. It took me longer than most, but I finally got up the nerve to get out. Leaving teaching is one of the best things I've ever done. I love nursing school, and I have had a passion for this work for several years now. If you are not passionate about teaching, don't do it.

USA987, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 21, 2005

If you think you might like to teach then nursing is a perfect spot for you! I was really torn between teaching and nursing as well. I'm currently working in L&D and postpartum and I find it to be a perfect avenue to do a lot of patient teaching. :)

fab4fan · Sep 21, 2005

If I had the means, I'd go back to school to be a teacher. It was a toss-up when I was in high school; ultimately, I chose nursing.

And believe me, tencat, nurses get blamed for boatloads of stuff that is totally out of their control. Teaching doesn't have the corner market on that problem.

TinaRiy85 · Sep 21, 2005

If I had the means, I'd go back to school to be a teacher. It was a toss-up when I was in high school; ultimately, I chose nursing.
And believe me, tencat, nurses get blamed for boatloads of stuff that is totally out of their control. Teaching doesn't have the corner market on that problem.

Why would you go back and be a teacher?

KatieBell · Sep 21, 2005

I'm with Fraggle, In your question, you seem very focused on the benefits, rather than the actual jobs. I'd learn about what each job really entails, opportunities for advancement in the field, areas of specialization, etc. and make a choice on what you think you would enjoy doing, rather than the side bennies or the schedule.

maggijo · Sep 21, 2005

I taught middle and high school Spanish for 6 years and am now pursuing nursing. My biggest piece of advice is, DON'T go into teaching because of the time off because there's not as much as people think. I arrived at work at 6:45 to get ready for my classes and left between 4:00 and 7:00, depending on coaching duties (required at our school) and evening meetings. I spent about 6-8 hours a week outside of school grading papers and lesson planning. I spent about 12 hours twice a year writing comment reports for each student. In the summer, planning for your courses is essential, and this can take quite some time and energy. Many schools require their teachers to do professional development in the summer, as well. I was passionate about teaching, and that's what got me through. It's tough, though. The teachers who don't go into the profession with a love for children and their subject matter tend to burn out in less than 5 years. The ones who go into teaching because they think it sounds easy last about one year. My advice: do what you love and find your passion. Since both professions pay about the same, consider finding the right profession in terms of what will motivate you to get out of bed each day.

gypsyatheart · Sep 21, 2005

Hi there! I think you really need to do some research into both of these careers, and then look into your own heart and decide where your passion lies. Is there some reason you are looking at just these two professions? They are both admirable, and have a lot in common, such as hard work and commitment, little respect and understanding from the public at large. If I were 20-ish and starting over, I definitley would not pursue either teaching or nursing. Knowing what I now know and working as an RN for the last 15yrs. The long (12-14 hr shifts) weekends, nights, holidays, mandated call, and the awesome, mind boggling responsibility of people's lives....gets old after a while. Don't get me wrong....I love being a nurse, it's the scheduling and politics of it that I hate. Also, know that there will be exposure to every body fluid known to man as well as disease and filth and stench....the most disgusting vile odors one could ever imagine. And blood, sometimes lots of it....and on you! There is a reason we have a nursing shortage, and obviously nursing is notthe most glamaorous job in the world, otherwise people would be knocking down the doors trying to be one...:rotfl:

I'm not trying to discourage you, but please prepare yourself for a very grueling career, often thankless.....the only pat on the back will be the one you give yourself sometimes..... If none of that bothers you, well then, welcome to the game! :coollook:

I am currently a sophmore in college and I either want to apply for nursing or teacher in the upcoming fall. I am confused as to what I should do. The thing i like about teaching is that I will someday have a family and have holidays, weekends, summers off, etc. I thought I wanted to do nursing until I discovered that many nurses hate their jobs. I was also led to believe that nurses made more than teachers but some information says that teachers make more and they only work 10 months out of the year. Is this true? I am just really confused and need some advice.

essbee · Sep 21, 2005

The headline of a recent news show was "65 pregnant teenagers at this (name withheld) high school, what went wrong", should give you an idea of what teachers are held responsible for. This headline amazed me and the fact that the reporter actually went to the school to question the principle was even more unbelievable.

I agree with the writer who is a teacher now going to nursing school. As a former trainer, I found the responsibility to be enormous for instructors to complete students in programs in spite of themselves. Think of the years that teacher spent learning how to share education only to find out that he/she would be reponsible for an impossible situation, how distressing, but this is similar to the experience some nurses have when they compare what they thought nursing would be like and what they found it to be.

Remember that at some point we all have something that we don't like about our profession or would at least like to change. The unhappiness most nurses feel could be alleviated by an administration that understands and tries to lessen the stressors for its nurses, and sadly it is our own nurse management who are most guilty of mistreatment of their staff or who fail to represent their nursing staff to those who are not nurses. While most professions have had a metamorphisis and have learned to value those within it, nursing as a profession has not. I believe this must happen so that more students will want to experience the joy of nursing. Imagine the caring and emotion that goes with nursing and not receiving acknowlegement because that is what you were trained to do and are paid for, again how distressing. Most nurses still love nursing they hate the aside issues like, rude doctors and families, ungrateful patients, disrespectful administration, miserable attitudes and co workers who are consistently not dedicated enough to do their work in the manner in which they were trained, this can be said of many professions.

If you spoke to teachers I think they would agree that there are similar issues in education, but the majority of teachers choose to remain in their profession. Nursing was and still my choice in spite of the negatives because of the joy I receive when a patient recovers and goes home or when the care that I give makes the patient have a bearable day, that is so very rewarding.

Nurse or teacher, joyfully you can do both as a nurse and enjoy the pleasure of two professions. In the end if you decide that teaching is more to your liking you can continue on and become an instructor for nursing schools.

Good Luck.