# Dilemma over Major



## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

So I'm currently enrolled at a University as an education major, going into special education. I've been at this for 2 years, recently transfered schools and already have 25 (at least) credits towards this degree, but I don't feel like I want to actually do this for my life. I don't know what I want to do though. I like things like psychology, photography, philosophy, design (but I'm not too creative with that, just like making things look lovely).

Can anyone help me try to discover what I want to do, and also can anyone give any insight/experience/advice about all of this, what to do and such?

I'm afraid of changing majors because I can already hear my mother's voice scolding me for it. I"m about ready just to drop out of school all together because I don't feel satisfied with being an education major.

If you want to check out some of my photography, go to the links in my signature.

Any help?


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## timeless (Mar 20, 2010)

Why did you want to go into education in the first place?


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

timeless said:


> Why did you want to go into education in the first place?


According to my mother special education was a safe bet. And sure, I find the disorders (that includes all disorders as well and blindness and deafness) fascinating, sure I can teach well enough, but it's not what I feel like I really want to do. So basically, I went into it because it was safe considering how many special education teachers seem to be needed.


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## dann (Feb 11, 2012)

If you're not passionate about teaching special education, I think you'll find the task of dealing with your students very challenging. I recommend going into just a more generalized education program. Maybe you can try to become an art teacher or something?


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

dann said:


> If you're not passionate about teaching special education, I think you'll find the task of dealing with your students very challenging. I recommend going into just a more generalized education program. Maybe you can try to become an art teacher or something?



That's just it, I don't really want to be a teacher at all. I chose special education because I'm interested in the disorders special educators deal with.


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## dann (Feb 11, 2012)

Amarose said:


> That's just it, I don't really want to be a teacher at all. I chose special education because I'm interested in the disorders special educators deal with.


Hmm... This is not a good situation at all. I say drop this teacher thing then. Two years really isn't tha long of a time; it's fine to change your mind at this point. But at the same time, make sure you have an alternative in mind when you make this decision...especially for when you have to tell your mom


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## kittychris07 (Jun 15, 2010)

dann said:


> Hmm... This is not a good situation at all. I say drop this teacher thing then. Two years really isn't tha long of a time; it's fine to change your mind at this point. But at the same time, make sure you have an alternative in mind when you make this decision...especially for when you have to tell your mom


^This. 

Also, you might want to figure out how feasible it is to get into the workforce in one of the areas you are interested in (or how likely it is that you can make customers/$$ if you freelance), and figure out what type of income you will be making. 

You probably shouldn't be a teacher if you aren't passionate about it (or at least like it). I think that goes for almost any job.

That said, how do you know you wouldn't like being an educator?


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

kittychris07 said:


> That said, how do you know you wouldn't like being an educator?


Well, I'm not one for holding out enthusiasm for teaching very long, though I can start enthusiastically, after a while I just get frustrated and tired with it. Plus, I tend to ramble, so I'm not best at explaining things to others. Also, I can have patience,, but I can burst into hot-headedness if stress gets to be too much. And as stated, I chose special education not necessarily for the helping of special needs students, I chose it because I find the disorders (including blindness and deafness) fascinating, so it's more of a fascination than a passion.


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## dann (Feb 11, 2012)

Amarose said:


> Well, I'm not one for holding out enthusiasm for teaching very long, though I can start enthusiastically, after a while I just get frustrated and tired with it. Plus, I tend to ramble, so I'm not best at explaining things to others. Also, I can have patience,, but I can burst into hot-headedness if stress gets to be too much. And as stated, I chose special education not necessarily for the helping of special needs students, I chose it because I find the disorders (including blindness and deafness) fascinating, so it's more of a fascination than a passion.


To teach special education, rather than fascination or passion, I think what you need is COMpassion. If that's something you've got then maybe you can make things work. Nobody's born a great teacher! I think with time, practice, and patience you'll round out to a great teacher.


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

dann said:


> To teach special education, rather than fascination or passion, I think what you need is COMpassion. If that's something you've got then maybe you can make things work. Nobody's born a great teacher! I think with time, practice, and patience you'll round out to a great teacher.


What exactly is "compassion" this is another dilemma of mine, I don't fully understand some emotions therefore I'm not sure if I have them. I've been told by others that I seem very empathetic, but I question my intentions for wanting to listen to some people's problems and feelings. Sure I seem to be pretty good at noticing when something isn't right with somebody, and I do like to listen to their stories, but maybe that's just for myself, not them. I think my intentions may be selfish and merely a way to study how someone works, especially mentally.

I"m still not certain if I truly want to go into the teaching field though, like said it was chosen because my mother said it was a safer bet than something like psychology (which I actually adore learning about and studying, you can also see it's connection with the disorders you'd find in special education here). Psychology, photography, design (interior, exterior, floral lol, the such), all of those I like more than actual teaching of somebody. Special education was chosen for the psychology type connection it has (even if not all the disorders have psychological components).

Please, ask questions, I think I"m sounding robotic lol (I blame that on the show I just watched), I'll answer whatever you may ask, unless I don't want to, but I'll tell you that.


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

let's say this, something I've noticed about myself. I get restless after a while doing the same thing over and over, I need change, and in the teaching field it's a lot of the same thing over and over again. Same lessons, same typical students, same environment, all the same. That was just something going through my mind. Or maybe I'm just finding the schooling for it all typical and same, and I'm restless with it, everything going too slow and being too much of the same stuff over and over.


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## Magentastraberry (May 27, 2012)

I would ultimately say try to figure out what you want to do ASAP. I waited till I was at 90 units and it has so far been challenging for me to complete my degree. I was a marketing major that switched over to geology (nonscience to science, BIG CHANGE). The thing is that when I was fresh out of high school I was head strong against science! I have transformed so much over a period of 4 years, and this is why I have issues with the pressure the school system places on students to go to college. I would have never considered science if I had not taken a geology class during my second year of college for a general ed science requirement! Sometimes I wish I had just held off on college for a few years, but whatev.

But yeah, it's hard to decide what you want to do when you haven't had exposure to careers. It's one thing to say you're interested in something, it's another thing when you enter the work force. I would say meet other students and talk to the departments of the majors you may be interested in, try to talk with professionals in your area.


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## Elvira (Dec 1, 2011)

Amarose said:


> That's just it, I don't really want to be a teacher at all. I chose special education because I'm interested in the disorders special educators deal with.


If you're interested in disorders still, maybe you can go into speech language pathology? It's what I'm going into :happy: You work with kids who might be autistic but also people who have TBI, articulation disorders, etc. It's more one-on-one, so maybe you would be into that? You can work in schools but also in hospitals, independent facilities and nursing homes. There is a science component to it though, especially if you are in the hospital setting. It seems kind of similar to Special Education though, so I'm not sure if you'd like it. It is more generalized though, because you are specifically working on language and communication. 

One thing that I like about it is that you're not 'stuck'. It seems like with a teaching degree, you can, well....teach. But let's say you go into pathology and don't like the school system; you can look for a job in another setting. However, graduate programs are _extremely _competitive (you have to have a Masters), so having a good GRE score, GPA, and experience is really important. 

I'm trying to think of other career paths for you. Unfortunately, if you go the psych major route, it's really intense because _everyone_ is a psych major. However, my mom majored in psych and got her MBA and was able to be the supervisor for a mental health facility. With that being said, that's in the 80's, so things have really changed since then!

Honestly, if you wanted to go the whole photography route, I don't know if you should really change your major to photography. I personally know several successful people who do photography who never went to college for it. I think there's a lot of stuff you can learn independently with that career. Maybe taking some business classes would be good, since you would be running your own photography business. From what I've heard though, it's hard to get into that field as well; I think a big part of the career is having connections. I have a friend who did about everyone's senior pictures while in high school and made some good money to buy better equipment. 

Hope this helps!


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

@Elvira thanks for the suggestions. I'm not really interested in speech language pathology, but something someone else brought up (not on here) seemed like a nice idea to me, being a social worker. It involves helping and working with others, dealing with emotional and behavioral disorders (clinical social worker) and it works in different places if you don't want to stick with one place or such. Social Work might be a good choice for me, need to discuss it with someone at the university I guess. Sure having a masters in that field is the most common, but you can get work with a bachelors as well.


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## AndrewGonzales (Jul 5, 2012)

I think you should keep trying different things, eventually you will find your passion. BOL


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## Amarose (Jul 25, 2011)

As depressing as this may sound to the people that tried to help, and I do appreciate that you all tried to help, I think I'm just going to stick with special education since my ideal state of being is unreachable unless I was poor and living in a forest LOL, so whatever major I choose wouldn't be fully satisfying anyways, so I"ll stick with what I've chosen in the first place, and then maybe someday I can use the degree to move elsewhere in the country to a more satisfying region, mainly somewhere with forest (I'm in love with the forest).


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## Schnitzelman (Aug 7, 2011)

Amarose said:


> So I'm currently enrolled at a University as an education major, going into special education. I've been at this for 2 years, recently transfered schools and already have 25 (at least) credits towards this degree, but I don't feel like I want to actually do this for my life. I don't know what I want to do though. I like things like psychology, photography, philosophy, design (but I'm not too creative with that, just like making things look lovely).
> 
> Can anyone help me try to discover what I want to do, and also can anyone give any insight/experience/advice about all of this, what to do and such?
> 
> ...


My sister is in the same situation as you, but 4 years and 100k into her degree. I take pity on you.  If you don't want to do it, then don't. As the kids say these days, "YOLO".


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