The story goes like this: one of the teachers asked him to say what his major was and he said "pre-med." She kindly translated that meant he was going to be a doctor.
Stop right there. Pre-med means he is on the right track to be a doctor, sure. But does it mean that he's going to be one? No. All rationality aside (like this can be encouraging to the students, blah blah blah), it doesn't put him anywhere near the level of doctor. Not even in the "going to be" track. After seeing what my husband had to do just to get into med school to get to learn and have to prove himself worthy of the grades and ability to retain vast volumes of material; to be where he is today, middle of third year showing that he does have the ability to provide empathy and patient care, working (unpaid, and actually paying thousands of dollars) 12 hour shifts at the local teaching hospital just to get through the next set of tests at the end of each rotation. He's still a year and a half from having an MD and at least 4.5 years from getting to find a job as a practicing doctor. I remember when he was pre-med...those were the days we could travel and get into adventures together on a whim. Where he didn't have to worry about someone's life in his hands or the stress of financial burdens associated with the path to becoming a doctor. The stresses were still there, the push to get good grades, to study, to stand out, sure. But it was like lifting a two pound weight compared to the dumbbell now. But that's whatever, again, the pre-med volunteer didn't say it.
Then later that evening, he, the volunteer, proceeded to pass on the knowledge that you have to do the experiment such and such way to get the right results, which I disagreed with, getting the results using another method (patience, actually). And then another incident where a teacher said that volunteer had said something that our experiment contradicted. And she, the teacher, took his word over science's. Ha. Worded like that, it actually sounds much more ironic. But anyway, I proceeded to combat the "fact" with logic (not having any prior knowledge to the experiment) and was able to convince her that the reverse could in fact be true.
I guess my conclusion here is that a major doesn't dictate everything about a person. Because I majored in music, that doesn't mean I'm not logically or mathematically intelligent. Actually, I was torn between music ed and architecture. Would society see me as more of a success if I had opted for the architecture path as opposed to being a teacher? I think the answer is yes, sadly. And that right there is why teaching needs a better rap. Teachers should be the best in every field possible. They should be seen as successful and not pointing to future doctors as being higher members of society. Granted, an accomplished doctor (one who actually practices good patient care and works ethically) should be highly regarded, but so should those who excell at whatever career they've chosen. Teachers, waitresses, construction workers, sales people, etc. Priority should be on mastering what we do, not belittling one profession over another, or conversely, grandizing others.
Well, that was a tangent of a ride. :)
