I May Be Sad, BUT I Will Be Educated...

There is no denying that I will be sad when Taylor leaves for basics.  I am trying to come to terms with the change, and I know that I will obsess about what he is doing, his safety, his happiness, and all those motherly things we begin worrying about as soon as the nurse hands us our child for the first time. I will drive myself insance worrying unless I give myself other things to focus on.  With that in mind, I registered for my first Doctorate classes today. Just call me Doctor Todd.

Teachers love school.  It's one of the reasons that we teach.  We get to explore our favorite subjects every single day while learning new information constantly. What better way to occupy the mind of an educator than to educate her? There are issues with this plan, of course. One, I am already in a state of exhaustion most days just from my teaching duties, so to add hours of research and classwork on top of that may be a bit much. I want to be tired enough to sleep and not lie in bed awake at nights worrying about bumps in the night. I do not want to be so tired that I cry at the drop of the hat or am so ill that I am hateful to my students. Two, educators normally get paid more the more educated they are.  The state superintendant of education wants to put into place a plan that would end this practice.  Teachers would be based on the performance of their students with no relation to their education level.  (The whole debate about paying teachers based on student performance is a whole other discussion, but just compare it to paying dentists based on the number of cavities their patients have...) Zais' proposal means that I am going to go into debt for a degree that probably will not benefit me financially in my current job. Luckily, the point of the degree is the knowledge gained and the distraction from worry.  Plus, it will be extremely cool to be Dr. Todd.  I believe that is worth a little exhaustion.

A plan is slowly forming here though this blog...  I am going to go to school, write Taylor daily, Skype when I can, go out with friends, stay active in my church, and pray more than I ever thought possible.  It is all going to be okay.