SOYOUWANNA BE A TEACHER?

2. CHOOSE WHETHER YOU WANT TO WORK IN A PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SCHOOL

There are major differences between teaching in a private school and a public school (aside from the fact that public school teachers often wear a bullet-proof vest during assemblies).

Public school
Private school

Public school

Teaching in a public school can be frustrating because you often have to deal with government bureaucracy. No books? Blame the government. No chalk? Blame the government. Furthermore, depending on where you teach, you may be stuck in some rather decrepit conditions (overcrowded rooms, no air conditioning, outdated books) and the principal may not be able to help you at all.

However, public school teachers get paid more than private school teachers. Furthermore, if you luck out and teach in a well-run public school, it'll feel just like a private school and you'll love your job. But there's a catch: public school teachers MUST be certified. We'll talk more about the certification process later, but consider that you're going to spend a few years student teaching, after which you'll get a certification certificate. Depending on what state you're in, you may also have to jump over more hurdles (for instance, to teach in a Los Angeles public school, you need to receive a passing grade on the California CBEST, which is state-wide basic skills test).

Private school

Private schools often offer beginning teachers a nice place to start their careers because the principal has so much control. Classes will probably be smaller (and overcrowding in a class will usually never occur), complaints are handled more readily, and you (as a teacher) may have more control over your lesson plan.

Now for the bad news: most private schools offer teachers much lower salaries than public school teachers. The reason for this is because private schools are not continually monitored by the government, so they don't have to meet the same teaching standards. As a result, private schools are often willing to hire non-certified teachers. So if you don't want to wait two to five years to become certified (for instance, you want to teach right out of college), private schools can put you on the quick path to teaching enlightenment. The fact that you don't have to get certified also means that you can go teach in a private school for a year, see how you like it, and then get certified and become a teacher in a public school (where you'll earn more cash). But be prepared… in some states (such as Louisiana and Mississippi), private school salaries can dip as low as the mid-teens, whereas public schools pay about $5,000 more than that.