Why do they do it?
4
Special
Why do they do it?
An in-depth look at four teachers’ reasons to teach
52.2% A 46.6%
Laura Davidson: the search for balance
of sequoia’s teachers hold a master’s degree or higher
of new teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years
s a student at Princeton University, was my passion,” she said. English teacher Laura Davidson felt As a teacher, Davidson throws herself completely pushed away from education and into into her work, both mentally and emotionally. Like the corporate world. “At Princeton, many teachers, she knows how difficult it is to find a [teaching] just was not a path. There healthy balance between her work and personal life. were all these conduits to Wall Street “Being a teacher, where you’re focused on the needs and directly to law school and goof so many and their problems ing to the capitol in DC,” she said. “I feel like there was some place in the become your problems, you’re Unsure about her career plans, back of my mind that knew that I was feeling them, they haunt you going to be a teacher someday, but I Davidson graduated from Princlike they haunt that person, it’s eton in 2006 and took a job in was frightened to be a teacher.” hard to turn it off at the end of —English teacher Laura Davidson the day.” public relations in the Bay Area. Quickly, though, Davidson was In addition, Davidson can dissatisfied with her work, realizfeel victimized by the press. ing that she didn’t care about what she was doing. “The work that I do is really fulfilling. [What discourEven then, before immersing herself completely in ages me] is what I’m reading in the media, this whole education, Davidson was emotionally drawn to teach- rhetoric that something’s wrong with education. . . ing. Let’s blame the people who are trying to do the best “I feel like there was some place in the back of my with the little that they have.” mind that knew that I was going to be a teacher someDespite the challenges and struggles Davidson has day, but I was frightened to be a teacher,” she said. faced as a teacher, she is committed to and enthusiasWhen a family friend left a lucrative career as a high- tic about her work. “I’m so fortunate that I get to do profile executive to become a high school teacher, Da- what I like to do already, and I get to share that with all vidson began to consider teaching. “I didn’t want to these people who are compelled to do it with me. It’s work for 25 years and then figure out that [teaching] so much fun,” she said.
Dy Nguyen: a return to teaching
W
hen she start- in another way. ed teaching in “I thought I could do some work in 2006, special a legislative way, changing the laws to education and help change education for the better,” English teacher she said. Dy Nguyen had While at the law firm, Nguyen plans to change the world. made a realization. “I love working “I was really young and naïve when I with youth. I love working with kids. I started at [age] 22, I felt like I needed to just didn’t know how to make it work be a superwoman. I needed to save every for me.” With time, Nguyen began to kid and change every broken part of the think about what had originally driven system,” she said. her away from education, and what she Quickly, Nguyen realized that her needed to do to make a successful redreams were unrealistic, and that teach- turn. ing hadn’t lived Three years up to her expectalater, Nguyen has “I got burnt out. It was a lot of work, tions. “Sometimes come full circle. very little appreciation, very little pay.” [teaching] felt “Coming back, —English and Special Education very ineffective. I what changed is teacher Dy Nguyen got burnt out. It that [though] I’m was a lot of work, still really idealvery little appreistic, it’s about ciation, very little pay.” balance, and it’s about sustainability.” After only two years, Nguyen de- This year is her first back at Sequoia. “I cided to leave the teaching profession changed the way I viewed the job and altogether, taking her vision of a better the world, and I realized that I can do world with her. Working at a law firm as this. I came back to prove that I can, and a paralegal, Nguyen hoped to do good it’s been amazing so far.”
in 2012, only 39% of teachers reported that they were “Very Satisfied” with their jobs.
5
Feature
Every day, teachers face a multitude of challenges, both inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers are often expected to work well beyond their paid hours, advising extracurricular activities and making preparations for future classes. Sequoia’s teachers hold degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Princeton, Harvard and Stanford. Sixty-nine of them hold graduate degrees. Rather than working in the corporate world (and making much more money), teachers choose to help raise the next generation. Teachers are, in that sense, some of society’s most generous and necessary constituents. In this series of mini-features, I’ve looked into why teachers choose to teach. Why, rather than having a “normal” nine-to-five job, more money, and more personal time, do they sacrifice themselves for us, their students? For these four educators, it’s about more than just themselves. —Written and compiled by Simon Greenhill Photo by Simon Greenhill
What do you know about Sequoia’s Teachers? Debolina Dutta:
64-36
a second career
$54,819 W
Female-Male teacher ratio at Sequoia
national average salary for teachers
24.12
average studentteacher ratio in California
Average Years of Total Experience
Average years of Experience in Sequoia Union High SChool District
Years of Teaching experience 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Eric Kobrick: drawing satisfaction from chaos
E
arly on, social studies teacher Eric Kobrick knew that he would be an educator. Inspired by a high school English teacher, he started on the path to teaching. “She was much more a mentor than a teacher, and she kind of cursed me, she said, ‘you know, I think you’re going to become a teacher,’” he said. “I kind of resisted it in a way, I said, ‘hell no, that’s crazy.’” As a teacher, Kobrick has faced stereotypes and challenges both within the school and in the wider community. “All you have to do is read the newspaper to realize that there’s millions of people who think that [teachers] have it easy, that we basically babysit and get paid really well for doing it. As preposterous as I think that is, I realize that it’s out there for a lot of people,” he said. Now a 13-year veteran, Kobrick is unfrazzled by the demands of the job. Whereas a majority of teachers leave the profession after only a few years, Kobrick has retained a passion for teaching. For Kobrick, teaching has never been bland or boring. To him, teaching is dy-
namic and multifaceted, more than just repeating the same lecture three times every day. Part of Kobrick’s passion comes from having an opportunity to mentor the next generation. As a male teacher in a profession dominated by females, Kobrick has had the chance to reach young men in an intellectual, academic setting in ways that his female colleagues have not. “There’s something to be said for having a male role model, where academics are cool and interesting, and you can still have a diverse life and be smart. Coming from a guy, that allows more guys to feel like that’s okay,” he said. “You can still be masculine and be intelligent.” Regardless of the churning world around him, Kobrick finds deep satisfaction in his job. “I feel mentally that I roll up my sleeves everyday and I go to work,” he said. “Do I think the system is unbalanced and unfair and broken sometimes? Absolutely. But me doing my dharma, my duty, I feel that I can do it faithfully and honestly and I don’t have regrets about what I do.”
hen she was in high school and college, Debolina Dutta planned to go into pre-med. Despite familial pressures, Dutta eventually switched her focus to environmental science and
marine biology. Like most recent college graduates, Dutta had a very idealistic vision of her career as an environmental scientist. “I graduated from college thinking I would do something that had this tremendous impact in the world. . . and I wanted to be rich. So I entered [the field of environmental science] and it was really interesting but it just didn’t feel super fulfilling,” she said. Working for a company which assessed the environmental impact of major projects in the oil and gas industry, Dutta was quickly dissatisfied by the fact that she was not fostering a major change in her field. “I was still working for the utilities industry, I wasn’t changing regulation or changing mindset, I was just working in the system,” she said. “I just wanted a “On a daily basis I get to bigger impact.” work with young people After working at who are going to shape various odd jobs — the world, and that is refrom administrator ally exciting. I would at the mayor’s office only leave [Sequoia] if I to member of UC- left education entirely.” SF’s AIDS Health —Environmental Systems Project— Dutta and Societies teacher fell into teaching by Debolina Dutta chance. When she was offered a position as a long-term substitute teacher, Dutta decided to give it a try. “I didn’t really have any intention of being a teacher but ended up falling in love with it.” As she settled into her new career in education, much of Dutta’s family didn’t take her seriously. “For a while, I had family members who called this a hobby,” she said. Nonetheless, Dutta was adamant about keeping her job as a teacher. For her, teaching is much more than a second career. “If we want the next generation to have a really good education, it needs to come from people who want to do it. It’s not some fall back profession, it’s their first choice.” Dutta fervently fights society’s stereotypes on teachers, working to dispel the derogatory assumptions that even some of her family and friends still hold. “It’s a very, very demanding profession. And it’s not an equal ratio of work output to financial earnings,” she said. “I definitely work as hard as my friends who are corporate lawyers.”
Special
Why do they do it?
An in-depth look at four teachers’ reasons to teach
52.2% A 46.6%
Laura Davidson: the search for balance
of sequoia’s teachers hold a master’s degree or higher
of new teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years
s a student at Princeton University, was my passion,” she said. English teacher Laura Davidson felt As a teacher, Davidson throws herself completely pushed away from education and into into her work, both mentally and emotionally. Like the corporate world. “At Princeton, many teachers, she knows how difficult it is to find a [teaching] just was not a path. There healthy balance between her work and personal life. were all these conduits to Wall Street “Being a teacher, where you’re focused on the needs and directly to law school and goof so many and their problems ing to the capitol in DC,” she said. “I feel like there was some place in the become your problems, you’re Unsure about her career plans, back of my mind that knew that I was feeling them, they haunt you going to be a teacher someday, but I Davidson graduated from Princlike they haunt that person, it’s eton in 2006 and took a job in was frightened to be a teacher.” hard to turn it off at the end of —English teacher Laura Davidson the day.” public relations in the Bay Area. Quickly, though, Davidson was In addition, Davidson can dissatisfied with her work, realizfeel victimized by the press. ing that she didn’t care about what she was doing. “The work that I do is really fulfilling. [What discourEven then, before immersing herself completely in ages me] is what I’m reading in the media, this whole education, Davidson was emotionally drawn to teach- rhetoric that something’s wrong with education. . . ing. Let’s blame the people who are trying to do the best “I feel like there was some place in the back of my with the little that they have.” mind that knew that I was going to be a teacher someDespite the challenges and struggles Davidson has day, but I was frightened to be a teacher,” she said. faced as a teacher, she is committed to and enthusiasWhen a family friend left a lucrative career as a high- tic about her work. “I’m so fortunate that I get to do profile executive to become a high school teacher, Da- what I like to do already, and I get to share that with all vidson began to consider teaching. “I didn’t want to these people who are compelled to do it with me. It’s work for 25 years and then figure out that [teaching] so much fun,” she said.
Dy Nguyen: a return to teaching
W
hen she start- in another way. ed teaching in “I thought I could do some work in 2006, special a legislative way, changing the laws to education and help change education for the better,” English teacher she said. Dy Nguyen had While at the law firm, Nguyen plans to change the world. made a realization. “I love working “I was really young and naïve when I with youth. I love working with kids. I started at [age] 22, I felt like I needed to just didn’t know how to make it work be a superwoman. I needed to save every for me.” With time, Nguyen began to kid and change every broken part of the think about what had originally driven system,” she said. her away from education, and what she Quickly, Nguyen realized that her needed to do to make a successful redreams were unrealistic, and that teach- turn. ing hadn’t lived Three years up to her expectalater, Nguyen has “I got burnt out. It was a lot of work, tions. “Sometimes come full circle. very little appreciation, very little pay.” [teaching] felt “Coming back, —English and Special Education very ineffective. I what changed is teacher Dy Nguyen got burnt out. It that [though] I’m was a lot of work, still really idealvery little appreistic, it’s about ciation, very little pay.” balance, and it’s about sustainability.” After only two years, Nguyen de- This year is her first back at Sequoia. “I cided to leave the teaching profession changed the way I viewed the job and altogether, taking her vision of a better the world, and I realized that I can do world with her. Working at a law firm as this. I came back to prove that I can, and a paralegal, Nguyen hoped to do good it’s been amazing so far.”
in 2012, only 39% of teachers reported that they were “Very Satisfied” with their jobs.
5
Feature
Every day, teachers face a multitude of challenges, both inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers are often expected to work well beyond their paid hours, advising extracurricular activities and making preparations for future classes. Sequoia’s teachers hold degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Princeton, Harvard and Stanford. Sixty-nine of them hold graduate degrees. Rather than working in the corporate world (and making much more money), teachers choose to help raise the next generation. Teachers are, in that sense, some of society’s most generous and necessary constituents. In this series of mini-features, I’ve looked into why teachers choose to teach. Why, rather than having a “normal” nine-to-five job, more money, and more personal time, do they sacrifice themselves for us, their students? For these four educators, it’s about more than just themselves. —Written and compiled by Simon Greenhill Photo by Simon Greenhill
What do you know about Sequoia’s Teachers? Debolina Dutta:
64-36
a second career
$54,819 W
Female-Male teacher ratio at Sequoia
national average salary for teachers
24.12
average studentteacher ratio in California
Average Years of Total Experience
Average years of Experience in Sequoia Union High SChool District
Years of Teaching experience 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Eric Kobrick: drawing satisfaction from chaos
E
arly on, social studies teacher Eric Kobrick knew that he would be an educator. Inspired by a high school English teacher, he started on the path to teaching. “She was much more a mentor than a teacher, and she kind of cursed me, she said, ‘you know, I think you’re going to become a teacher,’” he said. “I kind of resisted it in a way, I said, ‘hell no, that’s crazy.’” As a teacher, Kobrick has faced stereotypes and challenges both within the school and in the wider community. “All you have to do is read the newspaper to realize that there’s millions of people who think that [teachers] have it easy, that we basically babysit and get paid really well for doing it. As preposterous as I think that is, I realize that it’s out there for a lot of people,” he said. Now a 13-year veteran, Kobrick is unfrazzled by the demands of the job. Whereas a majority of teachers leave the profession after only a few years, Kobrick has retained a passion for teaching. For Kobrick, teaching has never been bland or boring. To him, teaching is dy-
namic and multifaceted, more than just repeating the same lecture three times every day. Part of Kobrick’s passion comes from having an opportunity to mentor the next generation. As a male teacher in a profession dominated by females, Kobrick has had the chance to reach young men in an intellectual, academic setting in ways that his female colleagues have not. “There’s something to be said for having a male role model, where academics are cool and interesting, and you can still have a diverse life and be smart. Coming from a guy, that allows more guys to feel like that’s okay,” he said. “You can still be masculine and be intelligent.” Regardless of the churning world around him, Kobrick finds deep satisfaction in his job. “I feel mentally that I roll up my sleeves everyday and I go to work,” he said. “Do I think the system is unbalanced and unfair and broken sometimes? Absolutely. But me doing my dharma, my duty, I feel that I can do it faithfully and honestly and I don’t have regrets about what I do.”
hen she was in high school and college, Debolina Dutta planned to go into pre-med. Despite familial pressures, Dutta eventually switched her focus to environmental science and
marine biology. Like most recent college graduates, Dutta had a very idealistic vision of her career as an environmental scientist. “I graduated from college thinking I would do something that had this tremendous impact in the world. . . and I wanted to be rich. So I entered [the field of environmental science] and it was really interesting but it just didn’t feel super fulfilling,” she said. Working for a company which assessed the environmental impact of major projects in the oil and gas industry, Dutta was quickly dissatisfied by the fact that she was not fostering a major change in her field. “I was still working for the utilities industry, I wasn’t changing regulation or changing mindset, I was just working in the system,” she said. “I just wanted a “On a daily basis I get to bigger impact.” work with young people After working at who are going to shape various odd jobs — the world, and that is refrom administrator ally exciting. I would at the mayor’s office only leave [Sequoia] if I to member of UC- left education entirely.” SF’s AIDS Health —Environmental Systems Project— Dutta and Societies teacher fell into teaching by Debolina Dutta chance. When she was offered a position as a long-term substitute teacher, Dutta decided to give it a try. “I didn’t really have any intention of being a teacher but ended up falling in love with it.” As she settled into her new career in education, much of Dutta’s family didn’t take her seriously. “For a while, I had family members who called this a hobby,” she said. Nonetheless, Dutta was adamant about keeping her job as a teacher. For her, teaching is much more than a second career. “If we want the next generation to have a really good education, it needs to come from people who want to do it. It’s not some fall back profession, it’s their first choice.” Dutta fervently fights society’s stereotypes on teachers, working to dispel the derogatory assumptions that even some of her family and friends still hold. “It’s a very, very demanding profession. And it’s not an equal ratio of work output to financial earnings,” she said. “I definitely work as hard as my friends who are corporate lawyers.”
