Where do you go?

At most schools, Social Studies are the first courses being eliminated. They are the golf beat the high school curriculum.

If I decide to go back to school to get my teaching credential, I will go for English and History. We'll see if that happens, I'm guessing it would take me three semesters to get my teaching credential and I don't know if it's possible to go that long without a paycheck coming in.

I sure am glad I have a degree and a Masters in a subject that is basically worthless.

 

You can take most of the certification courses online, while working elsewhere. I'd assume you could do the same for a second bachelor's.

 

That's what I'm looking into.

 

Can anyone recommend one of the online colleges where they've done this?

 

University of Phoenix (who was that pop-up ad chick for UOP a few years back)

I wouldn't discount SID work -- there's a lot of sports writing in it. The biggest trouble with that profession, to me, is the grind, because it cuts across all the school's sports. Seems like you'd never get a break.

 

The summer would be a break. At most big schools, the SID is rarely in charge of more than two sports, usually one big one and one smaller one and whoever is doing football does only football.

At some of the smaller schools they have to do it all.

 

No MCAT and no bachelor's degree needed. Two years of chem, and a year of physics and biology. Plus the PCAT and an okay GPA. Then four years of school.

 

I've had three different people ask me if I've thought about being a teacher. And yes, the thought's crossed my mind on a number of occasions.

That might be where my eventual career path takes me.

 

After seven months of unemployment? Crazy.

 

It's still a required course in most states. In Indiana, we've actually *increased* the amount of SS courses kids have to take. Fifteen years ago, you needed four credits (two in U.S. History, one each in Econ/Government), now you need six (those four plus either two in World History or World Geography).

English & Math are where the bread is buttered because of No Child Left Behind, but social studies & science are still core courses. It's the other stuff -- music, PE, journalism, art, home ec, industrial arts (our high school has *one* industrial arts teacher, and he teaches pretty high-level engineering courses most of the day) -- that are being whacked from the curriculum. That, and of course, recess .

 

The small-school SID calendar is just brutal, especially if they have football. If you're a staff of three or less, You're probably going to be managing events five nights a week for 8-9 months.

The bigger schools with larger staffs certainly keep it more manageable, but the ones I've been around are hustling all the time. Pays to have good organizational skills.