<p>My neighbor decided he wanted to be a doctor after he was 40! He had to take a few courses before he could even get into med school. He starts his residency this Fall.</p>
<p>Go for it! I am a second career teacher and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would not quit my job. I would hire a cook and a cleaning lady and buy everything I’ve ever wanted for my classroom. (Yes, there are issues in education, but that happens in every field.) </p>
<p>You are in a great position to be hired because of the shortage of science and math teachers in this country. My daughter did not have a good experience in high school science classes. (It’s unfortunate because she really likes science.) WE could use more teachers like you at the high school level. YOU could use a career that makes you happy. It sounds like a win-win to me. Good luck!</p>
<p>Another endorsement: Go for it! My husband retired last fall and began teaching chemistry full-time at the university where he had been an adjunct (he has a PhD in chemistry). His favorite work–really, his calling–is teaching general chemistry I and II to first-year college students. It’s incredibly rewarding. I would think HS chemistry would be similar–the opportunity to spark an interest. Good luck!</p>
<p>Absolutely, go for it! So many people make mid-life career changes now. You have so much life experience to offer.</p>
<p>I heard a great program on the subject on Public Radio one day. They were interviewing a man who’d been a dentist many years but didn’t enjoy it anymore, and a quote of his really struck me: “The trouble was that I let an 18-year-old choose my career.”</p>
<p>A 50-year-old’s choice is likely to be a lot more informed.</p>
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<p>I know–it’s weird. But I suppose a lot cheaper…</p>
<p>scout59, my husband has been a high school chemistry teacher for 25 years. There aren’t enough good ones to go around, so please join the fray! There are days you will love it and days you will hate it, but your life won’t be dull, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>I think that it should be fine. It will be even a bonus that you have practical experience in Chem. Just keep your pills near you in case you have a heart attack because children nowadays are so mean at school and disrespectful that they can break your heart</p>
<p>Yes, please do it!</p>
<p>Bless all of you for your kind, encouraging words and your stories. You have almost squelched that naggy discouraging voice in my head! </p>
<p>I had some wonderful science teachers in high school and college, but many of my D’s friends had no such luck - the girls in my scout troop used to beg me to “be their teacher.” It’s a shame, because chemistry can be such an interesting subject if taught well. (Anyone here watch “Breaking Bad”? Maybe I can become Walt, without the sideline job of cooking up meth…Oh, and without the lung cancer, too…)</p>
<p>^ no you will become Volt aka physics nerd</p>
<p>Good luck sir.</p>
<p>(shout out to tsdad, long time no see! Great to see you hear again. Or maybe I’ve just missed your posts…)</p>
<p>scout59, I’m a high school teacher (3rd career, age 46). It’s a very demanding job, as I’m sure you can tell from your observations in classrooms. It’s also very rewarding. You will face some age-bias in getting hired (sorry, it’s true) but the fact that you will be certified to teach chemistry will make up for that. If you do a great job student teaching, then you should have no problem finding a job somewhere in your county. If you blow it in student teaching (i.e. you have poor classroom management or you cannot teach to the standards and get results) you will have an impossible time getting hired as a permanent employee. Here in California, it’s very difficult to get a teaching job right now due to the budget. Where are you located? </p>
<p>I would say that you should follow your heart but understand that change is difficult at this age. I transferred from middle school to high school last year, which should have not been a big deal after 8 years of teaching, but it turned out to be a lot harder psychologically than I anticipated. It took me a full semester to feel like I actually made the right decision to move to a new school, even though it’s the top high school in my county and in the top 20 in the state of California and both my kids graduated from it, so I understood the culture and knew the people. Change is just harder the older you get. As a teacher, you should expect to work harder than you thought possible and be very, very tired and overwhelmed your first year. But by year three you will hit your stride and you will feel younger and more alive than ever (our clients have a way of rubbing off on us!). I assume you are not doing this for the money but because it sounds interesting and in some ways fun. If you are doing it just to get summers off, stop now. They aren’t worth the work of the regular school year, which is incredibly intense and draining if you give the students what they deserve.</p>
<p>Go for it!</p>
<p>Go Scout Go!</p>
<p>Look, my daughter had a very bad teacher for the first semester of physical science. Thanks be to God, the teacher left midyear and a different woman took over the class. The difference was palpable. For one thing, I no longer had to teach science to my daughter practically every night. Secondly, my daughter began to realize that science could actually be interesting, and not just be all about the teacher and the vagaries of her temperament and whether or not she happened to be prepared to teach that day. </p>
<p>The departed teacher came back to the classroom one day to drop off papers or something and, according to my daughter, she neither spoke to nor acknowledged any student.</p>
<p>If you can teach chemistry and want to teach chemistry, by all means do so. Students and parents will bless you and think of you with thanks and respect forever.</p>