Chris Lehmann is the principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. Whenever he posts, I read. He is the kind of colleague who I wish was at the district next door, so that I could call him about common issues and see him at principals’ meetings. Instead, I get to consider ideas with him, through blogging, which is a very close second to the district next door.
This morning I read a post by him that is so thought provoking and is written with such passion, by both writers, that I have to share it with you here. Please read his whole post, it’s well worth your time, if you teach, have taught, or will ever teach.
The message Mr. Lehmann delivers in the end of the post is a must read for every teacher in our country. I couldn’t possibly say it better as Chris writes,
Dan, you’re bright and multi-talented, you could do any number of jobs really well, and I know someone will soon offer you a job to leave teaching. They’ll offer you more money and more societal prestige, and given that you still think about how you almost became a CPA, you’ll probably be tempted. So I’m going to tell you something that my boss Steve told me the first time someone offered to triple my salary to leave teaching and go work for them (hey, it was the dot.com 90s in NYC, what can you do?) He said, “If you want to go do something else, go do it. The offers won’t go away, but more importantly, you need to decide what you want from your life. If you want to be a teacher, teach. This is the life, this is the pay, and you’ve got to decide what you want. If this is what you want, do it, don’t apologize for it, and don’t spend your time second-guessing it.”