The title is a famous saying in my country. I don’t know if there’s an English version of the saying, but it literally means “Teachers are heroes without medals.” You know, since they have a very noble and honourable job, teaching (and raising) young generations and future leaders.
And I may or may not become one.
Growing up, I had always wanted to be a teacher. When I was a kid, I used to play with my friends where they played students and I got to play the teacher. It was fun. And I also have some relatives who are teachers, so teaching has been a part of my life so far. When I was a senior in high school, I knew that I wanted to go major in English education. It was simply because 1) I wanted to be a teacher; and 2) I loved English.
My dad was a little bit (just a tiny bit) against my idea. He thought that I shouldn’t have taken English as my major; English was supposed to be a complementary, not the primary thing to study. But he let me choose it anyway.
And here I am now, almost at the end of my seventh semester in English Education Department. Do I still want to be a teacher? I doubt so. Why, you may ask? Because I partially don’t feel the passion anymore. When I’m sitting in front of my laptop like this, writing and reading stuffs on the internet, being a teacher is not what I want anymore. I want to be something else, just not teacher.
However, I really enjoyed teaching in fifth grade a few weeks ago. I even thought of going back to the school to teach for several more meetings.
I’ve still yet to figure out what I want to be after graduating university and getting my sarjana pendidikan degree. But as for now, I know I have to be a teacher. At least for the student teaching program; one full semester starting on February.
Oh and by the way, did I tell you that I’m going to student-teach in SMAN 3 Bandung? It’s currently number one high school in Bandung. Boy am I so afraid to start this program.