Why I became a teacher...

I was self-employed, making good money. Working hard, 7 days a week, but doing well. When I got out of the Marine Corps we bought 80 acres on the top of a long rocky ridge line in Cleburne County, Arkansas. It was rough ground that had lacked attention for a long time. We put a 16x80 trailer on it and I went to driving a truck, first driving for my grandfather and then purchasing the truck and doing everything on my own. Five years of life on the road got old and my wife and I decided to raise chickens. 

Over that five years, we'd cleaned the place up quite a bit. We borrowed a bunch of money and built a 650 foot breeder house, bought a bunch of cows, and started my career in agriculture. We adopted our daughters and life was good. 

I think God started dropping hints at what he wanted me to do along the way, but I was too hard-headed to heed them. On a homework assignment once, my oldest daughter had to estimate something and she threw out an insane number for whatever the situation was. When I asked what it means to estimate, she insisted there was nothing wrong with her answer because estimate means to guess. She thought any guess sufficed. One time she informed me she had to use a calculator for her math homework. I looked at it and told her she didn't need a calculator. She insisted her teacher told her she had to use one. Then one day when she complained that something wasn't fair, I told her life isn't fair, to suck it up, and get over it. She replied that her teacher told her, "life can be fair if we make it fair." 

These were hints. God prodding me as I became more and more disillusioned with our education system. I didn't recognize them then, because I was too focused on making money. But God eventually got tired of dropping subtle hints and decided to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4.

I had a friend who bought and fed calves and made good money. I thought to myself, "I can do that too. All it takes is work." So I borrowed some money and bought a bunch of calves. Another friend and I partnered in buying an old worn out feed grinder that we fixed up. I built a lot for the calves and started feeding. A cold, nasty winter cost me though. They were getting sick and dying, every day. It reached a point where I knew I was going to lose money on this venture. 

Then, one day when I was driving back down the 1/4 mile dirt road from our house to the lot, on my way to drag yet another dead calf into the woods, I threw my hands in the air and asked, "God, what do you want me to do?" At that instant, immediately, the thought popped into my head, "Go back to school and become a teacher."

It was no bright light or booming voice, just a thought, that suddenly jumped out from where I thought it never should have been. I knew I'd just heard from God. 

I tried to argue my way out of it. "God, you've got the wrong guy. I'm a chicken farmer." As I climbed on the tractor, drove over and hooked the chain to the leg of that dead calf, and pulled it down into the woods, the whole way, I tried to convince God that this wasn't a good idea, and tried to convince myself that I'd misunderstood. I got back, parked the tractor, and went to work in the chicken house. As I walked that house picking up dead chickens and eggs, I continued to look for a way to avoid going back to school, to avoid becoming a teacher. 

Then suddenly, walking with a handful of dead chickens, I thought I found it. I figured my wife would veto this crazy idea. Going to school would shift more of the work in the chickens onto her. Surely that was my way out! when I finished at the chicken house, I headed for the house. 

The instant I walked in the door I blurted out, "What do you think about me going back to school to be a teacher?" I didn't have to wait for a response. It was instantaneous. Just as quickly as I'd tossed the question to her, she answered, "Do it!"

At that point, I had no other ideas to convince myself this wasn't God's will or to convince God that he had me all wrong. 

Everything fell into place as I looked for ways to answer His call. I got into Lyon College, about 20 miles from the house. I still had a couple of years eligibility left on my GI Bill to help pay for it. I turned out to be an excellent student at 35, much better than I'd been at 18. And three years later I dressed up in a cap and gown to receive my degree at the graduation ceremony. 

That summer I taught a course on Non-Euclidean Geometry at Arkansas Governor's School, and that fall I began my high school teaching career at Vilonia. 

This fall I'll begin my 18th year there. 

And that's why I became a teacher. 

Feel free to leave your story, why you became a teacher in the comments below.