Korean Job Discussion Forums

[AtmaWeapon]

� 25 years old, 2.78 GPA from UC Davis, BA in Political Science/minor in History
� currently teaching ESL in Korea, will have almost 2 years teaching experience (elementary + middle) by the time I leave in September.

My long-term goal is to become either a high school teacher or community college professor teaching history or government in California. I'm currently looking into master's programs at some of the California State University programs, and I'm aware that I will have to go back to undergrad school and get straight A's to boost my GPA and get the required units to try and get into a master's program in History. What I'm trying to decide on is if I should:

A) Just go straight into a program to receive my teaching credential or B) the more risky approach, go back to undergrad and if I can manage to pull off straight A's, possibly get into grad school with the minimum required GPA.

My questions are as follows:

� Is a teaching credential worthless if I go for a master's? It would be more convenient for me to get a teaching credential first, but I don't want to bother spending a year of my life doing that if a master's degree would automatically supersede it.
� Is a teaching credential program 1 or 2 years? I'm getting mixed answers on this one.
� I know the job market is bad for teachers, esp. in CA, but just HOW bad is it, and is it roughly the same for community college professors?
� If I don't boost my GPA by going for a master's, how much does my low GPA hurt me in getting a high school teaching position? And is my time spent teaching in Korea relevant at all?
� My understanding of teaching community college, esp. with a high-demand subject like history/government/political science is that they don't like to hire full-time professors so they can pay lower wages, so basically the pay grade wouldn't be more than a high school teacher anyway, plus you have to travel around because you're working at multiple community colleges. Is this accurate?

[PRagic]

Keep tabs on The Chronicle of Higher Education's web site. There have been a few really good articles on teaching at 2-year (community) colleges.

Basically, you'll need your MA, but you'll also need university level teaching experience in your field. Your time spent teaching in Korea won't count. To boot, you'll also be competing with a glut of Ph.D. holders who already have teaching experience. A lot of people are looking to focus more on teaching than on research, especially given the pressures associated with working at an R1 institution. The better the weather and living, the more the competition. Any your goal is to teach at a community college in California? Dim prospects, but far be it for anyone to disuade you from going for it. And history or poly sci? Another uber glut of MAs to compete with, not to mention the Ph.D.s.

Experience tells me that you have a better shot of becoming an high school teacher, so long as you stay flexible about your location. The experience in Korea MAY count for something if you're going for a high school teaching job at least.

[yodanole]

Go to California? Whatsamatta? Korea not strange enough for you?

Generally speaking, a Masters in Education is a good start to teaching junior college. I don't know about California.

[PRagic]

A lot of the MAs teaching at community colleges are in adjunct positions. You're looking at under 20K a year to build up the experience you need to move to a tenure track slot. Again, with just the MA, that can be a thankless route to financial stability.

I have two cousins in the US with Ph.D.s who teach at local community colleges. Even after 3 and 5 years respectively, they haven't been picked up full time.

Some of it depends on the major; degrees in math, econ, business and some sciences lead to full time positions a bit faster. Those with degrees in education, English, history, and poly sci often get stuck in the adjunct rut. A buddy of mine with two MAs related to teaching English moved back to Canada. He's still jumping between adjunct slots at 2-year schools there, and that's after a couple of years slugging it out.

[young_clinton]

[dsun1226]

I got my teaching credential in History/Social Science through San Jose State. It's a great program that took 3 semesters for me to finish. I know other teachers who completed their MA through National University because it was convenient and 100% online. I'm going to begin my MA next year through them as well.

[young_clinton]

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