Why teaching

My family was shocked. Graduating on top of my class, with a DOST scholarship to go to most colleges that I would want and to take up programs of study which will lead to higher-paying jobs after graduation, I chose to enroll in a Bachelor of Secondary Education program.

My mother was near tears. My elder sister asked me, "Why do you want to be a teacher? Can't you see teaching did not make us rich?"

My mother had always been a teacher in her whole life. And so are my two elder sisters, and my brother-in-law, and most of my cousins on both sides of the family. And our family of five children, two sons-in-law and one granddaughter is still just above the poverty line set by the government.

I swallowed hard the lump that had been forming in my throat. "Yes, I know no one became financially rich because of teaching. But I ask you, why are you still teaching after all these years?"

They could not answer me. Because, deep inside each one of them, they know that money is not everything, and teaching does make you rich, but in another way.