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What is teaching like today? Who should do it? And who shouldn't? This Education World series features essays on teaching by teachers. They answer the question, "If you had it to do all over again, would you still become a teacher?"

The editors at Education World regularly get e-mails from college students trying to decide what to do with their lives, and from men and women already established in non-teaching careers who are considering making a change. They all ask us the same question: "Should I become a teacher?"

Most think they want to teach; they love kids; or they have kids and want to coordinate the family's schedules; or they remember a teacher who changed their lives; or they want to change lives; or they hate corporate life; or….

Most also have reservations about pursuing a teaching career, however. They wonder if they can control a classroom; communicate with parents; spend all day every day with kids; deal with a lack of social prestige; raise a family on a teacher's salary….

Their reasons for considering teaching -- and for doubting that choice -- are at once selfish and altruistic; shortsighted and informed; realistic and naïve. Essentially, however, all our correspondents want to know whether they will find success and satisfaction in the classroom; whether the plusses of teaching outweigh the minuses.

No one can answer that question for a particular individual, of course, but we thought that our readers who are teachers might be able to give their potential colleagues some insight into the realities of the profession today.

We started by asking members of the Education World Teacher Team this question: If you had it to do all over again, would you still become a teacher? Their answers were so honest and insightful -- and inspiring -- that what was to be a single Teacher Team article has become a series of essays on the joys and struggles of today's teachers. We think -- whether you're a teacher or a prospective teacher; a supporter or a critic of education today -- you'll be surprised and encouraged by what these teachers have to say.

And, as you read these essays, we also hope you'll be inspired to write one of your own!

Jacquie Ponsford
Remembering the success stories post NCLB.

Glenda Puett
Teaching is a blessing.

Martha Elouise Paine
Missing the opportunity to teach and be taught.

Annette Holliday Cornish
It must be love!

Kevin Jarrett
Teaching for love, not money.

Bernie Poole
Thirty-nine years and counting -- but no regrets.

Robin Smith
How to tell if teaching is for you.

Peter Bissinger
The students are the best part of the job.

Linda Villadoniga
Teaching is more than a job.

Cossondra George
Defined by teaching.

Robert Sharp
Seeing the "ah-ha!" in the eyes of kids.

Stewart Pruslin
Teaching for better or worse.

Lisa Westrick
Absolutely not a better job in all the world.

Nancy Flanagan
Do it again? In a heartbeat.

Kathleen Cave
One wonderful teacher leads to another.

Teresa Bell Kindred
Why Teach?

Karen Natoli
I Love My Job!

Mr. Kelly Sisk
Making a Positive Difference

Christina Paxon
Go Ahead! Make My Day!

Laurie Wasserman
Teaching brings you into a world of young people.

Sarah Cooper
The most important job in the world.

Stan Friedland
The challenge is in the variables.

Dorothy Small
Teaching - "As sacred as priesthood."

Fernando Mesquita
Teaching is a reciprocal process.

Susan Smith
The best time is in the classroom.

Judith Donahoe Smith
Teaching…an opportunity, a challenge, a responsibility.

Lois Johnson
To teach is to touch lives.

Predrag Pale
Creating the "aha!" effect.

Nick Landy
Teaching is the most amazing profession.

Cassie Hunter
The simplest things.

Amber Castleberry
"I love going to work each day!"

Graziella Guiguizian
French... and loves teaching English!

T. McSweeney
Teaching -- not a job for my children.

Felicia Arnold
I love my class family!

Article by Linda Starr
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