Teaching Vs. Nursing

Teaching is a very rewarding occupation. I think one of the biggest rewards are knowing you have the opportunity to increase someone's knowledge and helping to make impact on their life. Not only do you work with students who have diverse backgrounds, you work with the same group of students the entire school year. As an elementary teacher, you are able to teach several subjects throughout the day; whereas, a middle school or high school teacher focuses on one subject everyday and works with a different group of students throughout the day. Teacher's are able to plan their daily activities in advance and can modify the activities when necessary. Teachers are also able to plan and take students on field trips which relate to the material they are covering in class. Lastly, let's not forget the paid holiday and summer vacations.

However, there are downfalls to teaching. Teaching can be a very stressful job. There are the endless mounds of paper and hours of grading papers at home. We all know that every teacher has at least one, if not more, unruly child to deal with all day long everyday. The standards teachers have to teach by are always changing from year to year causing an increase in the teacher's workload. Although a teacher's salary is pretty decent, by no means is it equivalent to what they are truly worth.

Nursing can also be a rewarding occupation. Nurses can help patients, as well as, educate them about their medications or their medical condition and provide emotional support. Nurses have the satisfaction of knowing they were able to help someone. Maybe they were a bright ray of sunshine on a day you were feeling blue. Nurses are able to work with several patients during the course of the day. A nurse's day is never planned, so they never know what to expect. Nursing is an in-demand job, with some facilities offering sign-on bonuses.

As with every job, there are downfalls to nursing. Being a nurse can be very stressful and dangerous. As a nurse, you have to work with biohazards on a daily basis (blood and body fluids). You also have to be very meticulous with your documentation. You have to check, double-check, and sometimes triple-check medications before giving them to a patient. Nursing can require you to work long hours and may require you to work the graveyard shift until you can work your way up to a daytime position, unless you are lucky enough to be hired on at a physician's office. Make sure you have a really good pair of shoes, because you are on your feet a lot.