A good friend of mine is thinking about going back to school to become an elementary school teacher (he's 37). Bad idea? Too old?

Well I am going to be 45 when I do my student teaching! I’m planning to teach special education in high school. I’ll be following this question looking mostly for pros!!

Let’s see – he could get qualified in 2 to 4 years (41) and still have enough years to earn a state pension and retirement from a school district. He could spend over 20 years doing something he wants to do and set himself up for the rest of his life. YES – he should go for it.

No, it is not too old. It could be just the right age. My brother got laid off from a job he had 28 years and went to work as a teacher of 5th graders at age 52. He could not have handled the kids at an earlier age as he had no patience back then. He now has the patience (or is he really just hard of hearing) and loves his job.

I’m liking the responses, thus far. :)

He’d be 42–43 either way, right? I say he should go for it.

Good for him!

Too old? No way. I suspect a lot of people are looking at serious career changes, even if it means school. I say good luck to him and best wishes!

I think it’s a great idea!

i think it’s a fine age! besides, if he likes it and sticks with it, working with kids can only make him feel younger. (: good luck to him.

Plus he will have summers off, if he is in a school district that still does that. What could be better?

Well my kindergarten teacher was like 85, so I don’t think it much matters.

He should go for it!
There are so many pros to teaching if it’s what you really want to do- summers and holidays off, and that small detail of making a difference in the lives of children.

And what a great role model he could be- showing the kids that not only can men be teachers, but that it is never too late to follow your dreams.

Also, he’ll being more maturity and life experience to the job than a fresh-outta-college new teacher would.

Desire to teach is more important than age. My wife says that there are a lot of people who go into teaching as a second career.

I’d be worried about the viability of such a career at this point in time. In CA teachers are being laid-off at alarming rates. My wife would have lost her job already if she weren’t in special ed.

I know many people who changed careers in their 30s. I see no problem.

You need energy, stamina, sturdy shoes and imagination to teach lower school kids. If your friend chooses to teach at an independent day school rather than the public schools, he will not need the certification but just some practice…such as being a classroom assistant.

Of course not too old. If he found something he loves doing, he would never be too old. How lucky for him that he found it now, and not when he was 77.

I’m 36, and I’ve given pretty serious consideration this summer (including some in depth conversation with a couple of teachers. For me, I think the hardest part would be dealing with the No Child Left Behind curriculum. Currently, it seems to set teachers up for some failure with classroom testing performance and adds a strong element of teaching to the test. If students are ESL or behind to begin with the standard still requires uniform (or above) performance across all students, and the teacher is evaluated based on the results. On would hope that improves as the standards gel over time.

On the plus side, you get to sing goofy songs in class.

You are never too old for adventure!

My SIL, age 41, just finished her certification course. She was a physicist working on top secret stuff and got laid off when the federal money went elsewhere. She is hoping to go into special ed. at any level and/or teach physics and math in secondary school, and has already had several job interviews.

From my experience with public schools and from her comments on her certification course, even worse than dealing with NCLB (which is a major piece of carp), is dealing with the politics that go on among your co-workers and among the administration. It is very, very, very important that you convince others you are no threat to them, that you want to learn from them (even if how they teach makes your teeth hurt), and that you simply love doing all that paperwork.

I have found that when a school wants to it will make every child look equal on paper, even though some of them are reading three grade levels below their actual grade level. NCLB sets of very strong incentives for schools to lie about a child’s progress.

You’re never too old to do something you really enjoy. My favorite teacher, the one who inspired me to be a teacher, didn’t start teaching until he was in his late 40s. And he was the best teacher I ever had. It’s never too late to follow your dream.

Excellent idea. I’m almost 50, and have changed careers multiple times – most recently completing an MSW. I completely agree with lillylithium! Go for it!

Not too old.

I have a really good friend who has been teaching second grade in the NYC public school system for 20 years. He is in his late fifties, still loves the kids and the classroom, but reports that the bureaucracy and endless administrative paper work gets more and more onerous. The administration is also more stuck on procedure than actual teaching skills and drives the staff nuts.

As an older person than the average, he will most likely have more patience and life experience to bring to the job. The patience part is especially crucial for Special Ed.

One is never too old to make a significant positive impact on a child’s life. He should definitely go for it.

In my opinion, the U.S. with it’s emphasis on youth culture has lost sight of the tremendous wisdom and resources to be found in older generations. Other more traditional cultures, (Asians, Latinos just to cite a few) are way ahead of us on respect for elder and valuing their contributions.

And, even if the public schools are laying off teachers, there are still plenty of private and parochial schools who could use his skills (altho the pay won’t likely be as great.)

I live in California and right now one of the Con’s is that there is no money to pay teachers! I don’t think 60 is to late to begin pursuing a passion!

Go for it life experience is just as inportant, tell him to have a go!

Elementary job get tons of application. I would encourage him to get a K-8 certification with an emphasis in math or science or another discipline, which would allow him to teach middle school in that discipline (possibly not in every state).

There’s a lot of advantages to going to new training when you are a bit older.

First of all, especially in “people professions” such as teaching, medical professions, social work, etc, life experience helps a lot. It does not have any sort of particular experience, but just having lived 10 years longer gives you a lot of perspective. You will hence be able to get more out of the training.

Also, when you choose a career with a bit more knowledge of yourself (and again, does not have to be big revelations, but 10 years longer being yourself gives you a lot of it) you have better chances of being well-motivated and able to make your own conclusions of the material taught, facilitating deeper learning fast.

Major downside seems to be people think you are nuts. :] Of course, you will also never have as much experience about the work itself than someone who started 20 years before you, but in most professions I do not think that seems to be a major problem.

It is a terrible idea, not because of his age, but because he is male; he is too easy a target, a sitting duck for some bullshit to happen.