By Tremayne Gibson
A few weeks ago, one of my favorite students asked a question that stung. “Why’d you become a teacher, Mr. Gibson?” they inquired. “Couldn’t you have done something, well, higher?”
This wasn’t the first time I, a Harvard graduate, had been asked a variation of this question. Colleagues, friends, even family have expressed a similar sentiment – that teaching, despite its profound importance, isn’t quite as prestigious as other career paths. Society seemingly associates success only with certain other professions: lawyers who argue landmark cases, doctors who cure diseases, engineers who build the spaceships of tomorrow.