I am going to approach this somewhat as an inverse of the previous entry. Let me say first, I find this to be an odd but necessary topic. Mostly, it’s odd for me to write about, since it’s not my take on the matter. But I CAN draw on my observations of people who react with distaste to what MTC entails.
Do not join MTC if you are a pessimist. There is room in this program for cynics; in fact, they are a healthy addition to the family. But if you know yourself, and you know that your first reaction in frustrating situations involving management at your job is to talk poorly about your superiors, then I think MTC is not for you. If hopeless situations spur you to take a downcast mental spiral, MTC is probably not for you. Schools have plenty of problems; they do not need the added stress of gossip or destructive hostility toward leadership.
Do not join MTC if you are a stubborn solo-minded person, and you are not interested in learning about how to resolve conflicts with peers, coworkers, students and their parents. To that I would add, being in MTC might be hard if you are antisocial and not prone to joining voluntary social associations, such as churches or sports intramural clubs, etc. If you are this type of person, you will find yourself very alone and utterly marooned in a community that has much to it that will be simply foreign if you do not engage in it (likewise, you will in this way remain a foreigner, or outsider, to your new community, if this is your approach).
Don’t join MTC if you’re in a period of life where you yearn for an academic challenge. This is a vocational challenge, but the Master’s coursework is not terribly stimulating. That being said, I have enjoyed most of what I’ve learned, but I have not found nearly the intellectual exchange here that undergrad had.
Also, if you have zero experience with teaching in a school setting, I think you should seek that out first at a less all-consuming level, before moving your whole life here to Mississippi and spending the majority of your waking hours working in or contemplating on schools.
Lastly, since I firmly believe that being here in this program, doing a job I’ve long wanted to do, and living in the South in particular has taught me things about myself that I never saw coming, I would say, do not come to participate in this program if you do not want to discover new things about yourself. If you want to remain in a homeostatic state and do not want some significant shifts in your inner self, something like plate tectonics jamming and resettling on themselves, then stay where you are. This is a dynamic process, stepping into your teacher-self in a socially catalytic environment. You will be transformed!
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