Amen, Roovic! Best of luck with your career!

Rjb, it's true that there are some pretty awful teachers out there, just as there are substandard people in every profession (academics included, dare I say it!). And, yes, perhaps there are teachers who really aren't all that clever, though I don't think these are in the majority. I flatter myself that I don't fall into this category, having gained a First in English, as did my brother and sister-in-law, who are also teachers. For some of us, good teaching is something we feel truly passionate about. I think that's why I'm so rigorously trying to defend the profession: The day you become cynical is the day you need to walk away because that's when you stop being good at it.

In answer to the main thread, yes be a teacher! Just don't be a mediocre plebeian fool! Burn, burn, burn like a firework shooting across the sky!!(ahem, sorry).

Golfpro, I wonder what you learn in 3 years on a PhD? Maybe appropriate apostrophe use would be a good start.

I'm quite interested to know why there seems to be a rather negative perception of the teaching profession in some of these posts. I don't mean to get defensive because it is true that teachers are required to jump through various tedious government hoops, but golfpro, are you really such an authority as to know that anyone with a pulse can progress in the profession? As a teacher myself, it seems a rather snobbish and uninformed standpoint to me. Also, why should someone in their late 20s not be capable of heading a department? If they became a teacher at 22, that would have given them about 6 years in the profession beforehand - longer than most PhDs take! Though perhaps there is the assumption that teachers are too mentally deficient to have possibly learnt anything in that time...

I'm currently a teacher and if it's definitely what you want to do then I tihnk you should go for it. It's very hard work, of course - you have to really *want* to do it. It's not something you should drift into because you're not sure what else to do. Also the PGCE course is pretty intensive, so you need to be prepared for that, and be able to take criticism well, because when you're learning to teach, you are going to get criticised. That said, teaching is an exciting, surprising and rewarding job, and if it's what you decide to do, best of luck!