My Story: How Did I Become Who I Am

My Motivation And The Dream I Want

All of us have a dream. Some of us may dream to achieve a certain goal, while some of us may have a dream job in mind. Some people's dreams may be simple and easy to achieve (such as finding a well-paying job or settling down and starting a family). While some people may have more ambitious dreams which require a lot of hard work and sacrifice (starting their own business, or penis a career which requires a lot of education).

However, not a lot of people are able to achieve their dreams due to a wide variety of reasons (lack of money, insufficient time). As I am a rather grounded guy, my dream is to find a stable and secure job that provides me with sufficient income to support myself and is emotionally rewarding. Since a young age, my parents always told me to find a stable job as the working world was very chaotic and stable, they told me the best way to survive was to have a job that has an (a stable job).

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This concept was constantly drilled into my head as a child and I felt it was the only way for me to survive. Thus, due to my parent's influence and my own personal aspirations, I dream to become a teacher. Some people may find it to be rather unambitious, conventional and boring even, however, I feel that if I can find a sense of satisfaction from it, I would be satisfied with it.

Why I Choose This Dream

The world is changing at a rate that we have never seen before. Careers we would have never thought to become viable just a few years ago have become commonplace, and jobs that were once commonplace are starting to disappear due to the advent of new technologies. It is therefore important to find a job that will still be viable in the next few decades. Being a teacher ensures that you will not lose your rice bowl as it is a civil servant job and you work for the government, even with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This job will still belong to us humans as most people would prefer their child be educated by a human instead of a machine. Even with the widespread use of computers right now, most lessons are still conducted by teachers. I have a fear of loss, whether it be physical objects, loved ones or the loss of a job, therefore I want a job that I can't lose easily.

One of the main reasons why I want to be a teacher is because I feel that a teacher is a person who plays an important role in a child's life, affecting the child's view on life and the decisions that he will make. Students look up to teachers for advice and guidance. I want to be that person who inspires his students to do their best and help them to achieve their dreams, guiding them in the right direction and giving them a slight nudge should they start to wander off the path.

Teachers are responsible for molding the youth of our nation, good teachers ensure that our youths will become citizens that have good moral character and are well-educated. This ensures that Singapore will remain competitive in the future and that our citizens shall have good moral values. I want to ensure that my nation will remain successful in the future. By becoming a teacher, I can play a part in ensuring this will come to fruition in a more indirect but more long-term way.

Events That Influenced Me To Pursue This Dream

There wasn't one major event in my life that inspired me to dream to become a teacher, but a cumulative series of events in my school years in Primary and Secondary school which inspired me to become a teacher. In my primary school years, many of the teachers I encountered were kind, friendly, and always willing to go the extra mile. I remember one of my teachers using his own money to purchase sweets and chocolates to give us during class to motivate us to do better According to BF Skinner's theory of reinforcement (Skinner, 1939), specifically positive reinforcement, refers to the presentation of a stimulus that increases the probability a behavior will occur again. By doing so, we will continue to work hard as we know we will be rewarded with sweets, even though we may not enjoy studying.

In secondary school, I encountered many teachers who were extremely dedicated to their job, willing to conduct consultations for students till the school closed at 6.00 pm and conducting supplementary classes after school during their free time. These teachers in-part made me want to pursue my dream as a teacher, as I admired their selflessness, their compassion and they're how they were willing to do whatever it took to encourage and help us, students, to achieve our full potential. I genuinely admired them and respected them, and thus aspired to be like them, as they represented the ideal self that I aspired to achieve. However, there were teachers that were extremely unmotivated, rude and self-absorbed. A prime example of this would be my Design & Technology teacher in secondary 1&2, Mr Chew. He was a rude, arrogant and ignorant teacher, and was flat out bias towards certain students. He was the exact opposite of what I aspire to be, and it further cemented my dream to become a teacher as I did not want to have any students having to experience to have been thought by such a person, I want students not to be deprived of a proper learning experience due to irresponsible teachers like him, I want them to be able to truly experience the joy of learning.

Fear of Loss

I think that a big choice in my dream consists of my fear of loss. Whether is it fearing the lost of my job or the fear of students losing the passion to learn. I've always feared to lose in the past, I would choose to take less risks to avoid losing even though taking such risks may allow success. I would always choose to go the "safe" route so avoid any potential chance of losing, as I felt that success is easier to achieve by doing things "safe".

Via loss aversion (Daniel Kahneman, 1991), the central assumption of the theory states that losses and disadvantages have a greater impact on preferences than gains and advantages. Implications of loss aversion for economic behavior are considered. For example, one who loses $100 will lose more satisfaction than another person who will gain satisfaction from a $100 windfall.

My Desire To Help Others

My desire to help students not lose their passion for learning can be explained via Empathy-altruism (Batson, C.D. ,1991). This theory explains that helping behaviors as resulting from feelings of empathy and compassion toward others, which arouses an altruistic motivation directed toward the ultimate goal of improving another person's welfare.

That ultimate goal for me is to ensure that the students will continue to have the passion to learn. As quoted by Kofi Ann, "Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." Having the passion to learn is essential, as, without it, a student will not gain any new knowledge, which is essential in surviving in the ever-changing world that we live in today. I want to ensure that people can survive in this world and by becoming a teacher, by imparting knowledge and the passion to learn to students, I can help improve the lives of children and people in Singapore.

Conclusion

To conclude, this is the story of what I desire to be when I grow up. The job I seek is one that is stable and one that is emotionally rewarding. My fear of loss extends all the way to my choice of career as I desire a job that is extremely stable so I will not lose my rice bowl. And my desire to help others extends to my choice of career as I want to ensure that my job can help as many people as possible. I was influenced by my parents and the many teachers I have encountered in my schooling years. I hope you have enjoyed what I have written.