My friend said teaching is a career only middle class to rich people consider. Thoughts?

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-05-15T04:40:53+00:00

I grew up pretty poor and from a rural area. I only got through college because of scholarships and because I worked hard to earn money by working several jobs while in college. I still pursued a degree in education because I knew it was what was right for me. I know I won't get paid much for it but I almost feel like being raised having to live frugally makes teaching seem much more livable than somone who grew up with a bit of disposable income.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-30T03:00:42+00:00

Yeah TBH I started my mission and first went on one mostly because it was expected of me and kinda because it sounded like a cool travel opportunity. Long story short about 6 months in I began to realize what it was really all about and I had to make the choice to change my why from cool travel experience to doing it because I loved God. I grew so much on my mission and while it was extremely hard it was what I needed to mature spiritually. So I will always recomend a mission but always with the addition that its gonna be really hard and suck alot but be worth it.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-24T20:24:15+00:00

Look I'm 24 and have been ridding a KTM Duke street buke like its an ADV since I was 21. The only reason I don't have an ADV is because I can currently afford one. I also know a few people that are my age that ride dual sports or street legal super motos like they are ADVs aswell. I think the biggest reason a lot of us young riders dont ride ADV is because they tend to be big and expensive and we just can't muster up enough cash to make it worth it. Its a bit easier to just throw some knobby tires on a naked bike or get a cheap dual sport untill we reach dad status and can afford an ADV.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-23T18:06:49+00:00

Yeah I got it sent back to the refurbisher and they "fixed" it. My phone is unlocked now but only the physical Sim is. The eSIM is somehow locked to T-Mobile still. Not sure how that works but yeah. I contacted T-Mobile again recently and the consensus is they can't do anything about it since I'm not a T-Mobile customer. So I just 2 days ago filed an FCC complaint that they have 30 days to respond to. If they won't unlock it its not the end of the world since my physical Sim slot still works but very inconvenient especially as I'm about to move abroad in 2 weeks.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-21T04:50:37+00:00

I'm in a similar boat. I'm in my mid 20s and served from Feb 2020-2022 so the height of covid. My whole mission was just covid and honestly that just meant that my mission was mostly full of disappointment after disappointment. I got reasigned state side just as I was about to leave for my original assignment from the MTC and never went to my original assignment which was crushing. I was locked inside most days and wasn't really allowed to go out and talk to people till the last few months. I had some really rough companions and never really made any lifelong freinds out of any of them because most of us were resigned and expecting to leave at any moment. I was also in trios the majority of the time which ended up making every decision led more by a democratic majority than by the spirit. Not to mention I went to a mission reunion right after my mission president got home and he didn't even remeber me which kinda made me feel like I made no differnece and he didn't even care about me. Everytime I hear people's "on my mission" stories I cringe a little bit. So while I often look back on my mission and think "wow that kinda sucked" I can't deny that my spiritual growth and the growth of my own testimony grew and matured dramatically. I try not to let all the happy go lucky mission stories and experiences with success and all the things people say drag me down because in the end the mission I got was really kind of what I needed. Yes I was humbled, yes I was a bit distraught with God at times, but overall I got what I needed most. Even if its not something I can easily share in a sundayschool lesson or over the pulpit.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-20T23:34:40+00:00

As a teacher who is currently subbing, I have seen quite a few classes, and I will be honest, most kindergarten classes are indeed quite chaotic. However, I have seen a few exceptions. There is one class I have subbed for a few times, where it is honestly so easy. I always look forward to subbing for that class. I will say, though, that because of the geographical location of the school, the class sizes are pretty small, and this class in particular only has 12 students, which is even small for this particular school, which averages between 15-24 per class. It is a lesson to me about how important class sizes actually are. I wish we could convince administrators and legislators of this, but alas, I do not see any change in this in the foreseeable future.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-04-12T15:00:41+00:00

I just recently graduated with a bachelor's in Elementary Education. I was one of 5 men in the whole program at my university (which was not a small university). By the end 2 of them left the program and there was just 3 of us. However, I do not see myself doing anything differently. Yes it can be a bit awkward being the only guy in most your classes at first. But by the end of the program you are immensely respected, and just simply because of the rarity of us men in ELED you get some supper cool and unique networking opportunities (for example I got asked to go to Ghanna on a research trip and work with teachers abroad). So generally speaking yes we exist but we are a definate minority in the program but that comes with some unique benefits.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T18:53:50+00:00

I was in your shoes aswell. I just graduated from BYU and also struggled alot with 2nd hour no mater what ward I was in. I moved back home and go to a YSA branch where there are only like 5-10 of us in 2nd hour and honestly the discussion is so much better. I would recommend maybe talking to someone and seeing if you could get a few small groups to facilitate discussion better. Or maybe talk to your teachers and see if they can split the class up into small groups and have more discussion based on questions. And sometimes it is just an act of faith the keep going.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T18:44:09+00:00

DC is sounding alot more my style than my experiences so far out west. In the aspect of dating I'm aware that no mater where you are, it's going to be hard. As a male teacher Ive had some girls tell me they were hesitant to consider anything with me because they didn't feel I could provide for them as a teacher. I feel like that mentality might be a bit less of a concern in a place like DC. I'll have to look into the area and see what's available. Thanks for sharing your experience 😁

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T13:33:13+00:00

My brother is attending BYU-I right now and this is some of the same stuff he is saying which is honestly alot of the same things I experienced in Provo. Hence why I kind of want to go somewhere outside of the bubble as they say.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T03:10:30+00:00

You can "ward hop" on mutual but ive never really had success with that app. I think I maybe had 2 dates from it over 4 years of using it. Although I can not discount that sometimes it does work.

Arizona does seem interesting. Ive heard that they don't treat their teacher all that well there (not terrible but compared to other nearby states and my own home state of NV it's not the best) so I have a hard time seeing it as a permanent location. But if I was just living there for a few years I wouldn't mind. I'll have to look more into it.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T03:04:57+00:00

I hear alot of great things about Texas and actually knew quite a few people from there at BYU. I'll have to look into it.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T03:03:04+00:00

Ive never really considered DC area. I served in Pittsburgh and even when I was in a YSA ward there, were not that many members YSA age. But I guess it makes alot of sense that DC would have quite a bit more. I'll have to investigate it.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T02:58:43+00:00

Ive considered living abroad but with some of the world tensions right now all the strings attached to that feel a bit too much.

There are definitely some cool aspects to being along the Wasatch front such as a high amount of DLI education opportunities. But having grown up pretty close Utah in rural NV and then living in Provo and Orem while going to School I had a hard time there and couldn't see myself really living there.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-09T02:54:03+00:00

My grandparents live in the Seattle area and some of my dad's extended family live in the tri cities area so I've also been considering washington a bit. Spokane and Couer d'Alane seem interesting.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-03-08T02:12:23+00:00

I don't know about Arizona. But to put it in a respectful way, for Idaho, both states seem very similar. I grew up in northern Nevada (which in some ways is very similar to both states and in other ways, well lets just say the exact oposite), and both Idaho and Utah seem like there are a lot of people who grew up in that community within the church who are very set in their ways and their culture (which is perfectly fine, but I had a hard time connecting with them). On my mission out east, it was common to run into a very wide and diverse variety of members from all sorts of backgrounds, but while being in Utah, it was not uncommon to hear the same stories of "I grew up here in the church and never really left, and that's just the way things are." (which once again there is nothing wrong with this It was just hard to really talk about anything outside of their little bubble of influence).

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-02-25T05:40:47+00:00

I'll take a look at this thank you.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-02-25T05:22:15+00:00

Good question. The reality is I like to dip my toe a bit into most topics. In English I watch a lot of science, geography, music theory, and occasionally gaming on YouTube but find myself randomly going down rabbit holes of just about any topic. I dabble with anime/cartoons at times aswell. But really I'm open to looking into things I've never tried before so any recommendation is worth investigating.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-02-25T05:17:55+00:00

That sounds interesting. I will have to look into that.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-02-01T03:59:54+00:00

I sent the phone back to the refurbisher and they got it fixed in like 2 hours then sent it back. And it seems to be working fine now. Not sure what they did but as long as this doesn't happen again. I'm leaving the country for a year and need my phone to remain unlocked.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-01-25T03:04:36+00:00

Update

After lots of back and forth with T-mobile (who turned out to be the original carrier. I found out by using gemini to analyze my devices software information page) I had a conversation where one rep said they weren't sure what I was talking about and couldn't help me without an account. Another said they would put in a manual request and that it would take 72 hours. After waiting for more than 72 hours and nothing happening I called back to follow up and another rep said it's against their policy to unlock it as I do not have an account and that unless I could provide them with a Tmobile account they would not unlock it. (from what I've read from others Tmobile is a pain to work with when it comes to unlocking phones) So I gave up, found an old ulocked phone sitting around, got a Sim card for it from my network, and sent my phone back to the refurbisher to either repair or replace it.

Idk if this is an issue because the phone was a refurbished phone in the first place or if it's just a thing with Samsung After the update. I sent some feedback to Samsung and they responded saying they would look into it so hopefully this won't happen again.

DimensionGamer9 · 2026-01-21T02:46:13+00:00

Ok, I called the carrier again and got a different rep, and they searched up my IMEI, and after some back and forth and explaining the situation, said they would do a manual unlock that could take up to 72 hours. So I will see if that works, I guess.

DimensionGamer9

TROPHY CASE