Statement Of Purpose: Dental Hygienist Vs Elementary School Teacher

As a freshmen in college, I am supposed to know what career I want to pursue in the future. However, I am having troubles choosing one specific career due to the growing amount of careers we have today. At this moment, I am certain that I want a career that All that I know for sure is that I want to pursue a career that positively impacts another individuals life. For instance, being that person that boosted another individuals’ confidence or teaching/informing an individual something they never learned before. At this moment, I have two careers in mind: a Dental Hygienist or an Elementary School Teacher. The two careers are completely different, but in order for me “choose” a career path it has to fit my four focus areas: work environment,

In order for teachers to do their jobs, they need educational tools. However, in many large school districts, they “lack important teaching tools, such as computers and up-to-date textbooks” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). As a result of this, teachers are held accountable for the success/failure of standardized test. On the upside, both jobs are generally independent work without the supervision of a higher ranking individual within the field. The second most important factor that I need to take into consideration is the work schedule/hours in these careers. Both careers generally offer full-time work, 30 - 40 hours per week. However the main dividing factor is that a Dental Hygienist has more room for “flexibility” throughout the career and an Elementary School Teacher does not. According to a “profile -survey” that was done though Registered Dental Hygiene Magazine, Hygienist under the age of 30, 55% worked 30-40 hours per week. Where as Hygienist that were 51- 61 years old, 45% worked 30-40 hours per

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, teachers usually work during school hours. However, in order for teachers to do their job, they must create a “lesson-plan”. An Elementary School Teacher are usually making these plans on before and after classes on weekends. To clarify, even though teacher finish work when the school day is over, they are still working to prepare for work. The typical work schedule for teacher is a 10 month, Monday- Friday schedule with a two month summer period (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The third factor that is important for me consider in deciding a career path is the pay/salary. According to Dental Career Education, the entry level pay for Dental Hygienist is $64,100 per year and $31.24 per hour. In the higher, more experience percentile, the yearly pay is around $74,420 and $35.78 per hour. To further my research, I went ahead and found out O’hau and Maui’s salary for Dental Hygienist. On the island of O`ahu with about 710 people employed, Dental Hygienist gets paid around $34.01 per hour. Then on Maui, with only about 250 people employed, Dental Hygienist gets paid $35.01 per