Overview

Overview

Because all students are special and you are, too.

Description

We know as well as anyone that sometimes school can be pretty rough. And while your mom might think you're a special flower and perfect in every way, chances are really good that at some point in your school career, you've felt lost, bored, misunderstood, or just plain invisible. It's just what happens when one teacher is charged with figuring out how to teach a swarm of students, each with different interests, strengths, weaknesses, and needs.

On the upside, we're willing to bet you've also had some pretty incredible experiences in the classroom—times when you've felt amazed by what you're learning and excited by the work you're tackling. In other words, school's a mixed bag, and for most of us, we take the good with the bad and keep on keepin' on.

There are some students, however, for which school simply doesn't work the way it should. For some reason for another, traditional teaching methods leave this student struggling to catch up—not just for a little while, but in the long term. This is no fault of theirs, but just a limit of the system. Teachers have to teach toward the average student, and those who operate more at the periphery sometimes need some help.

This is where you come in. When you pursue a degree in special education, you learn how to empathize with and support those who think, act, or otherwise perform differently than the majority, making you the ideal person to step into a classroom and lift up those who could use a boost. And hey, teachers will love you, too. You'll help them realize their goal of meeting every student's needs. Congratulations—you are an awesome person.

With a degree in special education, you get to experience the rare joy of looking at the "problem child" causing a ruckus in a classroom—or maybe just a kid who doesn't fit in particularly well—and not only understanding exactly what their deal is, but taking it upon yourself to help him or her grow into the best person they can be.

What makes it even better is that there are more and more kids popping up every day who need some degree of support. When we say need, we don't just mean that they need help; we mean that it's the law. United States law dictates that disabled students are entitled to a special education. With this major, you can read that as: "The law states that I have a pretty nifty job market."

Famous People who majored in Special Education

Special education is like the nerdy freshman of college majors—too young and unpopular to have made a real splash in the world…yet. But if we've learned anything from watching high school romantic comedies, we know that all it takes for this "nerd" to become popular is time. And until recently, this major was really a thing for postgrads.

So not only is special education the nerdy freshman in a bad movie, but we're still in the first ten minutes of the film. Womp womp.

What we're saying is, you—or maybe the guy sitting next to you, who knows?—are among the people who will become the "Famous people who studied special education." Well, if you study it, that is.

If nothing else, you'll be famous to the kids you help, and that's more than most people can ever ask for.

Percentage of US students who major in Special Education:

0.24% (Special Needs Education)

Stats obtained from this source.