My name is Sandra Romero. I am forty four years old. I am an immigrant from the Philippines. Though I currently live and work in the United States, I only came here some years ago. I am a single mother of three wonder full boys. My first born is eight years old. My second born is five years old and finally my third born is three years old. All the three attend school at the Wilshire Preparatory School.
I landed in the United States three years ago when my third born son was still new born. Over the years, I had struggled through thick and thin to find a source of income in my own country in vain. Being a woman and a single mother, many employers shied away from giving me employment. My situation was made hard by the fact that the father of my children abandoned me immediately he found out that I was pregnant with our third child. Thus, the only way I could escape a life of misery and suffering for my three boys was to seek greener pastures. This is why I came to this great country. A country which those of us who have grown outside it are made to believe is a country of milk and honey, the home of all opportunity in the world.
The rumors were true. This truly is a land of opportunity for everyone regardless of where they come from and what they have gone through. No sooner had I landed in the country than I got my first employment. The first place I worked in was a church. I worked as a church musician. This is because when I came, I had nowhere to go and I knew nobody. My only refuge was in Bethel Catholic church. The clergy were very supportive and helpful and I do not think that in this lifetime I will ever find people with better and charitable hearts like them. This is where my development process started. Though while I was still in my home country I used to work in a day care center where I used to take care of small children like my own, I was not able to find a similar opportunity until later. The church not only housed me and my children but it also provided me with an opportunity to grow and find my own wings as far as job searching is related.
As discussed above, my chosen career did not start when I came here. Before I came I was a kindergarten teacher at Zu Wang, a kindergarten school in the Philippines at the place I used to live. I used to have my own identity. In the earlier time when I came I had lost that. My experience at work when I was still in Philippines was not pleasant. My bosses used to berate me for the smallest of mistakes. Due to my background, I would as well be an item of mockery for all and sundry and whenever there was a reference to a poor and discouraged person, that person would be likened to me. This was really discouraging and there came a time when I gave up completely. However, I picked myself up and continued with life. My children were my only encouragement.
Work ethic is significant to any person in any profession (Rushton 66). When one mentions work ethic, the picture that automatically comes to mind is that of the accepted code of behavior as far as work is concerned. Being a day care worker or simply a kindergarten teacher, one of the rules that apply in my profession is the no hitting a child policy? (Jackson, 19)The only children I am allowed to hit are my own. That is one development that cannot be missed. Another expected behavior is to teach the children in the daycare how to do the things which they have not yet been taught at their homes by their parents. For instance, I am expected to teach a child how to sit on the potty. Thus, the development of ethic is structurally dependent on the individual (Ford 23). Not many career people practice ethics. In relation to the same subject, career aspirations must be present. Where do I see myself in five years? Where do I want to be? How do I want to be? I have always aspired to own my own day care center. I have unbridled love for children. That is why I always want the best for them. Owning my own day care center would be the best thing that could happen to me since my children.
The different models of work are related in my own sense. My occupational identity has been developed over time. Though I have had other jobs, the one that I really enjoy doing and consequently derive satisfaction from is the one I am currently doing. That is my occupation. That is my identity. I am a day care teacher, a kindergarten teacher as some may prefer calling me. I have continued to learn more about my career through further education and mostly experience. I have no regrets at all about it. I chose it. It is my destiny. As Gleick in his book, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (Gleick 37). New says, the only way you can develop an identity at work is by doing what you love. Work is not supposed to be a source of income only. But it is supposed to be something one derives satisfaction from.
Work life history is also supposed to highlight a particular generation in the family and see if there is any link with the choices of earlier generations in the family. My background does not have any link whatsoever with my choice of career. My social class as well. My culture does not bare any weight whatsoever when it comes to my choice of career. All these factors are irrelevant. I am a day care teacher because I love being one. I love what I do.
Works Cited
Ford, Henry, and Samuel Crowther. My Life and Work. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, Page & Co, 1922. Print.
Gleick, James. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. New York: Pantheon Books, 2011. Print.
Jackson, Donna M. Er Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Print.
Rushton, J P. Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1995. Print.
