i did teaching for a bit and i definitely knew i was helping people, but it was also wholly life-encompassing and i had to make sacrifices in other areas of my life to commit to being there for my students.
i taught high school history throughout my 20s in a very high need community. I showed up around 715am each day and left between 5 and 6pm. I typically needed 4 hours every other saturday to catch up on grading/lesson planning. always had my phone on me for students to reach out for help via the Remind app. it is a simultaneously draining and fulfilling job, but i recognize i essentially became a character of myself to uphold a role model status to my students. also, the liberal tendrils that turn you into an american civil religion nerd are real and nearly inescapable; even many of the based/woke popular teachers on campus were mostly snivelling libs when it comes down to it. i used my dedication to the job as an excuse to refrain from other organizing because "i'm already doing enough." what other questions you got?
we had a great union and it was there for me several times when i needed it; i was making my way towards becoming part of the on-site bargaining team, but, life took me in other directions. i'm glad i did the work, and i'm still in contact with a few of my former students, but i'm also glad i'm not doing it anymore.
I'm an older student doing mechanical now and I regret not doing civil so I could get away from these fucking spacex and military tech freaks
Lots of good answers for higher education already, so here's my pitch for you to consider a shorter time period with less debt or cost in trade school.
Technical school and/or trades work with lots of volunteering. Plumbing, electrician, etc. that's all good honest work and it can really transform people's lives if you come around to fix their shit for them in their homes. Plus, if you make it to journeyman you can take on apprentices and provide employment and training to oppressed people. You can join a union or start a coop with a few other like minded trades workers. Most trades I've been around are pretty chill about GNC people or female presenting people, but I've never been on the receiving end of harassment for it either. It kind of depends on trade, from what I hear.
It doesn't have to be a trade, something like EMS or medical sonography or more technical education in utility companies are all good as well.
My personal answer to this question was to aim for academia, and hope that the team I'm in doesn't get funded to build murder robots for the army or something. It's worked out pretty well so far.
Anything in medicine is good, education, you can do environmental stuff with an engineering degree, though it will likely be private sector "good." Just pick something that has interest to you and isn't actively evil, at the very least.
I've heard that getting a law degree can be pretty good for helping people. The downside is the crippling debt and being surrounded by psychos.
optometry has a low barrier to entry, and you get to correct people's vision.
Charging upwards of $200 for a single pair of glasses that cost maybe $10 to make is pretty shit in my opinion.
Optometrists are usually independent contractors. They have nothing to do with the pricing of eyeglasses sold at the shops they work in. And most people just use them to get their prescription so they can order the glasses/contacts online at much lower prices.
I mean yeah, but it’s the same as doctors not being in control of drug prices. What I meant was that you’re putting yourself in an environment where you’re only going to be further radicalized by seeing just how many people can’t afford the cost of sight. And good luck trying to tell people to get them cheaper online, as I’m sure the store you’d be working in wouldn’t really like it if you started sending people away from their profits.
Fuck Luxotica - I've been ordering my glasses online for a while. Quite literally $5 for standard plastic frames with prefab AR lenses. I'm not an optician - but I've been considered getting licensed and traveling around to different FnB groups with a portable phoropter / autorefractor and arranging bulk orders to get glasses to people.
Almost everything you can study can potentially turn evil in some way or the other. I guess it's more about what specific course you follow after you study and your personal choices, within the confines of what is possible.
I think going forward petrochem and geo stuff probably is going to be a shrinking field. If you are all about that life though agricultural science is big on helping people in that same area. I know it can be paid well working for like monsanto. Honestly though, if you got a big enough pay check I'd eather see a good leftist get the job than a chud.
