Employment

tsivels

I am applying for a program to become a provisonally licensed teacher and included with the application you must submit a personal statement about why you are interested to work in an urban/rural area and how you can help your students achieve a high level of success. Within my statement I make a comparison with my battle with Hodgkin's Disease to students in an urban/rural area battling adversity, lack of resources, sometimes lack of support. Is this appropriate or should I not include this within my statement. I really want the position, but almost feel as though there is nothing to lose because if I do not receive an offer-that will not stop my efforts to become a teacher. Thanks in advance.

dpomroy

My only concern is that when most employers hear about cancer, they do not think of terms of how you are now, they think in terms of how much risk their is in you getting sick again which would be an inconvenience and insurance expense to them. I am a teacher in an urban setting, and I think your comparison is great and shows that you have an understanding and empathy for those you will be working with. If you plan to make that analogy however, I would be sure to throw in the statistics about Hodgkins as well like over 90+ percent are CURED, and so on. You want your future employer to know that in addition to your passion for this job you have the health and stamina as well.