Teachers: To Retire or not to Retire?

I was invited to speak with a group of college students about “Choices to be Proud of”. I wanted to introduce the idea of Values and demonstrate their practical application.

I began my introduction by saying my name and added,

“I am about to retire, maybe this year, maybe next? I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for me. What should I do?”

Nobody answered. I didn’t really expect them to. Very few teenagers have thought about retiring.

I shared my reason for the question. “If I succeed with what I will teach you today, you will be able to answer that question, and you will be able to make other choices in your lives that you will look back on with pride.”

I showed them a series of words on the board, asking them to share what they thought they meant. I was speaking and writing in English, their second language, so it was normal and respectful to pause over each word and gain agreement on the meaning before proceeding.

Here are the Values Words, in English, download and use them freely.

My next step was to invite them to choose 5-15 words that were important to them, and write them down.

I told them the next stage was to discuss the words they had chosen, and they were welcome to share their answers or not. They could keep their answers private. I also told them this was an exercise for the heart, not the head and there were no right answers. I said I would be sharing my answers as they came up.

We embarked on a wonderful exploration of their similarities and differences. I asked

“What’s one of your values?"

"And who else has that value?"

"What makes that important for you?"

"How much of that value do you have in your life?"

"How much more often would you like to have it?”

As the discussion evolved, I wrote my top ten values on the board and how they met my needs. I told them that I had done an online test and shared the resulting image.

This was from 2017 when I was 59 years old.

Towards the end of the lesson time, I thanked them for being attentive and willing to explore and share their values. I asked my test question again,

“I am about to retire, maybe this year, maybe next? I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for me. What should I do?”.

One student who was sitting in the front row pinned me with her eyes and pointed finger as she asked me,

“Would your needs be satisfied by the pension?”.

“Yes”, I replied.

“And would you have time and resources to make a positive difference in the world?”.

“Yes,” I replied.?

“And will you be able to give self-less service?”

“Yes,” I replied, realising where she was getting her questions from.

“So,” she said, “go for it!”

I have never felt so empowered by a teenager before. Her words really helped me to make the decision to retire in 2018.