Ph.D. or Señor Buster?

http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/decide/phd.asp
The thing is, my Spanish professor threw out the idea. I mentioned here that the education program is filled with BS courses and homework, so I've wondered if that will affect my decision at all. Maybe I'll go ahead and get teaching certification, but starting early on a degree that promises about five years of constant research, starvation, and teaching sounds better than getting into something that might not be as enjoyable for me.
Why would I get a Ph.D? Questions I'm asking myself right now are:
Would I rather teach in college?
Would I rather be doing than teaching?
Do I want to be a student for another five years?
What are the advantages of actually getting a Ph.D?
Can I do the work?
The problem with me is this; I love to read. I love to be social. But I HATE doing work for things that don't interest me. That's where I'm having my biggest problem in my undergrad years. I hate to do homework. Will I enjoy reading books without ceasing, summarizing them, gathering information for a thesis, and in effect building my own project?
I think, at least for this semester, I'm going to stay in the education program here at MSU regardless of my nagging feeling that it's a mountain of you-know-what. I'll be writing research papers for my German and Spanish classes, so I'm hoping to get a feel (at least a small one) of what it's like to do that all the time.
What if, in the end, I get a Ph.D. and teach in high school? With such a high degree you're looking at (from what I've gathered) an approximately $35K increase in pay. Not that I need the money that badly, but if I like studying (and I do, in the sense that I like learning) and can get after doing something I love, then why not jump on it?
But I'm still wondering about becoming a missionary...I'm still thinking about the advantage of graduating with a very open job market that will help me pay off all my debts immediately, and even though I'm sure I want to be involved in language, traveling, culture and education, I'm not sure exactly which route I'll take now that I've come this far. The road forks off at least four different ways, and I believe for right now I can rule out the one that says interpreting. But the immediate choices (just to list them) are:
*Ph.D.
*Teaching certification
*Interpreting
*Getting out of school as quickly as possible in order to do mission work
*Dropping the education degree and hoping I can be hired to teach with BA's in German and Spanish
They all sound on some level appealing. Money is an issue, but only on the level of actually getting the money I'd need to do these things. For grad school, it's not too hard to get that paid for with teaching assistantships and things. Mission work would be, I believe, the most expensive. I'm not at all worried about lower pay later. I just don't want to be in debt the rest of my life.
I've been looking for a good way out of this blog, and since nothing's come up, I'll stop now.
~Buster

Blogging de Nuevo

I think I'm back on with the blogging. The summer was so boring and long and hot that blogging just didn't sound worth doing. However, now that I'm back in school, getting pissed off at professors and meeting new people all the time, blogging is back in for me.
Anyway, to catch you up, I worked all summer in the pharmacy and moved back to Murray on August 17th. That night I had a little sleepover, because I didn't have furniture in my apartment. It was fun, but some key people were missing.
I've finally got everything I own in the apartment (well, except my bedframe), and it looks full and comfortable, for the most part. Monday nights is bible study night. A few of my friends were talking about making cookies, so it's going to be at my place this Wednesday. I cook for friends (mostly because I don't like to cook for just myself...my roommate is gone a lot).
So far, I'm enjoying the apartment, except for worrying about bills and rent. We've finally turned off the air conditioning because the weather has finally moved into my favorite kind. I slept last night with the window open and nearly froze. I wore a long sleeved shirt today. I like that for some reason.
I'll give you the titles of my classes...see what you think:
SPA 323 Advanced Spanish Culture
SPA 460 Short Stories and Poetry
GER 331 Advanced German Language Practice
GER 450 German Literary Masterpieces
EDU 303 Instructional Strategies for Teachers
They sound great, I think, but, for the most part, I'm not happy with them. SPA 323 is with my favorite Spanish professor, but his class is boring (and starts at 8 AM)
EDU 303 is the biggest crock of BS I've ever encountered (with a few useful things hidden along the way...the teacher bores us, says she can tell we've been given too much information, and throws even more on us)
My Spanish 460 class has great content...we read Spanish poems from the 1500's onward that are really great and I've enjoyed getting to know, but the class is filled up with stupid talks about poetic devices (syntax, synthesis...shi, ehm...)
What else? German 331 is stressful. My class has people who are fantastic, and others who are awful, but I've made a new friend there, who I call my protegee. He taught himself German in a year and a half online, but has trouble understanding people who speak it to him...
German 450 is by far my favorite class with my advisor/favorite professor. Enough said there.
And I think I should say enough said for everything right now. I'm hungry and need lunch.
I have GER 450 today, and then I'll be working in the Modern Languages Department (grading papers...I'm worried about how I'm going to do it when I've got 210 students...it takes me every bit of 2 hours to grade 70 quizzes)
Anyway...lunch time.