There are a multitude of reasons one should not teach at university and even more reason why you should. Addressing some key reasons why you should not requires a deep look into who you are and where your desires lie. One who is not able to put themselves second to their students should not teach. What is meant by this is if you are not able to put yourself in your students shoes, understand there desire and need to be there then you should not be teaching them. The top priority of any teachers should be the interests of the students they are instructing, not their own interests. Another reason is if you cannot create as you teach, keeping the lessons fresh and current with the times. Following the lesson plan exactly as though you are following driving directions to somewhere you have never been before creates a stale learning environment. Students need variety, engagement and diversity in the subject they are learning. By doing so the instructor is triggering creative problem solving and engagement. If this is something that holds little to no interest for you, you should not teach. Another reason plays off the last. If you have low expectations of your students they will pick up on this. So, if you can not set the bar high to begin with, challenge your students and motivate them to exceed your and their expectations, you should not teach. Lastly, if your sole intention in teaching at university is for a paycheck or the prestige, you should not teach. Students need engagement to learn. They also need connection to the subject they are learning. AS a teacher your job is to engage, connect and motivate your students to think on their own and as a collective, to express their thoughts and ideas and help them gain confidence to increase their performance.

The pressure to publish research papers can be both stressful and incredibly time-consuming, and therefore not recommended for those that are not wholly interested in the subject they're teaching. Other than this, university teaching comes with many pros, including teaching those from a wide range of backgrounds and, better still, having students that are genuinely engaged in the subject they're learning (providing you're teaching at a universities with strict entry requirements to prevent those that are disinterested from seeping through and ruining the experience). Similarly, university students are vastly more mature than those younger in years, which means you can communicate as adult-to-adult, which may be beneficial if you'd rather not 'dumb down' for those of lesser understanding. Ultimately, if your heart isn't completely in your subject of choice and you aren't enthused to do your own research into specific areas of your subject, you should completely avoid teaching at a university as it's something you just can't avoid.