SCHS’s new Economics teacher Jonathan Hubbs strives to connect with his students and help them succeed in his class. Prior to his 17 years of teaching, Hubbs earned two master’s degrees at San Francisco State University, one in Economics and another in Secondary Education. Despite his nearly two decades of teaching experience, Hubbs had never planned to become a teacher. 

“It (teaching) has not always been my dream,” Hubbs said. “I started teaching just to enable myself to also coach, and it turns out, I love teaching as well.”

Hubbs’s first job was working as a track and field coach. He first began participating in the sport while in middle school and continued on into high school, where he grew to enjoy it even more. Upon graduating, Hubbs began coaching the sports. To this day, Hubbs still enjoys both running and coaching the sport.

“I started coaching track and field and cross country and then that made me fall in love with the sport,” Hubbs said.

Hubbs strongly believes that many schools need an educational reform. He claims that the standard A-F letter grading system fails to properly assess students’ abilities.

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“I think we need to be more nuanced in our approach to giving feedback to students and to parents instead of giving them the systematic grading,”  Hubbs said. “It’s too general. It can mean a lot of things. A C in one class might be different than a C in another class even though it’s the same class in different schools.”

Hubbs’s concern for his students does not only stop at their academic well-being. He said he makes an effort to create strong bonds with his students. However, he makes sure to not cross the line between the roles of a teacher and a friend. Hubbs makes sure to check on his students and let them know that he is there for them. In return, his students repay him with insight.

“I’m inspired by a lot of my students, who are so interesting and so intelligent,” Hubbs said. “I think one thing I’ve been thinking about lately is pop culture in general. I learn a lot of phrases and interesting things from my students every year as things change.”

Hubbs is well-traveled and has worked in a multitude of places all around the world, including South Korea, China and Indonesia. Thus, he has experience with a variety of different students coming from different cultural backgrounds. Hubbs provided advice to those who want to follow in his footsteps as a teacher.

“This job is not easy. It shouldn’t be easy,” Hubbs said. “Network as much as you can to get as much information as you can about what you’re getting yourself into because there’s a lot of hoops to being a teacher, and it would be devastating to go through all those hoops and discover later that it’s not for you.”