nexus magazine “sit down. Be quiet. Do your work” to assure the little shits respect you enough to actually learn. But don’t do it because you think you’ll get a job because you won’t. I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was 14. I wanted to teach Japanese and English and I chose my subjects and degree accordingly. When choosing the pre-reqs for my senior subjects, business with Japan was booming and the industry was crying out for people who spoke more than one language. Hindsight has taught me to go more carefully when I see industries ‘crying out’ for certain skills. Because with those cries comes the inevitable oversupply, the kind of oversupply that creates the clusterfuckery our teaching industry is currently experiencing. Just because 50% of teachers are over the age of 50 doesn’t mean we need 300+ teaching graduates coming out of our School of Ed each year (to say nothing of the other institutions) especially since they now don’t forecast any kind of job breakdown and buy a sports car that just cannot fill the empty void of their souls when they turn 40. Buy the fucking sports car now! Do- more study if you want to I know, I know. Post-grad funding is slashed. Postgrad study is expensive, and may not help you get a job. But what if we did some learning just because… we love learning? After three years of smashing my head against the wall that was secondary teaching, I decided to come back to uni and pick up some papers so I could teach another senior subject. Long story short(ish), I selfishly and with much forethought, decided to complete my first piece of tertiary education, not to get a job, but just because I wanted to. Just because I loved it. Just because it turned me on, and it made me happy. So I started my Masters in Creative writing- and if anything is less likely to get you a job than a BA in Japanese, it’s that, right? “...HOW THE HELL DO YOU SILENCE THE NAY-SAYING BASTARDS WHO THINK YOU’VE WASTED THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE?” market until 2020. People passionate about teaching are destroyed by people who do it just because they need a job. And on that note… Do- Follow your dreams No matter how many voices tell you you’ll never make it, to give up and accept that your future only holds a series of administration or labouring jobs- do not listen! Do the thing that makes you happy. Do the thing that gets you excited. Do the thing you’re passionate about, because while a job isn’t guaranteed, if you’re doing something you love, you’re winning. Sometimes life is not about having the career that makes you happy- sometimes life is about having a job that allows you to do the things that make you happy. Find a balance you can work with, and conquer the world. Don’t- panic Don’t be in a rush to land your ‘forever’ job, because there’s no such thing. Apparently we change career three times over during our lives, but I’d say it’s a lot more than that. People that are sure of their career path at the age of 21 are the same people that have a But want to know a secret? Since I made that selfish decision, I’ve been employed- and I’ve even been employed to teach people things! I’m employed to teach creative writing. I’m employed to edit Nexus. I’m employed by a business chain to help them make the written content of their website sexier. I’m making money doing the things that make me happy above all others. And no, it’s not heaps of money. And no, it’s not always a cushy gig. But I’m happy. And that’s the point, isn’t it? My final advice to you, fellow BA sufferers is: never, ever, under any circumstances, give up. Because as Karl Vonnegut says “Go into the arts. The arts are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” And if you’re really lucky, you might make a little coin doing it. 24 nexusmag.co.nz
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