I already gave my advice on what he should do, or rather what I would do.Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf
Travelling is indeed a very good option if you can make it work. I certainly wish I had done that as well. You can't do everything though I suppose.
Well, he could be
- a technical writer for a major chemical, pharmaceutical, or software development company. The work would be boring and tedious, but the pay would be great. I did this for a while before moving into education.
- he could go into communications for mid-size company where he would write and distribute a range of online and print media to current and potential customers -- sort of a Jack-of-all-Media type. In my small community, there are several English-y people who do this.
- depending on the OP's supplementary skills, he could go into the computing industry -- writing scrips for video games or other computer applications where published writing or language is need, managing the content of a company website, . . . .
- he could also work in higher education without teaching: academic advising, grant writing, and foundation work all require communications/English skills.
- if social "do-gooding" is his preference he would work for a non-profit organization: the ACLU, the National Rifle Association, PETA, The American Cancer Society. . . .and countless other smaller organizations have need for people who can write and think well.
Of course, if he wants to talk about Virgina Woolf and Walt Whitman, then he may have to go into the classroom. But even there, there are plenty of options: private schools, charter schools, public schools, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, universities. . . .
Not all teaching experiences are as bad as the ones outlined here. It's true that American education is not a pleasant place now, but if he's a little Machiavellian about it, the petty obsession with appearances that so dominates American thinking about the educational system is easily manipulated. Of course, if the OP is not American, then perhaps the his/her country's educational politics are not as bad as they are in the US.
Last edited by The Comedian; 05-10-2012 at 01:05 PM.
“Oh crap”
-- Hellboy
Yeah, teaching in Canada is a respectable gig. I live in by far the most conservative province, and I've never heard anyone irrationally blame them for all of society's ills. Actually, I can't wrap my head around the situation in the United States. When I was growing up, teachers were mocked for being underpaid. Now funding has been cut, and they're suddenly overpaid? Did I miss something?
The pay isn't bad for Canadian teachers either. I don't have specific numbers, but my English teacher's husband was a welder (they're also well paid) and she said she makes more than him, so it's a good option for Canadians whether they're concerned about prestige or pay. Alberta's teachers had a big strike in about 1999, and everything's been mostly quiet since then although there is a lot of debate about funding in the arts (last year, Harper famously said "Canadians don't care about the arts" and it caused a bit of a ****storm).
Apparently 40% of college/university graduates end up in jobs for which they don't need a degree. I guess the OP (and anyone else in his situation) could also take his degree for it's most basic and obvious value (that is, education), and then in terms of social contribution for which you recieve monetary compensation he could become a cop or something.
Last edited by JuniperWoolf; 05-11-2012 at 04:11 AM.
__________________
"Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. At first the brightness was overwhelming, but I had seen that before. I kept looking, forcing myself not to blink, and then the brightness began to dissolve. My pupils shrunk to pinholes and everything came into focus and for a moment I understood. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal."
-Pi
They've been hitting the arts funding where people don't notice it. They gutted the National Film Board's budget, they have to close their screening rooms in Montreal and Toronto, their studios are staying open in Montreal but otherwise their ability to produce documentaries and small art films is going to be hit pretty hard, not to mention their ability to get those products out to the public.
They also cut funding to museums and art galleries across the country. Almost no one will notice or care. Also, federal libraries will no longer provide internet as of this year. Gah.
Edit: It's totally ideological too, the government is saving a few million dollars by killing the funding of all the environmental and cultural agencies they see as their natural enemies. In the meantime they created billion dollar deficits by cutting taxes every year for 5 year, morons.
Last edited by OrphanPip; 05-11-2012 at 01:21 PM.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Neither can any rational Americans.
I don't think the practice of arts will ever change, not in the foreseeable future, at least. We can try and explain the value of the arts in terms of practicality all we want (that we even have to points to a problem from the start), but it doesn't matter. Hell, there're way too many people who'd like to cut out arts altogether. I've talked to them. They're scary.
St. Lukes, In my state they are putting trying to place as much blame on the teachers as much as possible with the new evaluation reports. I work with the lowest of the low and no one wants my job, so in a way I get lucky. But they are no starting to harass teachers and the union is virtually powerless.
St. Lukes, In my state they are putting trying to place as much blame on the teachers as much as possible with the new evaluation reports. I work with the lowest of the low and no one wants my job, so in a way I get lucky. But they are no starting to harass teachers and the union is virtually powerless.
The same here... and I half suspect the school boards of the major urban districts with the largest number of teachers and the strongest unions are in collusion with the far right politicians whose goal is to privatize the schools. A good number of teachers have looked at the history of our unions and how hard they had to fight for the rights and benefits we now enjoy and have called for more militant... violent... action. There were protests at the state capital last year as they tried to slash benefits and salaries for all the state employees including the police, fire, and state troopers. This failed miserably... and many of the police and state troopers spoke of using their .50 caliber rifles with scopes and taking out the governor who was trying to turn them into his own version of the Praetorian Guard. They've gotten smarter and are now on a campaign of "divide and conquer" going after the teachers first. They portray our salaries and benefits as exorbitant... in spite of the fact that most teachers have a Masters Degree and pay a 4% larger contribution to their retirement program than the private sector pays into Social Security.
Personally, I think the whole system will collapse within a year or two. They will attempt to shift all the students into private and charter schools... but no one is going to take this job on for $30,000 a year when they could make that much working at some lower management position at McDonald's.
I'd go on... but the wife and I went out for Mexican and I've had more than a few tequilas which always give me flashbacks of blackouts experienced years ago while living in NYC immediately after college.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
