People are still trying to make sense of the machete attack in Woolwich London yesterday.
I feel like I have a lot to say about the situation and the reaction to it, but also nothing really worth saying. So I’m going to leave it up to the Black Eyed Peas…
There was a report on the news this morning about students complaining about their university courses being poor value for money. Apparently 1 in 3 first year students think this.
I thought my university education was too expensive in relation to how many lectures I attended each week and the facilities provided, and this was before the government upped the fees to a maximum of £9,000 per year (3x the price of my fees per year!)
I was never at uni all day, everyday; lectures and classes were usually only a couple of mornings or afternoons a week, and because the university was only small the library wasn’t much cop either (although the library has been re-developed since I graduated).
I feel that university is not worth the money you pay for it, unless you are at one of the top universities in the country. I feel this even more two years after handing in my final assignment and still without a job that represents my education.
Coincidentally, I have also read a blog post about governments wanting to keep poor people poor and the rich rich over at Mittens Kittens. She writes of having a meeting to help with her job search and being told that the government where she lives in Australia don’t really want people to study. She suggests that the government want to keep poor people uneducated, I suppose so that they are more willing to do menial jobs. And I think the UK government is guilty of the same thing. David Cameron is from a well-educated, upper class background, and as I see it, he’s keeping the rich people rich and the poor unable to strive for something better. Hike up the price of education and only the rich will be smart and occupying the high flying jobs – you don’t want poor people working their way up and rubbing shoulders with you, do ya David?
Taking into consideration what I have just written, I am a bit divided to be honest. On the one hand, I feel that university is a waste of money based on my own experience and subsequent failing job hunt. But on the other hand not everyone will have the same experience as me, and should have the chance of a good education regardless of their background.
So the point of this post? Universities should be cheaper and should provide more teaching time. Obviously, its not as simple as it sounds but something needs to be done.
The Fuck Up, by Arthur Nersesian
A little while ago, when I was browsing through my favourite book shop, I noticed the title of this book in amongst the ‘cult’ section and I had to smile to myself. Picking it up to read the blurb, I instantly found myself attached to this story – “an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself” – sounded a little bit like me, somebody just trying to find their place in this world and make something of themselves. I knew I had to buy this book there and then.
And now I have read the book from cover to cover, I still feel an affinity with it. Ok, so some of the things that happen to our unnamed protagonist will most likely never happen to me but I really connected with this fictitious character as someone just trying their best, getting glimmers of hope but ultimately being unlucky. I think the fact that he remains unnamed in this first person narrative makes him more relatable; it could be you! And the way that Nersesian has him describing his physical surroundings and his emotional state of mind, you can really feel for the character. In one particular scene, the protagonist is badly beat up and as I read, I found myself wincing at his pain.
The ending was a little unexpected and seemingly rushed, but overall the writing style of this coming-of-age story was very engaging and darkly humorous in places. I would definitely recommend it.
Inside the back cover there is a very brief bio about the author stating that he used to be an editor at a literary magazine and has worked at a community college in the Bronx. On reading this I couldn’t help but wonder if this book was semi-autobiographical; inspired by Nersesian’s own life before he started work at the magazine maybe??
I haven’t written much lately about my personal life and that is because there hasn’t been a lot to say. Well not much to say that didn’t involve repeating what I have said in previous posts or getting angry about a lack of things happening in my life.
Change is in the air though. Winter is finally making way for spring and I am filled with an overwhelming sense that the winds of change will soon be coming my way. I feel that my life as I know it is slowly, very slowly, shifting.
Small changes have already occured and these fill me with the hope that something big (and great) will be coming my way.
I am still looking for a suitable job, that is currently still the same, but I have started volunteering at a local library, with the aim of getting the recent and relevant experience that being a cleaner just won’t provide me with. I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner, but I’m trying not to dwell on where I could be in life now had I volunteered when I first left university in May of 2011. I’m sure the smarter, parallel world version of me that did volunteer when she left uni is now in a great job and able to live in a house that she brought herself, but at least the me in this world is finally doing it. Better late than never right?
Since starting at the library my confidence and self-esteem is soaring again. The constant rejection had definately taken its toll, as I assume it does for many job hunters. You begin to feel useless; you may feel like a failure in life, that you’re not good for anything. And you know you’ve hit rock bottom when daytime television actually holds your attention. Volunteering has made me feel useful again. So far all I have done is put books back on the shelves, making sure they’re neat and in the right order, and have helped the older generation get to grips with computers but through doing it I feel a lot calmer and happier. Just meeting new people has made a big difference. The other day, I was just going through the shelves, making them look tidy and making a mental note of the books I would like to borrow and I felt like I was in the right place, exactly where I belonged. If this volunteering could lead to a full time, paid job at a library, I would be very happy indeed. Then again, I’d be very happy if volunteering could get me any job.
I do think it is having an effect already. I haven’t been at the library very long but I have already updated my CV on those job sites and since then two different companies have approached me in regards to a job. They approached me! The first was from a media company looking for an Advertising Account Manager, which I do not have the experience for (someone obviously didn’t read all of my CV) and the other was for an administration job, which I could have done if it wasn’t so far away from me. Inappropraite job vacancies maybe but I’m happy that I am being approached by emploers/recruiters. I’m not completely useless after all.
Yes, I can definately feel a change in the air.
It is a fatal miscarriage, so ill to order affairs, as to pass for a fool in one company, when in another you might be treated as a philospher
I found this quote on the front cover of Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Tale of a Tub’ my next read as part of my series of book reviews for Soapbox press. I feel that in my life I am considered a fool in some aspects but a philosopher in others.
Around the girls at the nursery where I clean I make small talk… general chit chat about work, tv, possibly clothes and the like. I probably come across as a fool, a tad boring, I don’t have an awful lot to say about these things so don’t make much of a conversation beyond agreeing with what has been said. I know that they won’t care about the books I am reading because it’s not 50 shades.
Around my close friends, I definately have more to say. As well as being interested in their lives, we’ll talk about stuff that’s in the news, debate some things, and make smart ass remarks. There is more on their minds than tv soaps and what they look like. I definately feel free to chat about stuff that is less superficial with them.
I think being considered a fool in one comapny, and a philosopher in another is about knowing your audience.
