my dissatisfaction with studying politics - part 2 + the new plan

As i was saying in an earlier post, i have developed severe disappointment with studying politics at uni. I am 10 weeks away from getting my International Relations degree and now I believe that the academic study of politics, while useful, leaves a lot to be desired.

So, after contemplating this for the last few months, and after discussions with a number of people, i have come up with a plan for my future.

Firstly however, it is important to note that i am under a lot of pressure from my father to continue study. Now, my family is not usually one to impose any kind of rules or anything, but since i started uni, dad has always reminded me of how important it is to do honours.

However, with my growing dissatisfaction with academic politics, my heart is simply not in it. I don't think dad knows what this feels like - he did honours in economics at uni in the 70's - but i'm sure he did it because he LOVED it. Likewise my brother, who has honours in chemistry - it was his hobby! He spent all his free time doing it because he enjoyed it and then successfully completed honours.

I am in a different situation though! I did international relations at uni not because i had a particular interest in it, but because i didn't have a specific academic interest when i started. I picked the one that seemed broad and far-reaching but also interesting at the same time. However, the consequences of doing that mean that I find it hard to be 100% serious about it, and over the last few months i have become unhappy with the thought of becoming more serious by doing honours.

So, the hardest thing is probably going to be breaking this news to my dad. I'm sure he is going to disapprove, and that is what is going to suck. The thing is, because my family has been so liberal with everything my brother and i have wanted to do, it almost makes it harder to do something that would disappoint them. They never enforced any rules, rather, they gave gentle encouragement and almost a guarantee that what they said would be the best choice for the future. So breaking their encouragement is like the very final step in my emancipation - breaking away from the rules that were never really imposed on me.

However, on a happier note, i have a great plan !
Instead of doing honours, I am going to apply for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. If you have a degree and are under 30, you can go and teach english at a school in Japan, and get paid 360,000 yen per month (~$4000 AUD). It ought to be good, if i can get it, and of course there are no guarantees.

For now though, let's assume that i get it ! At this stage i would intend to teach for one or two years, by which time i would probably be sick of it. However, another part of the JET program is the "Coordinator for International Relations" (CIR). I don't exactly know the details of this, but I would assume it pays better and I probably don't have to teach. I spoki with the current JET coordinator at the Japanese Embassy, and she told me that going from teaching to CIR is a pretty good idea!

So, let's further assume that i can do THAT. That should give me over 3 years of life in Japan making a fair bit of cash. The only downfall is that with JET, you don't get to choose where you go! So I might end up in some backwater country shithole. Hopefully, if i get accepted, i will get somewhere at least semi-urban.

Anyway, that's the plan as far as WORKING goes! Now, all i have to do is convince my father. I don't think i could take honours seriously enough to pass it, let alone get a good mark for it. Let's see how it goes when he comes up to Canberra this weekend...