I overheard a conversation on the bus the other day. No, I wasn't eavesdropping: they were so bloody loud I couldn't have stopped listening if I wanted to. And no, I didn't want to. But that's besides the point.
Two girls, PhD students as it later transpired were discussing the woes of not getting published and not being able to get jobs. They were claiming that you cannot get an article published unless you know *someone*. Now from my (fairly limited, it has to be said) experience of the academic publishing world there seems to be something to this. But it's not strictly true. You may have a greater chance of getting your work in a big journal if you know the panel, or rather if they know you. And you may have a greater chance of getting to present at international (or national, for that matter) conferences if you know the panel, or, again, if they know you. But these girls were so incredibly defeatist about it, that's what annoyed me. Hell, if my undergrad dissertation got me a slot at a large conference surely a decent PhD student would have a shot.
As for the jobs thing... well, it was the usual 'I'm so overqualified for all jobs cos I have an masters/PhD/whatever'. Yeah. Sure you are. I hear that a lot - but I'm not overqualified for my job at all; I have no letters after my name attesting to my ability to do student admin, website maintenance or whatever the hell it is I do. Ergo, not overqualified. It's a completely different kettle of fish - being good at phonetics/maths/history/whatever your degrees may have been in doesn't (over-) qualify you for anything other than that. And I know, I know, there are transferrable skills in all these things, blablabla. But I resent insinuations that I'm somehow wasting my life because my job happens to involve filing. Because believe me, I've had them - both from colleages and others.
Anyway, I've gone slightly off tangent here. I realise now that the last little rant sounds like I'm defending my choice of job. Who knows, maybe one day I'll do a PhD or get a job I'm not overqualified to do (HA!) but that day is not coming up soon. What I'm doing isn't a second choice to me at the moment - I wouldn't be doing something I wasn't happy to do.
Wow, tangent again! Back to the girls. The tale sadly doesn't tell us what their PhDs topics are. And I don't know that knowing would make any difference. But I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I'm sick of this elitism, this notion that adding some letters and years of debts to your name makes you somehow superior to someone else.
To quote a brilliant man: 'It takes all sorts to make a world.'
Showing posts with label uni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uni. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Dag 19 – Detta ångrar jag (this is something I regret)
I don't regret much. There's just no point to it. If you make a mistake, you chalk it up to experience and move on.
But something I kind of do regret is not getting more involved in stuff when I was at uni. I tried a couple of things - the gospel choir where the nasty girls were in charge; the fencing club where I just got too intimidated and left...
Ok, I know that I was away from Lancaster a lot, after meeting Mike... and I don't regret that at all. But I wish I'd tried writing for the student paper maybe, got involved in the radio station - tried some new things.
Oh well, never too late to try new things!
But something I kind of do regret is not getting more involved in stuff when I was at uni. I tried a couple of things - the gospel choir where the nasty girls were in charge; the fencing club where I just got too intimidated and left...
Ok, I know that I was away from Lancaster a lot, after meeting Mike... and I don't regret that at all. But I wish I'd tried writing for the student paper maybe, got involved in the radio station - tried some new things.
Oh well, never too late to try new things!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
on Snobbery.
It's so amusing. I find myself reading blog/forum posts around the net filled with British snobbery. Well. Let me explain.
They moan about posh people, about people with money - how awful anyone with a good upbringing or who was lucky enough to be born into an upper/middle class household is. They moan about those at the other end of the spectra - those without anything, those on benefits, those on the verge of desperation or on the periphery of society. Nothing and no one is good enough for these moaners, the worst snobs of them all.
If you're not brought up in a family who are/were struggling financially; if you didn't go to a crap school; if you can afford to go to uni without working at least 20 hours a week to earn your keep; if your family is actually supportive and help you out (financially or otherwise) to help you achieve your goals and - worst of all - if you actually accept their help: well then you're posh. You don't deserve good things, no matter how hard you work, because you've 'always had it easy'.
This little moan would make a lot more sense if I had some quotes to illustrate - but I'm not interested in starting Blog Wars 2009 (or, 2010 nearly...), and I'm not interested in hurting anyone's feelings, in case they happen to come across this post.
I'm just... I'm part amused, part annoyed by these people. Why shouldn't I embrace being born into a reasonably well off family; why should I have to be ashamed of that? I've got massive student debts - from the very generous Swedish government - and paired with my parents'/great uncle's generous gifts at Christmas and birthdays etc I've never *had* to have a job whilst studying. But for most of it I did - not a lot of hours, and not throughout, but the implication that everyone with a similar background to myself are strangers to working is insulting.
Don't get me wrong - I admire those that have come from a more difficult background who have worked so hard to be able to go to uni (or, who's parents have worked so hard to enable their kids to get a better future). But I resent the snobbery from some of these people.
It reminds me - somehow, I'm not 100% sure how - of 'old' vs. 'new' money. But the other way around. In that situation, the fact that 'new' money has obviously worked hard to get where they are is ignored - and the focus is on the lack of history/heritage...
I've rambled on enough now - and as always, completely forgotten where I wanted to go with this post. You're used to it by now, I'd have thought...
xx
They moan about posh people, about people with money - how awful anyone with a good upbringing or who was lucky enough to be born into an upper/middle class household is. They moan about those at the other end of the spectra - those without anything, those on benefits, those on the verge of desperation or on the periphery of society. Nothing and no one is good enough for these moaners, the worst snobs of them all.
If you're not brought up in a family who are/were struggling financially; if you didn't go to a crap school; if you can afford to go to uni without working at least 20 hours a week to earn your keep; if your family is actually supportive and help you out (financially or otherwise) to help you achieve your goals and - worst of all - if you actually accept their help: well then you're posh. You don't deserve good things, no matter how hard you work, because you've 'always had it easy'.
This little moan would make a lot more sense if I had some quotes to illustrate - but I'm not interested in starting Blog Wars 2009 (or, 2010 nearly...), and I'm not interested in hurting anyone's feelings, in case they happen to come across this post.
I'm just... I'm part amused, part annoyed by these people. Why shouldn't I embrace being born into a reasonably well off family; why should I have to be ashamed of that? I've got massive student debts - from the very generous Swedish government - and paired with my parents'/great uncle's generous gifts at Christmas and birthdays etc I've never *had* to have a job whilst studying. But for most of it I did - not a lot of hours, and not throughout, but the implication that everyone with a similar background to myself are strangers to working is insulting.
Don't get me wrong - I admire those that have come from a more difficult background who have worked so hard to be able to go to uni (or, who's parents have worked so hard to enable their kids to get a better future). But I resent the snobbery from some of these people.
It reminds me - somehow, I'm not 100% sure how - of 'old' vs. 'new' money. But the other way around. In that situation, the fact that 'new' money has obviously worked hard to get where they are is ignored - and the focus is on the lack of history/heritage...
I've rambled on enough now - and as always, completely forgotten where I wanted to go with this post. You're used to it by now, I'd have thought...
xx
Friday, September 25, 2009
It's that pondering time o' the night.
It's 4am. I've not been up all night in a very long time. It's odd, I used to do it all the time. Dad used to get up at 5 or 6 and I'd try to turn off computer quickly and quietly and rush into my bedroom, hoping he'd think I'd been asleep all night. I don't think it worked. NB.- if it did work: Dad, I'm making all this up. I slept a good 8 hours every single night!
In my first year of uni I didn't sleep much. And when I did it was usually in day time. It wasn't just that I was 'turning the day around', I'd be up for a few nights/days and then get overwhelmed by sleep.
I remember sitting on that scratchy blue chair by the window looking out at the courtyard, the other windows... it was a depressing sight. I did some of my best writing sat on that horrible chair, wrapped in my blanket.
...
Here's one. Don't judge too hard; I was a creative writing student after all...
Headlights
I stood still, staring into the headlights
hypnotized and full of fear
but also, admiration.
And I put another pound coin into the slot,
pushed hold, hi and lo a couple of times
just to make sure I'd unlock all possible features
and gently, slowly, with as much confidence as I could gather
I pressed start.
Start, again.
Hi, re-spin,
lo, unlock megafeature
another pound coin
still hypnotized by the lights
"Nevermind The Jackpots"
I couldn't move
another pound coin in
press start, push nudge, and again
Hi or Lo, Continue or Lose?
And suddenly it all went black.
In my first year of uni I didn't sleep much. And when I did it was usually in day time. It wasn't just that I was 'turning the day around', I'd be up for a few nights/days and then get overwhelmed by sleep.
I remember sitting on that scratchy blue chair by the window looking out at the courtyard, the other windows... it was a depressing sight. I did some of my best writing sat on that horrible chair, wrapped in my blanket.
...
Here's one. Don't judge too hard; I was a creative writing student after all...
Headlights
I stood still, staring into the headlights
hypnotized and full of fear
but also, admiration.
And I put another pound coin into the slot,
pushed hold, hi and lo a couple of times
just to make sure I'd unlock all possible features
and gently, slowly, with as much confidence as I could gather
I pressed start.
Start, again.
Hi, re-spin,
lo, unlock megafeature
another pound coin
still hypnotized by the lights
"Nevermind The Jackpots"
I couldn't move
another pound coin in
press start, push nudge, and again
Hi or Lo, Continue or Lose?
And suddenly it all went black.
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