Do What You Love, Part Six
Jan. 12th, 2020 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI resigned from my job earlier this week.
I'm going to teach my classes for the spring semester and help my advisees finish up their MA and MFA theses and capstone projects, but then I'm gone. I've already talked to the leasing office at my apartment building, and I will be out of DC by the end of May.
I feel really weird now. I went to college straight after being kicked out of high school when I was sixteen, so I've been in higher education continuously for twenty years. This is what I always wanted to do, and I've devoted my entire life to doing it.
I don't think I can explain how bizarre and upsetting resigning from my position is to someone outside of academia. It's like saying, Well, I left my job at my law firm after six years, and now it will be all but impossible for me to work as a lawyer again. All of the skills and experience I have are now useless, so much so that I may as well have a blank CV. This situation is crazy, because of course it is, but I'm worried that people outside academia will think I'm crazy for suggesting that this is the case.
Likewise, I don't think I will be able to explain my decision to anyone inside academia. In fact, I'm afraid that most people are going to be openly hostile.
I keep telling myself that academia is a cult. People inside the cult can't see outside, and people outside the cult won't understand.
Still, there's nothing to do but to keep moving forward.
I'm going to teach my classes for the spring semester and help my advisees finish up their MA and MFA theses and capstone projects, but then I'm gone. I've already talked to the leasing office at my apartment building, and I will be out of DC by the end of May.
I feel really weird now. I went to college straight after being kicked out of high school when I was sixteen, so I've been in higher education continuously for twenty years. This is what I always wanted to do, and I've devoted my entire life to doing it.
I don't think I can explain how bizarre and upsetting resigning from my position is to someone outside of academia. It's like saying, Well, I left my job at my law firm after six years, and now it will be all but impossible for me to work as a lawyer again. All of the skills and experience I have are now useless, so much so that I may as well have a blank CV. This situation is crazy, because of course it is, but I'm worried that people outside academia will think I'm crazy for suggesting that this is the case.
Likewise, I don't think I will be able to explain my decision to anyone inside academia. In fact, I'm afraid that most people are going to be openly hostile.
I keep telling myself that academia is a cult. People inside the cult can't see outside, and people outside the cult won't understand.
Still, there's nothing to do but to keep moving forward.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-18 03:34 pm (UTC)Really, I mean that. I get such a thrill of excitement whenever I hear that someone has escaped from a toxic work environment. Kudos mate!!
I'm lucky to already have a full-time research position waiting for me at UPenn, and it's just a matter of getting the paperwork sorted out at this point before the affiliation is official. I also do a fair amount of freelance translation work (mostly legal documents and the sort of technical writing you'd see in a digital camera manual), so I have a decent cushion. And I think my biggest source of income will be to not live in Washington DC, which is very beautiful but not even remotely affordable.
I think I'll be okay in terms of finances, but! I am intrigued by the possibility of doing part-time tutoring work. You aren't the first person to tell me that there's money to be made there, and I think it might actually be fun. I always had a good time teaching upper-level Japanese language classes, and I'm intrigued by the prospect of teaching classes in English-language vocabulary and grammar.
And, I mean, if I can help embittered and exhausted college kids at a large state school, then I can help tired and anxiety-ridden teenagers at a small prep school, right? I feel bad for the college kids, because they've already taken on a huge burden of debt, but maybe I can help the younger kids get into a better school with a better financial aid package.
The more I think about this, the more feasible it seems. Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2020-01-18 09:23 pm (UTC)Tutoring is very rewarding! I used to do a lot of ESL tutoring, and I still do some, but what I like best is English lit and Social Studies tutoring for high school students. I enjoy focusing on ideas more than grammar, because then you get to say things like, “Hamlet is a sexist asshole and it’s really annoying that our society mainly remembers him for his existential blah blah blah rather than for his abuses against his girlfriend (and occasionally his mom).” I am kind of allowed to say all sorts of things I wouldn’t say in a classroom :> You end up influencing the students a lot—one of my friends who tutors full-time sometimes ends up helping steer kids away from scary radicalization...
I do a lot of my tutoring online nowadays using Zoom Meetings and Google docs, which is really convenient but not as nice as in-person tutoring. Blended model of online sometimes, in-person sometimes works pretty well.
That’s really cool that you can help students on the financial end too! Your knowledge of the system will be super valuable on that front. If I ever meet any students who look like they are going to get into massive amounts of debt in the US system maybe I will ask you some questions. Or just send you a client if you want :D