Now, as I’m a fairly old bird as students go, I’ve done a few years previous as a member of The Workforce. During my time down't mill, I've been inspired by a few bosses (and argued with a few more), paid a few taxes, received a few paycheques, and chased a few promotions. And suddenly I find myself on the other side of the desk (yes, I was a teacher), and the contrasts between the two lifestyles could not be sharper.English doesn’t easily make the distinction between working for money and working to expand the mind / deplete the bank balance. It’s all just work, work, work. Other languages, such as Greek distinguishes between slogging to get money and plain old slogging for free.
Even with my terribly British terrible foreign language skills, I now make a firm distinction, and I know which I prefer. Student life doesn’t allow much in the way of lobster and cashmere , but the freedom is pretty tasty. The buzz from being in control of your own routine and decisions is hard to beat too, even though you might not be the most popular kid with the locals.
The work ethic between paid employment and paying pupil crosses alien frontiers too. I’ve recently discovered that students, aside from their courses, work for free. The write for free, organise for free, do tedious admin for free, all in the name of fun, socialising and gaining experience. It’s a weird one. There I am, coiled to strike a tough negotiation on the terms and conditions for a wee bit of graft, and alongside me are half a dozen students willing to do the very same work for nowt more than their name on the committee and an their rank on a hoodie. Time to shrug of my cynicism and ramp up the enthusiasm for new challenges, and get used to never clocking off…
