Work experience (teaching)

Dear Diary,

So I made a play for the leadership, and it fell through. As a result, this pair of... important people in the field, with more regard for profit seeking than for the actual work itself (though the latter is not leastways neglected), have got this particular little institution sewn up. However, one has noticed that instead of asking what each teacher would like to teach, the old ball and chain has arbitrarily decided what they are to teach. This is not unusual, and in many ways, well placed, but it is not democratic, nor is it in the spirit of amicable relations.

Why is this not unusual? Well, my absolute favourite lecturer (Dr. Neil Hall) was chosen to lecture mythology, the last block of that module was about philosophy. Dr. Hall confessed that he would have liked to lecture philosophy, as that is his passion and academic specialism. Were I beginning a new school (and please be aware that like Adam Weishaupt I fully intend to make these staff 'an offer they can't refuse' - better pay, better royalties, a more official instiution and indeed a more reasonable, team based approach) I would certainly ask each member of staff what they would like to teach before assigning their tasks. Indeed, it is a balance, between the needs of the institution and the needs of the lecturers (I err to the latter, having a soft-spot for fellow academics).

In any case, much against my better judgement, I have decided to "whore" myself out to the old ball and chain, but for one reason only: work experience. I need to have something on my resumé which says, "I am a teacher" before I can get a job as a teacher. It will be, as it was with Chairlady Mao, miserably paid, and I will still be essentially exploited, but this cannot last forever.

As for that... place, and those... people: my hours have now been cut to the point where I cannot afford to eat or get into work, and only barely make the rent. So, I am applying for a managerial position at a shop. It is a glorified shelf stacker, because, well, that's what you do with your master's degree in Classical Latin, here, now, in Dark Age Britain. This is not the ninth century during the Golden Age of the Abbasid Caliphate, evidently.

Max.