A career in teaching - 01
posted by sooyup
on
Looking back,
Mr Chips
As a sixth-former, I considered two possible ways of earning a crust. My first choice was journalism, with teaching as a fall-back position. But career-wise I met Emma Jane at precisely the wrong moment. Inflamed with the smell of 14-year-old virgin, my hormones and I conspired to fail a crucial examination. I was invited to do a re-sit but declined, having no wish to spend another year suffering the censure of a head-teacher whom I disliked and who disliked me. Instead, I joined the army - to see the world, and meet new people (as the recruitment poster said) and to kill them (as it didn’t). As described elsewhere, the Black Dog depression put paid to my army career, and I was discharged as unfit. Emma was the one constant in my life (though even she took a brief holiday). We courted, we wed, we raised a child, during which time I had many jobs, ranging from dock-worker to export manager, none of which could by any stretch of the imagination be called a career. [This is Emma at the time - one of the earliest pictures I took of her.]
As a sixth-former, I considered two possible ways of earning a crust. My first choice was journalism, with teaching as a fall-back position. But career-wise I met Emma Jane at precisely the wrong moment. Inflamed with the smell of 14-year-old virgin, my hormones and I conspired to fail a crucial examination. I was invited to do a re-sit but declined, having no wish to spend another year suffering the censure of a head-teacher whom I disliked and who disliked me. Instead, I joined the army - to see the world, and meet new people (as the recruitment poster said) and to kill them (as it didn’t). As described elsewhere, the Black Dog depression put paid to my army career, and I was discharged as unfit. Emma was the one constant in my life (though even she took a brief holiday). We courted, we wed, we raised a child, during which time I had many jobs, ranging from dock-worker to export manager, none of which could by any stretch of the imagination be called a career. [This is Emma at the time - one of the earliest pictures I took of her.]
