Waste of potential? (2 Viewers)

[khfreakau]

There's a young English teacher at our school who came this year. She did her hsc in 2004, and she got 100 UAI and 4 state ranks. We all wonder why she does teaching, when she had so many options, but hey, you do what you want to do.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

^She got 4 state ranks! What in, that's an impressive, I never knew anyone who got more than 2 state ranks!

Is she a fantastic teacher? Because she must be insanely smart, but does she have good teaching skills too?

 

[SpiralFlex]

You probably do not remember but you answered another question of mine not too long ago. Your answer was something I was truly grateful for, it actually could be the reason why I'm reaching my potential at school once again and finding contentment.

Woah, I don't want to drop all this emotional passels onto you but yes...
That I would consider as a skill and a rather excellent one at that.

Thanks, I think I remember. This is why teachers teach, to hear such beautiful words like yours.

 

[RANK 1]

That wouldnt be very practical, medical training can take about 10-15 years and is extremely difficult if you dont have a passion for it.

your ability to help ppl greatly increases if u studied medicine

 

[enoilgam]

your ability to help ppl greatly increases if u studied medicine

True, but if the OP isnt really interested in helping people through being a doctor then doing a medical degree would be insane, simply because it is too difficult to complete if you dont have the passion.

 

[Gigacube]

You also need to be passionate about doing medicine too.

 

[RANK 1]

you dont have to be particularly passionate about med to do it, and OP said that it was either medicine or the social worker one

 

[khorne]

Just saying, but you're in year 11 and that's an estimate. Calm the fuck down and think about it later lol

 

[LifeBoats]

Just saying, but you're in year 11 and that's an estimate. Calm the fuck down and think about it later lol

I would have liked to really, but it truly is amazing what happens at my school. People all expect an ATAR above 99.0 and have already begun to 'train' for UMAT. It is no longer that distant dream for many of them like I still hold, it's all med med med, law law law.

I wish it wasn't like this but I am ashamedly amenable to this atmosphere. One cannot sit in a single maths or english class without hearing the words 'University' or 'ATAR'.

It drives me crazy really, but I see no other choice than in unearthing what I truly wish to do for my life as fast as possible. I do not want to competely lose what I truly stand for, which is doing good not a high ATAR.

Ah sorry about this long reply, it's almost turned into a rant hasn't it?

 

[LifeBoats]

Also remember that just because a course has a high atar requirement doesn’t necessarily mean that it is more intellectually challenging or for ‘smarter’ people, it’s just an indicator of how popular the course is.

Since you’re passionate about what you want to do, it’s in no way a ‘waste of potential’, because you’ll obviously succeed in that field and achieve greater things than if you were stuck in a career path which you did not particularly enjoy.

There are SO many people at my school who ‘want’ to do law and med, and sure they’re smart, but at the end of the day, most of them are in it for the money + prestige and nothing else, which I reckon will make for a poor generation of doctors/lawyers who don’t actually care about what they do.

I arrantly agree with this, I sometimes happen to forget that because there are very similiar people at my school. They are extremely intelligent but opt only for the law and med choices as well.

 

[LifeBoats]

you dont have to be particularly passionate about med to do it, and OP said that it was either medicine or the social worker one

I have to dissent with this actually, if you aren't passionate about helping other people and wanting to see that smile when you drastically change one's life, I think you would be a hopeless doctor.

 

[RANK 1]

no, as long as u have the skills, you can be a good doctor

 

[RANK 1]

although what i was referring to being passionate about the course not the helping ppl part

 

[mam_2011]

I'm basically in the same boat... At the start of this year I was set on doing teaching, but after telling anyone this I was told I could do much better. This has brought me to my wits end because I don't know if I'm interested in anything else enough to study it at Uni but I don't want everyone to just think of me as the OP said a "waste of potential". It's like double stress because to get into teaching i don't even need the high atar everyone expects me to get, I could be cruising through year 12 right now without a care in the world and probably still get in to that course.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

^But if you're passionate about teaching, it could be a great job. Sweet holidays, and making such a difference to the next generation?

mam, you sound like you are hard working, smart and would be a passionate teacher-the education NEEDS so many more like you!

 

[Erin_Elizabeth]

Just do whatever YOU want to do, not what others want you to do. I'm thinking of doing teaching after school or of joining the Navy. I made the mistake of telling some of my friends about this and got the whole "you can do so much better than that" and "why are you wasting your potential?" speech but really that's what I want to do; I don't care if I can do better stuff than that, none of the "better" stuff seems to interest me (at the moment anyway - I've still got almost 2 and a half years before I finish school anyway). so bottom line: don't listen to what others want you to do, do whatever YOU want to do and whatever makes YOU happy