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Disillusioned graduates / downshifting

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David181173

New Member
I've already stumbled across one fellow disillusioned graduate through this forum. There are probably others here too. Consequently, the following Observer article might be of interest to many members:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1115661,00.html

It focuses on the downside of the decision to downshift. I felt really sorry for the lady who turned to teaching, who admitted she has sometimes been reduced to tears by classes. She complains her new job is mainly about "crowd control": the very expression I always use to explain why I wouldn't want to be a teacher.

Unfortunately this rather sad article makes me feel even worse because I've reached the age of thirty without really having a career, let alone been able to make a career change!

I always thought the key to avoiding a high-pressure, high stress lifestyle was not to get into one in the first place. Yet I'm still not happy, partly because I feel wasted. According to this article, this is how many downshifters end up feeling.

On a positive note, one escapee says downshifters will end up happier if they stick with it.

I guess the main message is that there is no such thing as an ideal life. One person's ideal is another person's purgatory.
 
I guess it depends on what you go to next. All my family are teachers, and I know from observation you have to have a gift for it. Obviously, thinking it would be a less stressful job is very naive on this woman's part.
 
Very interesting article.

However, it occurs to me that the unhappy "downshifters" made much too radical lifestyle changes (eg. From highly paid, prestigious lawyer to poorly paid motorbike mechanic). These people downshifted from 5th gear to 1st when they should have gone from 5th to 3rd! Why not just make a few smaller adjustments in life rather than chucking everything and starting at something totally different? Instead of quitting law altogether - just move to a smaller, less demanding firm! Instead of working 11-hour days, find a less prestigious job that only requires 8! :confused:
 
I can't believe the woman who had no time for a life outside work, so retrained as a teacher!! [Cue hysterical laughter]. I suppose she thought they worked 9 am to 3.30 pm, then went home and put their feet up? The 11-hour days and weekends she worked in law are often worked by teachers, and for far, far less money. As Ashlea said, she was very naive, and should have done more research. I suppose it proves the rule that you never really know what a job entails until you have done it.

I have noticed that a lot of these people who have such stressful jobs are also very well-paid. Do they not realise that having little money is stressful? Is the person working in a factory full-time for less than £10K not stressed? I'm sure they are, but they don't have the cushion of a decent salary to make up for their stress.

I believe that some of the TV programmes mentioned have a lot to answer for. They make out that anyone can leave their job and make a success of olive farming in Tuscany - all you need is determination and hard work. Well, not necessarily. Having a holiday somewhere and thinking that you could live there permanently is not the same thing. Also, being good at something as a hobby does not mean that you will be able to make a successful business of it. Like Ell said, some of the changes are very radical, so maybe they needed to do more research or give it a bit longer to see if they got used to their new jobs?
 
A very interesting article indeed.

I agree with all that has been said about the teaching profession - a very underpaid job for the stress involved - particularly here in London ( but that's a different argument).

Downshifting - here is my experience of:

I had a really good job in a fashion company, we were taken over, everyone in my department was made redundant apart from me, work continues though - money increased as did stress - finally found myself begging for redundancy three months later.

Made redundant in July 2003 - wanted to downshift - could I? No.
Too over qualified etc etc. (have a postgrad qualification).

Less stressed now? Diffiult one to answer, yes in terms of the fact that I have no job or money, but no because I don't wake up with the weight of the world on my shoulders.
 
Dont know if i count as a disillusioned graduate yet, but i finished uni in the summer and STILL havnt found a job yet :mad:

Phil
 
It seems to me that opting out of the "professional career track" can be very rewarding if one is willing to go without all the trappings. I have the luxury of not having a family to support, don't mind driving a 20 year old car, or buying clothes/books/CDs second-hand.
I also have always drawn a distinction between what i do for a job, and who i am as a person. A lot of people aren't able to make that distinction. Many others, with families to support, etc. don't have the luxury of making that distinction.
 
Originally posted by funes
I also have always drawn a distinction between what i do for a job, and who i am as a person. A lot of people aren't able to make that distinction.
Click to expand...

There's also the problem that most of us need to be employed full-time, which means are job takes up most of our waking hours, which in turn means that if our job is not what we are really about then we must be spending most of our lives being someone we're not!

By the way, if you are looking for an amusing take on the idea of escaping from the professional rat race, you might be entertained by a novel called "Working it Out" by Alex George. It's very amusing. George was a lawyer, until the success of this first book allowed him to turn to writing full time. Interestingly he found the best way for him to get work done in his new life was to hire an office a short walk from his flat and put in regular office hours there. Not that a self enforced routine is quite the same as one that is forced upon oneself by others.

In defence of that teacher in the article, I dont think it was the hours that really got to her so much as the discipline problem. For years in the UK we have had one government advertising campaign after another playing on our more idealistic side and our desire to do something socially useful. Sadly what many find when they get there (so I'm told) is that their idealism is rapidly eroded by bureacracy, rigid criteria with little scope for creativity, irritating children and their sometimes even more irritating, not to say aggressive, parents. Apparently drink problems are now rife in the teaching profession. A rather sorry state of affairs.

In a sense this brings me round to the "graduate disillusionment" part of my heading. Is part of the problem that we have created an education system which gives us unrealistic expectations about what real life is all about. For most of human history people have just focused on the struggle to survive. Now in our decadence we not only expect to be fed and clothed, but to the raise the cash to do it in interesting, varied and fulfilling ways. If idealistic teachers are to blame for putting these sort of ideas in our heads, perhaps a generation of fed up teachers might do a world of good!
 
I've only just found/joined this form and this thread REALLY interested me.
I left teaching in May of last year. I had been teaching in a large inner city comprehensive secondary school for almost five years. The reasons I decided to leave are multiple, and David has covered them really.

In some ways (particularly with hindsight) I am not even sure WHY I went into teaching. I graduated with a degree in English Literature and at the time I probably didn't have the imagination to come up with anything else to do with such a degree.

I have now officially "downsized" as you would say. Three months ago (after 6 months out of work!) I started my new job as a project worker in a housing association for young homeless/vulnerable adults. I took a £7,000 pay cut and you know what? I've never been happier. In teaching I had 13 weeks of holidays a year - now I get 25 days, and I work evenings and weekends. Again - i've never been happier.
The work I do now feels much more "human", more relaxed and ultimately I feel I am doing more good.

I'd love to discuss this further....but am off now to explore the rest of this place!!!
 
Originally posted by sally_sausages
I took a £7,000 pay cut and you know what? I've never been happier. In teaching I had 13 weeks of holidays a year - now I get 25 days, and I work evenings and weekends. Again - i've never been happier.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the contribution Sally. Its good to know that downshifting has worked for you. Of course, unlike the people in that article you downshifting from teaching rather than in to it!

Sounds as though you are still doing something worthwhile, that will give you the feeling you are being socially useful. Long may it continue.

The politicians seem to think the teaching crisis is primarily a south east problem, tied in with cost of living. It would seem that isn't the half of it. In a few years will there be anyone left willing to go into a classroom?
 
Originally posted by David181173
The politicians seem to think the teaching crisis is primarily a south east problem, tied in with cost of living. It would seem that isn't the half of it. In a few years will there be anyone left willing to go into a classroom?
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David, the "teaching crisis" is actually the biggest load of propaganda: there are many teachers (both primary and secondary) in all areas of the country who are unable to find a job. Teachers are being laid-off because of budget restrictions and not being replaced. Despite this, the government insists on continuing to advertise for more people to go into teaching! It is very annoying when everyone you speak to says that there is a shortage of teachers - in reality, there isn't. Just have a look at the TES website staffroom discussion to see how many teachers are unemployed and desperately searching for a job!
 
Originally posted by Halo
there are many teachers (both primary and secondary) in all areas of the country who are unable to find a job. Teachers are being laid-off because of budget restrictions and not being replaced. Despite this, the government insists on continuing to advertise for more people to go into teaching!
Click to expand...

Yes, a friend of mine qualified as a primary teacher last year and has only been able to get supply work. I also know that there are a number of schools about to be closed in our borough. Yet we still keep hearing that schools in London and the south east are having to look abroad to try and find staff. Do we have sufficient teachers, just in the wrong place? Are there more children - and hence a need for more schools - in the south east because that is where the younger families i.e. those with schoolchildren are more concentrated? If so, is this not further evidence of the pressing need for a regional policy that is redistributive - redistributing people rather than jobs? Sadly, the government thinks the answer is to build thousands of homes on a flood plain (Thames Gateway) and expand Milton Keynes! (Having said that, I've been to Milton Keynes and can think of far worse places. The parts I saw seemed cleaner than the average UK town centre. Perhaps I just caught it on a good day?)

Getting back to the point, perhaps the government should stop advertising for teachers and start trying to get people into plumbing! Or is the shortage of plumbers another urban myth?
 
Originally posted by David181173
Getting back to the point, perhaps the government should stop advertising for teachers and start trying to get people into plumbing!
Click to expand...

LOL! Too right! :D Incidentally, even supply work is almost non-existent in a lot of places. I agree with you though, that if there are vacant teaching posts anywhere, they are in the South East. However, a lot of people really don't want to live in London, and the price of housing is definitely a major factor in this. It amazes me how anyone manages to buy a house in London nowadays, with a tiny terrace costing about £250K in some areas. A quarter of a million pounds, when a lot of people earn £12K or less: depressing.
 
Dont even get me started on this - im a first time buyer with hardly any income at the moment, and i live in Surrey. Yup, that'd be the Surrey with the highest prices in Britain overall :( How would you like your squat, sir, with toilet, or without?? With will cost you another £10000 on top :confused:

Phil
 
Yeowch. That sounds worse than New York.

Here in Houston, we have really awful weather but great housing prices, as long as you don't mind a bit of a commute.
 
Originally posted by Ashlea
Yeowch. That sounds worse than New York.
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There is currently a TV series here in the UK which follows couples searching for "A Place in the Sun", basically homes abroad. Whenever I catch a bit of one of these shows - and I'm not an avid viewer of them, honest - I am always stunned to see how much more you can buy in other countries for less than the price of something very modest here. It is getting very expensive to live in the UK, even outside the south east.

Housing should be a huge political issue, but apart from rows about where new houses should be built it isnt. The politicians dont want to offend those who feel better off as a result of the housing boom i.e. those who aren't actually moving anywhere or are not trying to buy for the first time. Chances are it will all end in tears. Remember the dot com boom that put an end to boom and bust? Exactly!
 
Okay, so i did exaggerate slightly, but the problem of first time buying is a big one for loads of people in the UK (especially the South-East). Luckily i come from a fairly affluent background so i should be able to afford somewhere half-decent, but even so were going to be hit by a mortagage somewhere in the region of £120000 to be paying off over the next 30 years :eek:

Phil
 
That is probably comparable to New York or some of the cities in California then. ($216,000 according to the handy website currency converter) In Houston, which is one of the cheapest housing markets, that would buy a nice home or townhouse close to downtown, or a VERY nice home in the suburbs. I spent less than half that for a small house (1250 sq. ft) in a suburb 45 mins drive time from downtown.

In a small town, though, that would buy you a LOT of house.
 
Well im not gonna be living with my parents when im thirty, i think one of us will cave in long before that and murder everybody in the house :) At times it is very strained .... cant wait to get a place of my own at last!!

Phil
 
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