Am I too young to know?
Apr 23rd 2014, 2:54 am
#16
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Re: Am I too young to know?
If you go to college in Canada you will have a further education certificate. So, if you do go to Britain finding work might be easier.
You could go to Britain for a year to see how you find it when you have finished your studies. If you decline to go to college you might really regret it in a few years time.
You're not to young to know but you're old enough to learn.
If you go to England for an extended period to live and work there you will be better able to see what it's really like, day in, day out. It might not have the answers you are looking for, there again it might.
It could end up making Canada look attractive. Will you miss home ? For some people, that's the decider when they return to their home country. Do they want to stay or they can't wait to get back home to where they emigrated to. It's true when they say home is where the heart is. Although, hearts can move house too.
As Pulaski has said, it's part of the growing process. Questioning yourself, questioning your life.
I worked with a girl who's family moved to America from Britain when she was little. She retuned to Britain to work in her early twenties and stayed with her gran for a while. A clash of lifestyles meant she found her own place to live but anyway ! Within 18 months she had returned to America as she was missing her family there.
You could go to Britain for a year to see how you find it when you have finished your studies. If you decline to go to college you might really regret it in a few years time.
You're not to young to know but you're old enough to learn.
If you go to England for an extended period to live and work there you will be better able to see what it's really like, day in, day out. It might not have the answers you are looking for, there again it might.
It could end up making Canada look attractive. Will you miss home ? For some people, that's the decider when they return to their home country. Do they want to stay or they can't wait to get back home to where they emigrated to. It's true when they say home is where the heart is. Although, hearts can move house too.
As Pulaski has said, it's part of the growing process. Questioning yourself, questioning your life.
I worked with a girl who's family moved to America from Britain when she was little. She retuned to Britain to work in her early twenties and stayed with her gran for a while. A clash of lifestyles meant she found her own place to live but anyway ! Within 18 months she had returned to America as she was missing her family there.
I'm very grateful for the responses I have gotten anyway.I agree about home being where the heart is; all I know is that during my last two visits to the UK (in both July 2013 and March of this year), I felt a lot happier, more motivated, a better sense of involvement in everyday life, etc... If that makes sense! Since I got back from my last visit in March, I've gone back to feeling lazy, lethargic, lack of motivation, anxiety, etc... I feel like a lot of it stems from feeling detached and uninvolved in my life here in Canada. However, I would have to actually live in the UK for a while to truly know where I want to be. My sister has the same feelings as I do about Canada (and for a lot longer, as well), and she plans on moving back to the UK eventually, too.
Apr 23rd 2014, 2:56 am
#17
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Re: Am I too young to know?
A Canadian teaching degree would allow you to teach in the UK without the need for further UK qualifications. My son who has Canadian and Irish citizenship received an Ontario degree and is teaching full time in London UK. He signed up with an agency for supply teaching for the first year (they guarantee 4 days a week) and was then able to find a full time job.
Apr 23rd 2014, 3:05 am
#18
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Re: Am I too young to know?
Lottie I would take a year out - if you do a course in Canada you may have education debt at the end of it and that may hold you back. And not all Canadian qualifications are automatically accepted in the UK either.
If you're going to do education, do something that your heart is in and because you want to do it - don't do it as a means to an end.
I still have the BEC National Certificate in Business Studies that my parents insisted I do on day release while working at 16 for the government. I hated every single sodding minute of it, got not particularly good grades (I had no aptitude or heart in doing accounting and other business related subjects at the time) and I've never used the bloody thing for anything!
I'm 50. When I was growing up, kids used to take a year out after A levels and then go on and do higher education. That year out matters - its a time when you figure out what matters to you. You don't have to go on some kind of glorious travel journey all over the place. You could go to England arranging some au pair stuff and take it from there - see how you find it.
18 is young enough to take a year out and do something like this. And if you don't like it, you'll have learnt something about yourself - so the experience won't be wasted.
I left school at 16 and worked until I was 21 before going to do my first degree (where I met a lot of people who hadn't taken time out and were doing a degree in a subject because there parents had told them to).
At 16 I was subject to a lot of adult pressure in terms of what I should do and I followed it until I couldn't bear to anymore (I left home at 18).
At 19 I started a nurses training course - I left after 10 months for a variety of reasons. The way people carried on you would have thought I'd ruined my life - and for a long time I thought I had (which is a huge burden for a young person to carry on them).
But over time I realised that its only through trying things that one learns what one likes and dislikes.
The Canadian culture - as far as I can see (I've just come back to UK) puts an enormous amount of pressure on young people to get it right first time - right qualifications, right networking, right job - it doesn't really encourage making mistakes. But it's our mistakes that make us!
I got my 3rd degree in 2012 and during the period when I was studying for it (2008 - 2012) I was just so aware of the stress that young people are under in the canadian educational system - its horrible! Between working several jobs, studying and going into debt for education - I really don't envy the young there.
I've ended up doing a lot of different things in my life and I really wish that I had followed my heart when I was younger - with the adults in my life I didn't get a chance to do that. But when you turn away from exploring who you are, you miss the chance to find out. Although I have more opportunity to have the life that I can have now and I make the most of the opportunities I can, its a different life from the one I would have liked to have lived.
You are smart enough to have found this board and posted this smart question. Therefore I think you're smart enough to figure out a way of taking a year out without overburdening yourself with debt. And at the end of the year, you'll have a better sense of what you want out of life.
BTW I got back to the UK last Friday. I've wandered around a town in Hampshire today and seen 2 ads for cleaning jobs (one early morning, one evening), ads for waiting staff and ads for elderly companions. When I was in London I saw ads for jobs there - there are jobs around - they probably don't pay that well and you'd probably need to string several together - but heck, you're young and you're canadian! That kind of work arrangement (multiple jobs) is built into the culture! Or, set yourself up with an au pair job and see how that goes.
Good luck whatever you do!
If you're going to do education, do something that your heart is in and because you want to do it - don't do it as a means to an end.
I still have the BEC National Certificate in Business Studies that my parents insisted I do on day release while working at 16 for the government. I hated every single sodding minute of it, got not particularly good grades (I had no aptitude or heart in doing accounting and other business related subjects at the time) and I've never used the bloody thing for anything!
I'm 50. When I was growing up, kids used to take a year out after A levels and then go on and do higher education. That year out matters - its a time when you figure out what matters to you. You don't have to go on some kind of glorious travel journey all over the place. You could go to England arranging some au pair stuff and take it from there - see how you find it.
18 is young enough to take a year out and do something like this. And if you don't like it, you'll have learnt something about yourself - so the experience won't be wasted.
I left school at 16 and worked until I was 21 before going to do my first degree (where I met a lot of people who hadn't taken time out and were doing a degree in a subject because there parents had told them to).
At 16 I was subject to a lot of adult pressure in terms of what I should do and I followed it until I couldn't bear to anymore (I left home at 18).
At 19 I started a nurses training course - I left after 10 months for a variety of reasons. The way people carried on you would have thought I'd ruined my life - and for a long time I thought I had (which is a huge burden for a young person to carry on them).
But over time I realised that its only through trying things that one learns what one likes and dislikes.
The Canadian culture - as far as I can see (I've just come back to UK) puts an enormous amount of pressure on young people to get it right first time - right qualifications, right networking, right job - it doesn't really encourage making mistakes. But it's our mistakes that make us!
I got my 3rd degree in 2012 and during the period when I was studying for it (2008 - 2012) I was just so aware of the stress that young people are under in the canadian educational system - its horrible! Between working several jobs, studying and going into debt for education - I really don't envy the young there.
I've ended up doing a lot of different things in my life and I really wish that I had followed my heart when I was younger - with the adults in my life I didn't get a chance to do that. But when you turn away from exploring who you are, you miss the chance to find out. Although I have more opportunity to have the life that I can have now and I make the most of the opportunities I can, its a different life from the one I would have liked to have lived.
You are smart enough to have found this board and posted this smart question. Therefore I think you're smart enough to figure out a way of taking a year out without overburdening yourself with debt. And at the end of the year, you'll have a better sense of what you want out of life.
BTW I got back to the UK last Friday. I've wandered around a town in Hampshire today and seen 2 ads for cleaning jobs (one early morning, one evening), ads for waiting staff and ads for elderly companions. When I was in London I saw ads for jobs there - there are jobs around - they probably don't pay that well and you'd probably need to string several together - but heck, you're young and you're canadian! That kind of work arrangement (multiple jobs) is built into the culture! Or, set yourself up with an au pair job and see how that goes.
Good luck whatever you do!
It's nice to hear that because I'm so young I have nothing to lose. It's true, life is too short to waste mulling over things and not making spontaneous decisions. I mean, look at my mum, she was the one who at 52 decided to move in not only with a new partner, but to a whole different country with two children under her arm. I don't resent her, or thing she did anything wrong in making that decision, but it just goes to show that constantly staying within your comfort zone doesn't necessarily entail a great life! She's very happy and settled here, she gets along perfectly with her partner and I'm really pleased that she has found something that makes her feel good, finally. I just want her to be able to understand and respect any decision that I choose to make, now that I am growing up and responsible for my own life....
The Canadian educational system DOES have a lot of pressure on students. Even in high school I felt a lot of pressure. My peers were OBSESSED with getting scholarships, aceing tests, staying up all night working on assignments...
Apr 23rd 2014, 4:07 am
#19
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Re: Am I too young to know?
Thank you for your insight! Haha
I'm glad that not everyone is telling me that Canada is so much better than the UK. On my frequent visits back, I don't see signs of poverty all over the place, and there's so many nice areas! Just thinking about the last time I was over there, walking through the countryside makes me so sad.
Would you be able to help/tell me what sort of qualifications would get me on the best track? I think the course I have been enrolled in for college this September isn't transferable to the UK, but I don't know that for certain (Early Childhood Education). I agree, being young without the responsibilities of having a husband and child is the best opportunity to make a decision like this! x
I'm glad that not everyone is telling me that Canada is so much better than the UK. On my frequent visits back, I don't see signs of poverty all over the place, and there's so many nice areas! Just thinking about the last time I was over there, walking through the countryside makes me so sad.
Would you be able to help/tell me what sort of qualifications would get me on the best track? I think the course I have been enrolled in for college this September isn't transferable to the UK, but I don't know that for certain (Early Childhood Education). I agree, being young without the responsibilities of having a husband and child is the best opportunity to make a decision like this! x
Apr 23rd 2014, 10:14 am
#20
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Re: Am I too young to know?
Otherwise you risk (1) dropping out if your heart is not in it or (2) going into debt for a qualification that proves useless.
I'm not saying don't do that college your mum wants, I'm saying take a gap year.
Let me tell you a little story, it doesn't apply to you because it was about a young man. This was the son of a work colleague quite some years ago (I'm retired now). His family was big into religion, it was arranged that he would do a gap year as a missionary in South America at some remote location. He arranged for a one year deferment from University of California (one of their prestigious locations). Then, at the last minute, the church funding fell through or something like that, anyway it meant the missionary plans were not to be. So he asked the college to undo the deferment and they said they could not or would not, the one year deferment stands.
Being at a loose end for a year and determined to do something he did a short course as a lineman in Oroville California. Linemen are people who climb electricity transmission towers for a living. Towards the end of class a recruiter from back East came around and offered everyone a job working on construction, they had a big project opening up in Brazil. He jumped at it, a chance to go to South America by a totally unexpected route. He never did go back to college but made mountains of money working overtime 100 meters above the Amazon jungle.
Last I heard his comment was that he was enjoying life, making loads of money and college would still be there when he was ready for it, perhaps at age 30.
You never know how life will turn out. Others are right, if you don't have Canadian dual citizenship get it now, and if you do then take a gap year in another country. You need experience of life away from home before taking on college debt for a degree that is no longer a ticket to a good job (it used to be, but those times are gone forever).
Apr 23rd 2014, 10:20 am
#21
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Re: Am I too young to know?
Oh wow, so for the same amount of time away then! I'm not crazy for missing England after living here all this time then (and from such a young age)!
Yes, I am keen to study and live in the UK as well. I agree, doing something like this alone at my age is quite daunting! The course I am enrolled in right now is a 2-year program. I was thinking that perhaps (if I am still feeling this way, of course) I could look into studying in the UK afterwards.
I do have relatives in the UK; my dad who I visit and stay with when I go over (usually about every year or more), my aunties, and cousins... And one of my older brothers who is living there right now (though he doesn't know if it's temporary or not).
Yes, I am keen to study and live in the UK as well. I agree, doing something like this alone at my age is quite daunting! The course I am enrolled in right now is a 2-year program. I was thinking that perhaps (if I am still feeling this way, of course) I could look into studying in the UK afterwards.
I do have relatives in the UK; my dad who I visit and stay with when I go over (usually about every year or more), my aunties, and cousins... And one of my older brothers who is living there right now (though he doesn't know if it's temporary or not).
While I was still in the US, he would come to stay but was always glad to get back to the UK. He said he missed aspects of the US at first but he's always felt more at home in the UK than in the States. It's been nearly 8 years now and he has a very full life on this side of the pond.
Apr 23rd 2014, 12:33 pm
#22
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Re: Am I too young to know?
Re: I am planning to go to college here (starting this september in a two-year program), partly because my mum would go mad if I didn't, and, of course, so I have got some qualifications behind me regardless of what I do!
Just remember, it's your life, not your mum's (I mean this kindly) - if you really want to do Childhood Education then absolutely go for it ... but if you're just doing it to get a qualification in order to find work in the UK then really reflect on that and have a think about how it's going to pan out if you find you loath studying it and can't see yourself doing it.
In terms of finding out whether the qualification is recognised in the UK, is there a UK governing body for childcare? I would google around and contact them in advance .. you don't want to study hard for something thats not going to be recognised or is a hassle to get recognised.
(Also check wages - if it pays minimum wage in the UK, can you live/manage on that for 1 year?)
For eg, I did a Canadian social work degree. In order for it to be recognised in the UK, I have to pay 400 UK pounds (about 800 dollars) and do a mountain of paperwork (including getting a lot from other people which will be a real hassle) and also the whole process takes months ... around 4 I'm told but it could be longer.
So its possible to get this recognised but its a hassle that I would rather not deal with it at the moment. And even once its recognised, I'm not familiar with UK legislation so I'm going to have to convince UK employers of my abilities to quickly learn that.
I was at a job club this morning. There are people who are really suffering here in the UK and the benefits system is horrible. The way employers employ people is also not very nice either with respect to contracts. So having qualifications would I think help - but think about getting them if your heart is in it - otherwise you're setting yourself up for doing something you won't enjoy.
And while UK employment conditions are degrading, the practices being employed in the UK have been going a long time in Canada - so you will be more resourceful and used to this than most of the Brits I would think. I recall being shocked when I moved to Canada in 2002 - I had never previously met anyone who worked 2,3, 4 p/t jobs as a matter of course, stringing them together. Ditto had never heard of food banks. So the UK are having to get used to North American employment practices which is one reason why people are struggling so much.
But it really depends on your attitude to money/work as well - if you just see work as a means to earn a living then maybe you won't be quite as affected emotionally by doing work that you're heart isn't fully engaged in. In which case go for the most useful qualification you can get that will give you good work opportunities if you decide not to take a year out. It's a very individual thing and varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance. I have 3 degrees but if I haven't got a job in 3 months, I'm going to be cleaning toilets or whatever else I can turn my hand to in order to ensure I don't deplete my savings more.
All that said, taking a year out may lead to opportunities you would never have envisaged ...! And you'll learn more about yourself
Just remember, it's your life, not your mum's (I mean this kindly) - if you really want to do Childhood Education then absolutely go for it ... but if you're just doing it to get a qualification in order to find work in the UK then really reflect on that and have a think about how it's going to pan out if you find you loath studying it and can't see yourself doing it.
In terms of finding out whether the qualification is recognised in the UK, is there a UK governing body for childcare? I would google around and contact them in advance .. you don't want to study hard for something thats not going to be recognised or is a hassle to get recognised.
(Also check wages - if it pays minimum wage in the UK, can you live/manage on that for 1 year?)
For eg, I did a Canadian social work degree. In order for it to be recognised in the UK, I have to pay 400 UK pounds (about 800 dollars) and do a mountain of paperwork (including getting a lot from other people which will be a real hassle) and also the whole process takes months ... around 4 I'm told but it could be longer.
So its possible to get this recognised but its a hassle that I would rather not deal with it at the moment. And even once its recognised, I'm not familiar with UK legislation so I'm going to have to convince UK employers of my abilities to quickly learn that.
I was at a job club this morning. There are people who are really suffering here in the UK and the benefits system is horrible. The way employers employ people is also not very nice either with respect to contracts. So having qualifications would I think help - but think about getting them if your heart is in it - otherwise you're setting yourself up for doing something you won't enjoy.
And while UK employment conditions are degrading, the practices being employed in the UK have been going a long time in Canada - so you will be more resourceful and used to this than most of the Brits I would think. I recall being shocked when I moved to Canada in 2002 - I had never previously met anyone who worked 2,3, 4 p/t jobs as a matter of course, stringing them together. Ditto had never heard of food banks. So the UK are having to get used to North American employment practices which is one reason why people are struggling so much.
But it really depends on your attitude to money/work as well - if you just see work as a means to earn a living then maybe you won't be quite as affected emotionally by doing work that you're heart isn't fully engaged in. In which case go for the most useful qualification you can get that will give you good work opportunities if you decide not to take a year out. It's a very individual thing and varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance. I have 3 degrees but if I haven't got a job in 3 months, I'm going to be cleaning toilets or whatever else I can turn my hand to in order to ensure I don't deplete my savings more.
All that said, taking a year out may lead to opportunities you would never have envisaged ...! And you'll learn more about yourself
