Even when I am so close to the end of my course. I keep asking myself why I am studying law. Why?The blog post from earlier this year on course transfers had me wondering. For all the study I have done in my life I feel I must not be too bright if I have only worked things out this week.
You see I have the answer to why I am studying law.
And it goes like this: I liked the sound of it, it impressed my family and even my sister started introducing me by my future career. It was akin to name-dropping. It made me feel accepted in my family.
At the beginning of the year I answered my lecturer with pure honesty when she went around the class asking who intended to practice law when they finished – all answered yes, but me. She told me a law degree was the new arts degree – it could take you anywhere. The other students looked at me like I was mad when I said I was planning to do a Master of Arts by research next year.
But no education is ever wasted – I want that engraved on my headstone, by the way.
Still, it is important to do what you want to do and not let your choices be influenced by what others think of them, you own those decisions and you have to live with them.
I like to write, to edit, and to read. This is what I do as a part time job. It is what I see myself doing forever, not law.
I met a man who went to university and became an accountant. He worked as one for as long as he could before he realized that it was botanical science that was his passion and now he is spending his time outdoors and studying with a passion he never felt with accounting.
Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. From here on in, I am focusing on my desire; study can and should be enjoyed.
- By Jo I forgot to feed my family. Yes, that’s right and it wasn’t for one night either, more like half a trimester. I also forgot about the dirty laundry. Yet somehow I had clean clothes. The cat litter was clean and the dishes done. It was then that it occurred to me that I had officially been consumed by university life.Textbooks, computer, paper, pen (vintage fountain pen thank you), something to eat and drink (double espresso stat), and of course the all-important Internet connection for Facebook and Twitter, I mean DSO, and that’s all I believed was needed at the start.But there was one last resource I had forgotten. To be frank, I’m not sure how as it is seriously hard to miss a fifteen year old with a personality twice her size and a husband over six feet tall, but I did and I still do. When I’m hunched over my books and I fail to notice them because I’m on a deadline and my only activity is to wear a track in the carpet from my desk to the kitchen to refill my mug, I forget. In fact, I forget to feed them, among other forms of neglect. I only realised this recently when I cooked dinner and they both looked at me like I’d done something newsworthy. Obviously exams had just finished and I fell back into an old routine. They had a new routine. They cooked and cleaned. They made food for me occasionally. Somehow I hadn’t noticed I was living off caffeine, chocolate and toast. But they did.The moment of epiphany came at a graduation ceremony when the vice chancellor asked the graduates to stand and look for their family and friends and to give them applause for all their support. Family and friends, classmates and internet buddies have all helped me get this far - whether it be bouncing an idea about on Twitter with strangers, or with fellow students on Facebook, or having my daughter play the accused so I can practice cross examination skills or my husband fielding telephone calls when I’m studying, it’s a resource that needs recognition (and probably feeding, must put that in the diary – feed family!) It’s a resource I remember from secondary school – my dad cooking meals every night through VCE (all vegetarian, despite his carnivorous tastes). Come to think of it, this is probably why I forget to cook when I’m studying – default setting. Now sounds like a good time for me to make a resolution, I know New Year’s is past, but I’m never one to conform to the pack, so I’ll make mine now – I shall remember to value the support of my family and friends for the huge contribution they’re making to my academic success, and yes I’ll try and feed them...do you think take out counts?
