Yet another (hopefully profitable) change
"That work is an age-old fact does not in the least prevent it from remaining a perfectly historical fact...we know very well that work is 'natural' just as long as it is 'profitable', and that in modifying the inevitability of the profit, we shall perhaps one day modify the inevitability of labour."
-Barthes, The Great Family of Man (Mythologies)
An interesting idea, Monsieur Barthes. But, as usual, he has missed the point. Barthes spends far too long in The Great Family of Man complaining that we do not spend enough time thinking about the context of events; for example, it does not matter if someone dies, if we do not know the context of their life. Similarly, he argues, the fact that we are working is not nearly as important as the context of our work.
This is especially interesting given the proposed idea: change the context - specifically, the profitability - of our work, and see how the natural facts change to fit. Yet if work is only natural as long as it is profitable, we cannot reach a conclusion about the natural or unnatural state of work if we do not include all possible defintions of the word profitable. Most of us will only consider the first definition; namely, something is profitable if it makes a profit. This is easily changed and manipulated by outside forces such as the current economic environment. And up until this point, Monsieur Barthes' idea stays true.
Yet it is not difficult to include the second, broader definition of profitable: beneficial, useful, valuable, and/or helpful. After all, isn't this why we volunteer? Why we have our own, personal to-do lists? After all, why would we persist in something that has no value? When we volunteer, we help the community. When we work on our own projects, be they writing a novel or painting our living rooms, we are helping ourselves in some way; perhaps a new color on the walls makes our house feel more like a home, where we can relax, be comfortable, and be ourselves. Isn't that a profit in its own right?
While, I admit, part of me reads Barthes' quotation and thinks, "indeed, let's modify the inevitability of work! I want to stay home today and sleep in!", the other part of me realizes that work will always be a truth in our lives because there is always a profit to be had. If we lost our drive to improve, or to profit, humanity would stagnate.
So why am I going on about this? Partly because I just finished writing yet another essay on Barthes and wanted to make you suffer along with me. But partly (and quite a bit more charitably) because I think it speaks to a question we've all heard and possibly played out before: why do we work in the ways that we do?
As you might have guessed, this is a question that I've been playing with quite a bit lately, albeit in a rather indirect manner. "Where and what should I teach?" is really asking, "Where in the world and with what subject will I be able to maximize profit?" Thinking about it in those terms has helped me realize that I was right the first time and that foreign language - specifically, ESL/ELL - will likely be the most profitable subject area in terms of community; I believe that is the best solution for everyone involved.
Bringing personal profit into the picture, I am again forced to conclude that I will gain the most personal profit from teaching abroad, at least on a temporary basis. (I say temporary not to open myself up to temporary teaching positions, which I don't really care for, but to allow for the possibility that, in time, I will want/need to return to the United States.) Which opens up a whole 'nother can of worms, because guess what? Out of all the teaching certificates and endorsements I have/am currently finishing, TESOL (or TESL, or ESL/ELL) is not one of them.
However, there are a handful of schools (all of the abroad) where you can slip around that requirement if you are a native English speaker, which I am. For various psychological reasons, I applied to one of those schools this weekend. It is a Catholic school in Terreón, Mexico, which teaches via full English immersion. Teachers live on campus, have medical insurance, and time over breaks to visit family back home if they so desire, so, no, I haven't jumped completely off the deep end. I perhaps applied just a smidgen early, but I was honestly so excited to read about their program that I didn't think about that part of it very well.
In the days after my application, I have swung from being excited about the possibility, to being sick with worry over the jump of faith it would require, and back to being excited about it. And, yes, I am aware that it has only been two days; what can I say, I swing quickly!
Trust me, I have pleanty more to say on the subject, but if I don't leave now, I won't get to eat before class. And that would most certainly minimize my profit for the afternoon! So, uh, just be prepared to hear about this again, okay? (and again, and again, and again, and again....)