After much discussion, Patrick has decided to go back to school to finish his degree. His latest job search has been turning up wall after wall as employers get pickier. A large pool of candidates means people can afford to be more discrimanating with who they hire. Once upon a time experience and acumen more than made up for the academic holes in Patrick's resume, but now you have to have it all plus more to even get called in for an interview.
Patrick's ideal job has always been teaching drama in public high school, which I think is a noble pursuit (think about it: how many teachers have you had in the past who obviously just fell into the profession by default?).
There is no state-mandated teacher certification test for art, music, drama, or foreign languages in Georgia (although plenty places will try to sell you one, it's not technically required); but you have to get a special permit to teach those subjects at the secondary level. The only requirement for the permit is that you have relevant experience in your subject area. The catch is, you can only apply for this permit through a school after they have hired you. Due to afore mentioned pickiness, you can forget about being considered for employment if you lack a degree.
So, Patrick is going back to Piedmont to study drama education at one of only two programs in the whole state specifically geared toward the elusive permit certification. We have high hopes for his admission into the program, despite a somewhat lackluster GPA, because he's been there before and Piedmont is trying to raise its retention rate. I just hope we can pay for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment