ПЗ 56: «Advantages and Disadvantages of Contemporary Professions»
Read and translate the texts. Choose one of them and give a short summary of it:
I. Choosing a Career
Confusion about choosing a career is natural. Some teens become frustrated in the decision-making process because of a lack of information. Others become frozen in the fear that they will make the wrong decision and have to live in misery. And still others believe they'll end up doing something they will hate, so they stall and can't move in any direction.
If you are considering your future and where it might take you, or if you are confused about what you want to do for a living, here are a few suggestions that might be helpful:
Explore your interests, abilities and values. Begin this process by exploring what kind of person you are, because you are likely to change as you grow and gain work experiences, the images you have of yourself are more like the frames in a motion picture than a snapshot. But you can get started by making a list of things you enjoy doing. You will be happy in a career only if it measures up to your interests, abilities and values.
Discover the world of work. A national study of 30000 teenagers exploring their career development needs found that 75 % had not tried to find out how they could make a career of something they enjoyed doing. You can overcome this hurdle simply by talking to teachers and parents. As you learn more about a career field you will begin to see how you can use your particular talents and interests to your advantage.
Understand the influence of your family. Every family has unspoken as well as spoken expectations that can have a tremendous impact on your career choices. When expectations are not talked about openly, they hinder your ability to make healthy decisions. Take time to understand what is expected of you - whether you choose to do something different or not. One way of exploring how your family influences your career path is to complete these unfinished sentences the way you would believe other members of your family would: Success is…, Failure is …, Education is…, Achievement is …, A career is… . Then complete these the sentences yourself being completely honest. This simple exercise can heighten your awareness of your family's influence. Remember it's your life.
Gain practical experience. Most teens work at a part-time or summer job. But too often this is only for money, not to gain practical experience in a field where they might someday work. Make a decision to seek out work, even as a volunteer, in an area where you may want to be employed for the long haul. This will give you insight into a specific work setting and allow you to “test drive' a job before committing to it.
Looking ahead. As you explore who you are, discover the world of work and hunt down the ideal occupation, don't get too stressed out. You are in an exploratory stage. This is a time when choices are narrowed but not finalized. Commitment to a type of training or employment is a process that unfolds with time. Don't feel as if you have to settle everything today.
By taking your time, taking advantage of all the help available to you and listening to your own inner wisdom, you can make a choice that will lead to a fulfilling and rewarding future.
II. Gender Inequality
There is a long-standing and well-documented male domination of all professions, even though this has weakened over the last forty years or so. For example, well-qualified women rarely get the same pay as men. "There is a 15 per cent pay gap between men and women across Europe. The situation is particularly bad in Britain. A report by the 'Women and Work Commission' last year found that women in full-time work are earning 17 per cent less than men on average...significant numbers of women enter professions such as the law and medicine every year. They are increasingly well represented as heads of professional bodies and national arts organizations. Overall, since 1975, the pay gap has narrowed by 12 percentage points.
Although in Britain, "the fulltime gender pay gap has shrunk in the past 30 years, it is still 17%, while for part-time work it is stuck at a shameful 40%....all this is happening when, at school and college, women are outshining men. In the medical and legal professions there has been a 'gender quake.' This situation is by no means limited to the law and medicine. However, the situation is fluid, and some improvements can be detected here and there. For example, in 2007, women comprised 63% of students enrolled in US professional pharmaceutical programs and 51.3% of PhD candidates in that same field. Such welcome shifts seem to herald a gradual weakening of male domination in the professions.
III. Working Holidays
Every summer, thousands of young people travel to other countries looking for work and adventure. They usually do seasonal work, mainly connected with service and agriculture. The pay is usually poor, but most people work abroad for the thrill of travel. They pick grapes in France, look after children in summer camps, and, of course, there are always jobs in hotels and restaurants. But it's not always easy for them to find work, unless they speak the language of the country well. If you want to work as a nanny with a family in Italy, then, of course, you'll have to speak Italian. When you arrive to wash dishes in a restaurant in Paris, the owner of the restaurant will ask you first if you speak French. British student have a language advantage for jobs in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Not everyone enjoys the experience of working abroad, Alice Rogers was responsible for forty children in Spain. The two teachers who accompanied the children had never been abroad. One child lost his passport, another became seriously ill, and was put on a plane back home; four children got lost in Madrid for a whole day; they were going to throw out the whole group out of one hotel because of the noise the children made. Alice said, "I visited a lot of new places, but it wasn't worth it. The pay was awful, and it really was a 24-hour-a-day job. The kids never slept!"
When young people go abroad, they see it as a holiday. In practice, they have to work hard. At the same time they have to do casual work and they have few employment rights. As soon as the holiday season finishes, the company that employs you, will easily get rid of you. And if you don't work hard, or if your employer doesn't like you, you'll lose your job the next day.
IV. Career Prospects
Up to now I've been a very business-oriented person. I used to dream of making my way up to the top of some firm or other. I wanted to work in pleasant surroundings, to keep civilized hours, to have a nice salary and good career prospects. But lately I've been thinking a lot about teaching as a career. I think the feeling of job satisfaction in this profession is the greatest. Teaching English appeals to me, though I'm not sure that I'll make a good teacher as I lack tolerance and self-discipline. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind working in a travel agency. I'm the kind of person who finds it boring to stay too long in one place; I begin to get itchy feet. And this profession involves traveling, seeing new places, meeting new people. So I'm still in two minds what career to choose. But there is some time left to make up my mind. I simply want to be happy.