cry moar, bagheera

I'm stuck in the most soul-crushing hell of bureacracy imaginable. Or so it feels, I'm sure (I know) there's worse, but I swear, if one of the people responsible were to appear in front of me right now, I would yelp and hide under the desk and then I would TEAR THEM TO PIECES WITH MY BARE HANDS. AND TEETH.

It's so bad that I'm having a serious anger management problem.

You see, my bureaucracy problem started quite harmlessly, in a midsized town in Germany five years ago when little Nadja was trying to decide on a career. After a term of anthropology, the pure humanities no longer sounded as rosy, and besides, being poor and having chronically unemployed parents, I wanted nothing more than security. So I decided on Lehramt, the degree that in Germany allows you to teach highschool (or rather, one of the three German equivalents of highschool). After another year of waffling around with English and Biology as my Lehramt subjects, I finally settled on English and German Lit. Now this was quite cushy, because as a matter of fact there is next to no difference between the Magister (= German Master) and the Lehramt degree, so I could very well become an (unemployed) academic after all. But the problem is... you do have to do all the things would-be teachers have to do. Including a term spent teaching at school, the so-called Praxissemester. This, being the avoidant personality that I am, I postponed indefinitely until my 10th semester.

However, to make this Praxissemester extra horrible, it means you have to apply to the schools via an online form. This allows you took pick a school from your area (which is huge). This school gets nothing but your name, your subjects, and the numbers of terms you've been studying. Not your grades, not your picture, not your CV or qualifications. Since there is a huge number of applicants and everyone has to apply during the same period, chances of getting a place you want are infinitesimal. It is fairness created through utter unfairness. Judging by my number of semesters, any school will immediately think: Aha! A slacker! And promptly reject me, via an equally anonymous online rejection form. Which has happened twice today already. Getting those little messages in my inbox is way more distressing than it should be.

At this rate, I'm going to end up with the dregs of the German education system, and probably with a two or three hour commute. Imagine how terribly motivated I feel already.

cry moar, bagheera

I'm stuck in the most soul-crushing hell of bureacracy imaginable. Or so it feels, I'm sure (I know) there's worse, but I swear, if one of the people responsible were to appear in front of me right now, I would yelp and hide under the desk and then I would TEAR THEM TO PIECES WITH MY BARE HANDS. AND TEETH.

It's so bad that I'm having a serious anger management problem.

You see, my bureaucracy problem started quite harmlessly, in a midsized town in Germany five years ago when little Nadja was trying to decide on a career. After a term of anthropology, the pure humanities no longer sounded as rosy, and besides, being poor and having chronically unemployed parents, I wanted nothing more than security. So I decided on Lehramt, the degree that in Germany allows you to teach highschool (or rather, one of the three German equivalents of highschool). After another year of waffling around with English and Biology as my Lehramt subjects, I finally settled on English and German Lit. Now this was quite cushy, because as a matter of fact there is next to no difference between the Magister (= German Master) and the Lehramt degree, so I could very well become an (unemployed) academic after all. But the problem is... you do have to do all the things would-be teachers have to do. Including a term spent teaching at school, the so-called Praxissemester. This, being the avoidant personality that I am, I postponed indefinitely until my 10th semester.

However, to make this Praxissemester extra horrible, it means you have to apply to the schools via an online form. This allows you took pick a school from your area (which is huge). This school gets nothing but your name, your subjects, and the numbers of terms you've been studying. Not your grades, not your picture, not your CV or qualifications. Since there is a huge number of applicants and everyone has to apply during the same period, chances of getting a place you want are infinitesimal. It is fairness created through utter unfairness. Judging by my number of semesters, any school will immediately think: Aha! A slacker! And promptly reject me, via an equally anonymous online rejection form. Which has happened twice today already. Getting those little messages in my inbox is way more distressing than it should be.

At this rate, I'm going to end up with the dregs of the German education system, and probably with a two or three hour commute. Imagine how terribly motivated I feel already.