High School Careers Counselling

Sucked, in my case.

by Dunechaser

Two friends and I had no idea what to study in senior high school so we made an appointment to see our guidance counsellor, who apparently had insight into such matters, kind of like a crystal ball crazy lady at a circus. We went along as a group of three because the guidance rooms were kind of scary. They were situated past the staff coffee area (also scary, because the scariest teachers could see you were out of class, and might at any moment duck out and ask what you were up to and why — although I must’ve looked innocent, because they never did.) Next we had to walk down a very long corridor, and once we reached the careers rooms there were scary pamphlets displayed across the wall, about getting accidentally pregnant, dying of AIDs and whatnot. Plus all the horrible stories that took place behind closed doors must have left a residue of foreboding, which radiated out into the waiting area.

By rights, we shouldn’t have sought careers counselling as a group, because apart from being best friends, the three of us had little in common. I was good at English, languages and art while my two friends were good at home economics and sewing and secretarial studies. (It’s not called ‘home economics’ anymore. It’s called food technology. And ‘sewing” is called textiles technology. English is still called English, but I wonder when that’s going to be deemed non-inclusive and Anglocentric.)

None of us had actually talked to this guidance counsellor before. Partly because our school had four guidance counsellors, and if you did happen to see one, once, for a course of private lectures because you were being a pain in the arse about compulsory swimming lessons in a freezing cold pool (yes, that was me but it did get me out of swimming), then it wasn’t likely you saw that same counsellor again, unless you were a regular problem kid, in which case the guidance counsellor, dean and deputy principal knew you very well. In that case, you may have got better career counselling than we got.

Because all that happened was the counsellor told us to take computer science. Were we good at maths? No. Not really. Okay, then you’ll have to take computer studies. This was 1993, and computers were the way of the future, so it didn’t matter what our interests, we needed to learn all about computers.

I did as I was told and put down computer studies. (At high school ‘options’ aren’t options in the true sense, because you still have to fill your timetable up with something.) My family had owned a home computer since 1986, so I didn’t find computer studies very useful. I learned that, despite very much liking our home computer, I hated computers actually, mainly because our school had also purchased a lab full of computers in 1986… and hadn’t updated them since. In computer studies lessons we wrote basic programs to navigate a turtle around a black and green screen. (I’d already done that myself aged about seven.) We memorised acronyms. We were told the difference between a dot matrix and an ink jet. That sort of thing.

My mother said I should also take geography. She’d taken history at school and hated it, she said, and she always wished she’d taken geography. So I took geography. I thought it would be about different cultures, where we could flip through national geographic magazines and do ‘projects’ of the sort I enjoyed so much in primary school – collecting foreign coins, memorising place names and major imports/exports, learn about major world religions, read excerpts from Desmond Morris… But high school geography was no such thing.

Instead, all I remember is rocks. I don’t actually remember the names of the rocks (except grey wacke, but if you come from Canterbury it’s likely you’d absorb that one anyway). I just remember that rocks were a major part of the course. I also remember a class trip to Birdlings Flat where we had to throw a stick into the sea while someone with a digital watch (always me, because I was a watch nerd and actually never properly learned to tell analogue time properly), had to utilise the stopwatch feature, to determine how long it took for the stick to wash downshore a bit. This was known as ‘rate of coastal drift’. Or something.

We also went on a midwinter bus trip to a nearby ski resort town to see how the roofs of the chalets had been built (all pointy like, to avoid the accumulation of snow). But what I remember most is that a girl whose name was pronounced ‘Weesha’ (and spelt completely differently) had lost her virginity the night before — in a bush in Hagley Park — and man, was she making a big thing of it, lolling about the bus with menstrual cramps, because she’d gone home and confessed it, for some reason, so her very angry Dutch immigrant parents had marched her down to the chemist quick smart and purchased the morning after pill. This episode annoyed me because Weesha was in our group, and we’d been given some task to do. Her parents must have sent her along on the field trip, despite major crampings, as just desserts, but she might as well have been at home in bed because she wasn’t pulling her weight. I remember Weesha got into computer science because she was Dutch, and almost all Dutch immigrants seem to produce kids who are very bright, and I suppose she’s earning squillions as a computer expert these days. (She was also the only girl in the computer science class, which suited her very well, or so I imagine.)

I digress. Careers counselling.

There was also a Careers Expo, but if you’ve ever been to one of those, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a Travel Expo. The glossy pamphlets and smiling salespeople at the stalls are a little too evangelical these days, because their institution’s funding — their very own jobs — depend on getting bums on seats. This is unfortunate. And useless. And it means we have a disproportionate number of students enrolled in courses like fashion photography and wedding planning and other glamorous jobs where they’re not necessarily going to make any money at the end of it.

Our own teachers tried to offer good, sound careers advice, but the problem is, many teachers have only ever been teachers, and I expect the teachers who used to be something else didn’t like that very much, so they’re hardly going to recommend it to their students.

One time, we were all taken to a computer lab to use what I can only describe as a ‘careers wizard’, and like all computer ‘wizards’ it was useless as batshit. (Although batshit’s probably quite good as manure, come to think of it.)

What we had to do was plug in what school subjects we liked and which ones we were good at. I’m sure we had to answer a few other questions too, but at the age of 14, what do you know?

My interests at the time included listening to music on the radio and making mix tapes, watching game shows after dinner with my parents, riding my bike and writing the odd play in my spare time. I liked English — mainly for the creative writing aspect — not for the awkward readalouds of Shakespeare, or the compulsory speeches and debates, which I hated, because I never liked to speak aloud in class. (That changed later. In fact, now I fear sometimes after group situations that I’ve had too much airtime.) Anyway, with all this information, the computer spewed out three possible career choices for me: One of them was a theatre director.

I’d never actually been to the theatre.

The other two choices escape my memory, but were equally unlikely. The girl sitting next to me was advised to pursue a career in Egyptology. This was New Zealand, by the way. I think there might be an Egyptologist from New Zealand. They probably live in Egypt. There probably won’t be a job opening for another Egyptologist until that first one retires, or dies.

I wish I’d been asked more relevant questions. Pay attention to what you envy. As the Lifehacker article says, your envy isn’t pleasant, but at least it’s honest, and should give you a good idea about what it is you really want to do.

I wish someone had asked me these questions:

1. Do you feel happiest working alone, or do you like to be surrounded by people? Or a mixture of both?

2. Do you like to be very busy with external stimulation, or do you like to plan your own day?

3. Does multitasking stress you out, however good you are at it?

4. If you were asked to complete a 3 hour task in isolation, would you find yourself craving human interaction by the end of that time, or would you be glad of the peace and quiet, to get the job done?

5. Does speaking to large groups of people energise you, or does it make you feel tired just thinking about it?

6. Do you require organisation, and do you cope well if plans change at the last minute, for reasons completely outside your control?

7. In order to feel satisfied with your work, do you require external verification (measured by small jobs completed, say) or are you happy to go for long periods of time safe in the knowledge that your work will  mean something over the long term?

8. What sort of boss do you think you’d be? And what do you appreciate in a boss?

9. What is your relationship with people in authority so far? Any patterns? (Would self-employment suit you better than an organisation with multiple tiers and ranks?)

10. Do you aspire to own your own house one day?

That tenth question should probably come first. Because much of today’s Gen Y better have a good, high-paying job if they ever want to own property near a city. I’d also add an eleventh question:

11. Are you a country person, or a city person?

Because if you want to live in a rural area, you’re better off finding a job which you can do in a rural area. (Teaching is good in that case. Or GP or police work or nursing.) Some jobs require that you’re based in a city. Related to that:

12. Do you prefer to work outdoors, indoors, or a mixture of both?

13. Do you have any disabilities (either minor or major) that would prevent you from doing or enjoying certain types of jobs?

In my case, I burn easily (in Australia, because I’m not black) and also get hayfever, so no matter how much I like outdoors, the outdoors doesn’t like me.

14. Would you prefer to be slightly overstimulated at work, or would you prefer a less stimulating job?

We can challenge ourselves–shed our complacency and love of ease–and so reinvigorate our shrivelled virtues. That’s what a well-rounded education is supposed to do, and even those with the most repetitive jobs can in their leisure hours expand their minds.

If you’re fortunate to have hobbies and interests that occupy your thoughts and actions in non-work time, you may not need or want the excessive stimulation that is required by some jobs.

- from Tim Flannery, Here On Earth.

So there you have it. My own 14 Questions Careers Wizard. The main problem, though, is knowing yourself at the age of 14. Or finding adults who know you well enough to advise, without heaping their own career envy upon you.

“Our number-one value isn’t in any of the skills we have. It’s that we’re essentially curious.”

-Jim Coudal

Obviously, it is best not to be in social or work settings which conflict with your core values. If, deep down, you want to be a painter but are a merchant banker, you are liable to feel torn.

- Oliver James, from Affluenza

Related Articles: Finding Your Work Sweet Spot (from 99 percent); The Ten Least Stressful Jobs (from CNBC); How Do We Prepare Kids For Jobs We Can’t Imagine Yet? (from GOOD Education); Working for money versus Working for a purpose from The Everyday Minimalist; Four Destructive Myths Most Companies Still Live By, from HBR.

See also: Getting girls interested in science - Studies have shown that interest counts more than ability toward choosing a major or a career.

Digging To America by Anne Tyler

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. How did you enjoy this book?

Very much. This is one of those rare instances when the glowing snippets of review on the cover seem accurate; this is indeed a ‘funny and sharply observed’ modern tale, and I identified with the setting and with the characters. Whenever I had to put the book down, I was looking forward to picking it back up again. I’m keen to read more from this author.

I did find the large number of characters a little hard to keep track of at first, but then I usually have this problem. I did work it out in the end. Here are the family trees if you’re equally flummoxed:

THE DONALDSON-DICKENSON FAMILY TREE

Jin-Ho-s-Family-3-Apr-2011

THE YAZDAN FAMILY TREE

Susan-s-Family-2-4-Apr-2011

2. Do you think Maryam’s view as immigrant is a fair portrait of modern day America?

I’ve never been to America, much less lived there, but this book could quite easily be set in certain parts of Australia, with few modifications. This could easily be set in Gungahlin, Canberra as Mt Washington, Baltimore.

Here we have the same ‘more-organic-than-thou’ subcultures, and a similar sense of entitlement (‘Yes, that was what [Maryam] objected to: their asumption that they had the right to an unfair share of the universe.’) and an increasingly litigious culture. An Iranian immigrant to this area would have many similar culture shocks.

3. Do you identify with the characters? With whom do you empathise most?

Despite the generational gap between myself and Maryam, I identify with her the most. I get irritated at similar things: unthinking questions, following other people rather than thinking for oneself. I notice things about people in the same way Maryam does. I share her dislike of overdressed parties with loud music, and her dislike of driving at night. I feel the same way about ostentatious marriage proposals and cultural tokenism.

I predict that if I spent my adult life as an immigrant, I would be the same kind of jaded by her age.

4. Who do you identify with the least?

Apart from the older Iranian men, who I’d never have any hope of identifying with at all, I identify least with Bitsy. I have little time for imperative people, especially when they spout a lot of bullshit. In chapter nine, in preparation for the Binkie party, it turns out that Bitsy ‘doesn’t believe in disposable nappies’ (but is using them anyway) and, more to the point, she thinks nothing of tying forty-eight plastic pacifiers to helium balloons and setting them free — to cause needless plastics pollution elsewhere. “I think the Binky Fairy’s too smart to fall for toys that encourage blatant consumerism.” She doesn’t understand herself very well.

5. Do you have any personal experience of emigration? Or of emigrants?

I’ve lived for two years in Japan. As one of the (absent) characters remarks in the book, it’s easy to be an immigrant in Japan because locals tell you the rules. And if you break them, you obviously look foreign (if you’re white, that is), so the foreigner is afforded much leeway. During my stay in Japan I was part of the ex-pat community, though there are never enough New Zealanders to make up a ‘community’, so I was part of the Korean/Chinese expat community. I was the only white girl in the village. I did okay with that. I got a real insight into how exhausting it can be, living life in a language and culture other than your own. I wouldn’t want to live my entire life like that, so I have much respect for a character like Maryam.

I also lived briefly in England on a working holiday visa, where I didn’t really expect much culture difference due to shared ancestry and a common language. But when I got there I realised there was quite a large culture gap. That was more of a shock to me than two years in Japan.

6. Are there times in your life when you have felt an outsider, much like Maryam?

I think most people feel an outsider at some point, not necessarily because they are in a foreign country. You feel like an outsider the first time you go to your boyfriend’s extended family gathering, for instance. You feel like an outsider on your first day at a new job, or when you turn up at a new club, where everyone has known each other for ages. As Maryam says to Dave in the car, it’s easy to make a thing of your foreignness if you’re an immigrant. “You think everything would be different if only you belonged.” Dave counters with, “We all think the others belong more.”

Some people seem to do better in new situations than other people. I think it has a lot to do with how much you’ve traveled. I’m an introverted person and tend to feel crowded out if I don’t get time to spend on my own, yet I’m relatively comfortable in new groups of people. This is only because I have forced myself into new situations. As a child I was shy as well as introverted. (By the way, those are two completely different things.)

I’ve come to think that the best emigrants are actually rather introverted people. Extroverts tend to need others to bounce off, and can feel hopelessly alone once removed from people they know, or from people who will listen. If I weren’t an introvert, I doubt I’d have enjoyed my situation in a small Japanese village quite so much, because when you look different, and speak a different native language, you find yourself alone much of the time, even when you’re in a crowd of people.

[Maryam] was lonelier in public than she was at home, to be honest.

7. If you had been adopted into one of these families as a baby, would you rather have been adopted into the Donaldson-Dickenson household, or into the Yazdans’?

I would not want Bitsy for a mother, however well-meaning she is. She gave up her own identity as a person even before she had children – she never finished her degree course or found a proper job, and I expect this is because she was biding time until she could have children of her own. Once they got Jin-Ho, she started to live for the child. I doubt this will change by the time Jin-Ho gets to adolescence and begins to claim her own identity. Mothers like Bitsy seem to be the mothers who complain loudest about ‘difficult teenaged daughters’ and I wouldn’t like to be in that household for that – especially since Jin-Ho’s teenage years will coincide with Bitsy’s menopause.

8. What are some of the ways in which the grandparents (of both families) come to terms with their grandparenting roles?

Maryam has been careful to keep a respectable, grandmotherly distance with Ziba. She doesn’t want to become the dreaded interfering mother-in-law. But in doing so, Ziba and Maryam end up pussyfooting around each other with the politeness of friends rather than family, and this creates communication difficulties.

I’d say Maryam is glad not to be related to Bitsy, because she disapproves of her helicopter parenting style. It is almost too much for her that Ziba follows Bitsy’s lead.

Ziba confides in Bitsy that her parents believe in fate: that if you can’t have children of your own, naturally, then you shouldn’t be having them. They seem to come round once the adoption happens, but theirs is such a large family that it shouldn’t really matter – Ziba’s brothers have carried on the gene pool. They seem to warm to Susan.

Bitsy and Brad are older parents, so perhaps this is why the grandparents on that side step back somewhat. Brad’s parents seem to know what Bitsy is like, so they make sure they’re on a cruise each time Bitsy throws one of those cloying Arrival Parties. Bitsy’s own parents are caught up in their own worlds; Dave knows what she’s like too, but she’s the only important female left in his life and he’s too busy looking after Connie, and then grieving for her, and then for Maryam. It takes a while for him to warm to his Asian grandchildren. He isn’t keen on the idea of them adopting the second one, and doesn’t feel enthusiastic about babysitting while Bitsy and Brad are in China to collect her.

9. To what extent do you feel emigrants should ‘assimilate’ into their new cultures?

This is a tough one, and my answer would depend: I’m technically an emigrant myself, but as a New Zealander living in Australia I only rarely feel any difference between me and the Australians. There is essentially no culture difference. At least, there is no more culture difference between ‘NZ’ and ‘Australia’ than between Queensland and New South Wales, say.

But for many emigrants, there is a huge learning curve and long period of adjustment. I think that people who are monolingual and who have never had to adapt to another culture completely underestimate how difficult it really is to learn a foreign language, especially as an adult. English speakers are sometimes very hard on foreigners who fail to learn English. And even when you’re quite good at the local language, if it’s not your native language, you’re forever working harder.

Ziba said, “Me?” The question was so unexpected she wondered if she had mistranslated it.

[Maryam] had noticed that as she grew older, speaking English took more effort. She might ask for “es-stamps” instead of stampes, or mix up her “he’s” and “she’s,” realising it only when she saw a look of confusion cross someone’s face. And then she would feel exhausted. Oh what difference did it make?

Immigrants to Australia who never learn good English are at a big disadvantage, because they are forever limited to the expat communities. I’m sure this could get to feeling like a big, messy family, because you can’t choose who else from your country emigrated nearby, just as you can’t choose your family. A language barrier also limits immigrants to unskilled labour. This has huge socio-economic impacts.

Sometimes I think we try to say the right things to immigrants; as Maryam has experienced her entire adult life, we take an interest in their cultures (which is sometimes even genuine), we admire their ‘native dress’, we try to make out we’re not ignorant by making comments about foreign politics and unrest, but each time we do this, we’re marking a difference between them and us. It’s hard to know what to do, especially since some immigrants seem to relish their difference, and go to great lengths to cook foreign food for us, and to introduce us to their ‘culture’ – which is usually ‘tourist culture’ – not true culture, the kind that isn’t really talked about, like whether you should arrive ten minutes late to a social gathering.

10. What are some of the issues raised in this book regarding intercultural marriage?

The marriage between Maryam and her late Iranian husband Kiyan  is contrasted against Maryam’s flashy double cousin: Farah, who married a hipster creative writing teacher.

“Such a point her husband makes about her foreignness! It seems she’s not really Farah at all; she’s Madam Iran.”

Of course there are many settling-down issues faced by any married couple, because no two families are exactly the same even if the culture is identical. But in Kiyan’s marriage we have an attentive American husband who loves everything about Iran, almost to the point of fetishism.

This is less talked about as a conflict in intermarriage stories; that ‘the foreign one’ can sometimes feel fetishised rather than respected as an individual. Race fetishism happens to white women in Asian societies, to black women in white societies… and in every other combination I’m sure, and to both sexes. (The woman who wrote The White Masai is a classic example of a white woman who fetishises a black man, with little thought to other human differences.) At the New Year’s party, Maryam notices that Iranian men like blonde women:

Oh, a few of the young male cousins had married blondes — there was no getting past that Iranian thing about blondes…

Even if the native parter sees the foreign partner as a complete equal, if the local is too enthusiastic about the partner’s foreignness, the foreign partner must sometimes wonder if the spouse can see past the exoticism, for the person they really are.

I was quite glad to see this issue raised because general intercultural conflict is a bit done-before.

11. What are some of the issues raised regarding arranged marriage?

It’s interesting that the oh-so-American Bitsy has been married before, briefly, to Stephen Bartholemew, which she considers basically an arranged marriage owing to the fact their parents had been lifelong friends. She feels she has something in common with Maryam.

Like Maryam, I think ‘arranged marriage’ is a misunderstood thing. More likely, it’s probably a bad translation. I’m not familiar with Iranian culture, but I’ve read a lot about Japanese culture, and the Japanese arranged marriage is more like a ‘helped marriage’, in that the family and elders from the local community are called upon to do research and arrange meetings.

I know that in some cases, arranged marriage could easily be reworded as ‘forced marriage’ but I don’t think this is the case for many young people these days, even those from cultures we would consider alien to our own here in the west.

If ‘love marriage’ is the flipside of ‘arranged marriage’, I’d say the success rate of love marriage is no higher. I’m not looking at divorce statistics, either. We can’t. Because a long marriage doesn’t equal a happy one, and cultures who practice arranged marriages generally take them more seriously, and so it’s harder to extricate oneself from one if it’s unsuccessful.

I do think many Westerners expect too much from modern marriage. Regardless of what you think about that terrible movie *cough*, Elizabeth Gilbert talks a lot of sense in this video in which she speaks on modern love. She says:

Back in the 1920s, there was a survey that asked college women what they wanted in a partner and they listed all these virtues; reliability, honesty, decency, morality.  And somewhere down around six or seven on the list came love and passion.  These things showed up sort of low on the list.  Prudence was sort up high.

And then, in the 1970s, they ask those questions again to women and the very first thing on the list is love and connection and intimacy and then the other stuff they weren’t really paying very much attention to.  And now, it’s even worse because they ask this question and they say they want a man who will inspire them everyday.  I think that’s a lot; to expect that the person in your life should, almost in this divine way, every single day, inspire you.  It’s a huge thing to want somebody to be.  And it’s a huge thing to have somebody want from you.

I think Maryam understands that too. She’s not a romantic, flighty person. This is probably to do with her personality as much as her culture; her double cousin with the creative writing teacher husband doesn’t seem to be a victim of this constant ‘critical thinking’. (Which she sees in herself, and constantly tries to suppress. She also sees a lack of it in certain others, like Brad, Bitsy’s easy-going husband.)

12. What did you think of the ending?

“Wasn’t the real culture clash the one between the two sexes?” Maryam wonders. And I wonder, as reader, if this is part of what the author meant this book to be about.

I thought it ended in a good place. I could never see Maryam agreeing to marry Dave; for one thing, it seems a bit pointless to marry someone at that age, when you could simply choose to spend time together — or not — as you both wish. Plus it would have been a bit too Pride and Prejudice if there had been a more conclusive and overtly happy ending.

I was surprised to see Maryam warm so much to Bitsy. I didn’t warm much to her, despite the cancer.

The ending is such that I know this family will continue, year after year, to travel along that path which has already been set up by the events between the two covers of this book. It ended in an appropriate place, and for once, I felt the novel wasn’t too long.

I’ve never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.

- ANNE TYLER

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The following questions are from abebooks.com

Discussion Questions:

1. Kathy jumps right into telling her story as though we’re already familiar with Hailsham and her culture. At which point in the story are you able to start piecing the information together to understand what words like “donation” and “carer” mean? Does the witholding of information make you want to read more, or do you find it frustrating?

I sometimes get frustrated with this method of storytelling: ie., the deliberate withholding of information. It’s because I’m an impatient reader, not because the storytelling is not masterful. By chapter three I thought, what on earth is going on here? I thought I might’ve missed something important. I hadn’t. He just hadn’t gone there yet.

So, after chapter three, which is how long I normally give a book before deciding whether to continue, I decided to go online and find out the gist. I cheated. I read the start of some reviews and also watched the movie trailer on YouTube. The trailer gives away a lot more than the book blurb. Once I found out the basic premise, I went back to the book with renewed enthusiasm. So this is what everyone has been raving about, I thought.

2. What does Hailsham stand for in Kathy’s life? Compare and contrast how Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, Chrissie and Rodney view Hailsham, and what it represents in their lives.

For Kathy, Hailsham probably represents a time of innocence. Ruth may have been more knowledgeable and therefore more angry about the whole thing. Kathy thinks that Tommy knew, at some level, what was in store and that this explained his anger. Perhaps she was right.

The characters Chrissie and Rodney were not memorable for me.

3. Why do you think Hailsham’s guardians placed such an emphasis on creating?

I wondered this throughout much of the book. The art was obviously symbolic of something much bigger but I couldn’t see what, unless it was something to keep them occupied. If these kids were not going to lead full adult lives there seemed no reason to train them in complex things, like doctors and lawyers. Why not have them indulge their creative sides, have fun?

4. How do you think the novel would be different if narrated from the point of view of Tommy, Ruth, Miss Emily or Madame? What characteristics of the novel are unique to Kathy’s point of view and voice?

A novel like this needs a certain kind of narrator: honest, insightful and frank. Kathy is all of these things. There is also a naivety to Kathy, which is necessary for the slow unfolding of detail – she tells the story from her childhood but without getting down to the nitty gritty. The fact she simply did not know her fate throughout childhood makes this slow unfolding seem natural.

Tommy is too naive to be a reliable narrator.

Ruth would perhaps be too unlikeable to encourage a reader to stick with her the whole way through. I suspect Ruth is more unlikeable than Kathy lets on, since nice people tend to see good in others.

Miss Emily or Madame could have told the story, but there would not have been the suspense, the wondering. Being in full possession of facts from the outset, they would have been obliged to tell the reader the full story from chapter one. This is obviously not the structure Ishiguro had in mind.

5. What are some of Ruth’s most striking character traits? How might her social behavior, at Hailsham and later at the Cottages, be explained? Why does she seek her “possible” so earnestly? Why do you think Ruth is attracted to a relationship with Tommy?

I found Ruth manipulative and disloyal, even before she confessed, before her own death, that she’d tried to keep Ruth and Tommy apart.

The knowledge that you are to be used for your organs would affect different personalities in different ways: Whereas Kathy is resigned to the fact, and accepts caring then donating as her purpose in life, it seems that Ruth took longer to come to this way of thinking. I do feel for Ruth. I think I would be the same in her situation.

Perhaps she seeks her ‘possible’ so earnestly because she is forever wondering what life would be like if she weren’t born to be a donor.

Ruth may have been attracted to a relationship with Tommy because Tommy is the opposite of herself in this respect; he has a naivety that she wishes she could enjoy.

Also, because she can. Some people seek out relationships with others mainly to fulfill something lacking in themselves, or because the alternative is to have nobody at all. Knowing that Tommy and Kathy may well have been better suited, it could have been a power thing for Ruth, maintaining her position as top of their small hierarchy of personalities.

6. Compare student life at Hailsham to your own school experience, or that of children in your life right now. What aspects are common to the imaginary world of Hailsham and your own? What is different?

Certain childlike behaviour and the way children behave in groups is mirrored in the Hailsham world, e.g. trends that start in the microcosm of a single school and catch on. At Hailsham, students took to passing around a cassette recorder, each member of a group listening to only a few seconds of a song. I haven’t seen this exact thing happen in schools, but I’m reminded of when I was in Year 7, and it became normal to go around with a can of drink saying, ‘Sip for sip?’ After this became trendy, it was almost selfish to guzzle your entire drink without exchanging sips.

Madame and Miss Emily represent two kinds of teachers found in any school: the aloof and the friendly, but each, in her own way, caring.

7. How does the story change after Kathy and Tommy visit Madame and Miss Emily to request a deferral? What is revealed in their conversation, and how does your experience of the story change?

Just before Part 3 I was moved to revisit the first few pages of the book, knowing that this time they would make more sense to me. There is so much time-shifting throughout the narrative that this didn’t feel an unnatural thing to do.

Things became clearer again when I read Miss Emily’s full explanation. I understood why the donor under Kathy’s care in chapter one wanted her to explain the details of Hailsham to him over and over; obviously he had been brought up in far inferior conditions. Certain other incidents had more significance.

8. Why does Tommy draw imaginary animals in miniature? Why does he continue to work on them even after he learns that there will be no deferral?

The students’ explanation for the art is explained in chapter 15:

‘…Madame’s got a gallery somewhere filled with stuff by students from when they were tiny. Suppose two people come up and say they’re in love. She can find the art they’ve done over years and years. She can see if they go. If they match. Don’t forget, Kath, what she’s got reveals our souls. She could decide for herself what’s a good match and what’s just a stupid crush.’ Of course, we find out later that this is not true at all.

The animals may be symbolic of the clones themselves. Kathy observes: ‘I was taken aback at how densely detailed each one was. In fact, it took a moment to see they were animals at all. The first impression was like one you’d get if you took the back off a radio set: tiny canals, weaving tendons, miniature screws and wheels were all drawn with obsessive precision, and only when you held the page away could you see it was some kind of armadillo, say, or a bird’.

That observation may be interpreted from an outsider’s point of view: e.g. Until I looked closely, I never thought of clones as real people. But if you take time to understand them, you realise how complex they are – just as complex as any other human being.

The progression of Tommy’s drawings reflects the state of his health. Later, after he has done two donations: ‘Tommy’s drawings weren’t as fresh now…something was definitely gone, and they looked laboured, almost like they’d been copied. [cloned] So that feeling came again, even though I tried to keep it out: that we were doing all of this too late; that there’d once been a time for it, but we’d let that go by, and there was something ridiculous, reprehensible even, about the way we were now thinking and planning.’

9. When Madame sees Kathy dancing to the song on the Judy Bridgewater tape, we learn Kathy’s interpretation of what she thinks Madame must be thinking. Why did you think Madame was crying? When Madame recalls this incident later from her own perspective, did it match your expectations?

At the time, I thought Madame felt extreme sadness because, whereas most of the time she didn’t allow herself to see the children as real human beings, every now and then she saw some incident which reminded her, inarguably that they are.

So my interpretation was a bit different from that of Madame, who imagined the future getting worse and worse for clones, and who imagined Kathy might be clinging on to the status quo.

10. What is the significance of Never Let Me Go as Kathy’s song, the title of the book, and in the last few pages of the novel?

About halfway through the book – when they thought they caught sight of Ruth’s possible – I came up with the disturbing idea that Kathy wrote this book for the recipient for her own organs. The semi-regular addresses to some unknown second person made sense that way, and so did the title. It felt like Kathy saying, ‘Never forget this huge sacrifice I have made for you. Don’t forget me.’

But I don’t think this is it at all. I think Kathy is addressing other clones, future clones, who will be born into a much harsher world. She doesn’t want them to fall for the same rumour. The ‘you’ is a younger clone.

11. After their visit to Miss Emily and Madame, Kathy tells Tommy that his fits of rage might be explained by the fact that “at some level you always knew.” How much did the students at Hailsham know while they were there? Do you think Tommy knew more than the others?

No, I don’t think Tommy knew more than the others. Fits of rage can come from anywhere. I’d say if anyone knew more than others, it was Ruth.

12. Does the novel take a moral or ethical position on cloning, or does it just open a dialog? What response did it evoke from you? What implications are there for our own society?

To suggest that ‘the novel’ takes a moral or ethical position on cloning is to suggest that ‘Kazuo Ishiguro’ takes a position. It would be dangerous, as ever, to suggest that the author’s own viewpoint can be aligned with those of characters in his novel.

I think Ishiguro’s intention is to weave a fascinating and thought-provoking story. He may have got to this point asking: What if? What if cloning were not only possible, but carried out? How would that feel, from the POV of the cloned?

Despite having found out the kids were harvested for organs, I didn’t realise the kids were clones until chapter twelve: ‘Since each of us was copied at some point form a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life. This meant, at leat in theory, you’d be able to find the person you were modelled from.’

Before this point I thought they might have been taken from some lower class, or created in test tubes from castoff eggs and sperm, something like that. Later, one of them (I think Ruth) assumes the same – that they come from downtrodden roots. I don’t think this is ever resolved, or if it is, I missed it.

As for implications for our society: I can’t see cloning happening anytime soon, at least not for this purpose. When the ethics of a society shift, they generally change in favour of more human-rights, not fewer. This is a generalisation we can make across time and country borders.

If Ishiguro says anything, it’s about issues much wider than cloning itself. When Miss Emily explains the situation in her front room, she might well be talking about boat people, or the poor, or prostitutes who put their lives on the line to service other, more privileged people in society.

Miss Emily also says, ‘People’s opinions, their feelings, they go one way, then the other. It just so happens that you grew up at a certain point in this process.’ This reminds me very much of Australia’s ’Stolen Generation’. At the time, the government thought it was ethcially right to take part-white Aboriginal children from their mothers and place them in urban white homes. Now everyone realises this was so wrong, and the stolen children themselves have nothing with which to console themselves, apart from this very fact.

The hypothetical implications within this story are even sadder, because the future only looks bleaker for subsequent generations, not better.

13. Miss Emily believed that hiding the truth from the Hailsham students was best, while Miss Lucy wanted to make the students more aware of their future. Which method do you agree with and why?

The only way to answer it is with this question: If you were a clone, due to die some time around your thirtieth birthday, would you want to know?

Is there a positive side to knowing your own future? If there is, it is this: You make the most of every single day.

Or do you? Some people have life-threatening illnesses, near-accidents and come back as if they’ve been through some personal revolution. Other people recover and are initially grateful but are just as grumpy as ever once life has settled into its normal routine. When I have a near-death experience – in a car, say – I’m grateful for about an hour, then I’m same old same old. It didn’t happen so meh. Wasn’t meant to.

I don’t think that knowing your own life span is helpful. If I had a chance to see my own future and know the day I would die, I wouldn’t take the opportunity. Knowing that my days are fewer than expected would only cast a sad pall over even the good times.

I’m inclined to side with Miss Emily, but at some stage, after certain questions and revelations, the Hailsham students have a right to know. It would be on a case by case basis.

14. Why do Miss Emily and Madame feel revulsion towards the students at Hailsham? When Tommy and Kathy visit them in Part III, does this revulsion conflict with the morals that the the two guardians explain themselves as having?

I don’t think there is any conflict. When I think of their teachers’ revulsion, I think this is the same sort of feeling people sometimes get when seeing someone on their death bed, or dirty and begging on the street. The revulsion is a defence mechanism, a more basal feeling than other, higher-level and far more uncomfortable feelings such as pity, guilt and sympathy. We are naturally repelled by death, but fascinated at the same time.

15. Many reviews refer to Never Let Me Go as a science fiction novel. What genre would you classify it as?

I’d call it speculative fiction, set in a dystopian, alternative England.

I wouldn’t call it science fiction – although it probably is that too. The emphasis is less on science, more on speculation – speculation of what this same world might be like if cloning technologies were more advanced after the war and if ethical boundaries had been ignored.

16. Were you expecting a happy ending to the novel? When Tommy and Kathy don’t get their deferral and instead are resigned to their fate, are you suprised? How would your experience of the novel change if there had been a happy ending instead?

I wasn’t expecting a happy ending because I’d heard that this is a very sad book that stays with the reader for a long time afterwards. This wasn’t indicative of a positive resolution. Nothing within the novel itself foreshadowed a happy ending.

The Last Spin by Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter (October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author and screenwriter.

Last Spin Questions OHP (doc)

1. What word is repeated often in the opening two paragraphs?
2. What evidence is there that this story is set in the past?
3. Aside from their jackets there is little description of Dave and Tigo. How do you imagine these two to look like in your minds-eye as you read the story?
4. Why are they having this ‘match’, this ‘game’? Do you think that it is a good enough reason to risk killing yourself?
5. Do you know another name for this deadly game that they are playing?
6. Why does Tigo keep ‘upping the odds’ by putting more bullets in the gun?
7. Both men are understandably nervous. Find some examples that show this taken from the text.
8. How does their attitude towards their clubs change over the story?
9. Find the moment in the story where Dave and Tigo’s relationship changes for the better.
10. Is there a moral to this story?
11. Did you like the story? Give some examples/reasons from the story.
12. What about the ending of the story, what do you think would have been a better ending?
13. Why does Tigo hang his head and weep at the end?
14. Find as many slang words you can from the story. Then try to figure out what they may mean.
15. From the context, guess the meaning of these words:

• abruptly
• hastily
• complicated
• the Bronx
• incredulous

Write a brief (about 50-100 words) newspaper article as if you were reporting on the aftermath of the story.

Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed by Idoya Munn

Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed was published in Nearly Seventeen: New Zealand stories collected by Tessa Duder. The author was sixteen at the time, and shows surprising maturity.

For an excellent analysis of this short story see Nixie’s blog.

Here are some comprehension questions. Teenage girls in particular seem to enjoy this story. A discussion about the symbolism of the cat, the bird and her babies is particularly interesting, because teen girls tend to feel anger at the mother for restricting her daughter’s movements, without realising that the mother is acting as a protector in the same way as the mother bird.

1. What sort of person is ‘the girl’ who knew the boy loved her?
2. What is the girl’s perception of herself?
3. The mother is portrayed as an antithesis of the girl in terms of personality.  Give an example from the text to support this statement.
4. How does the girl unwittingly make her plea to go to the beach with Dean sound suspicious?
5. What tactics does the girl try when pleading with her mother?
6. How does the girl take out her frustration when her mother says no, she may not go?
7. The cat, the mother bird and the baby bird correspond to characters in the story.  Who are they, and what are the similarities?
8. Supply a quotation that shows the boy is nonchalant about the girl and that the girl is overly concerned about the boy
9. Explain how the girl’s perception of events is different from the truth.  (See the last line of the story.)
10. What message is Munn hoping to get across to teenagers who read this story?

Some possible answers

1. Overly romantic, naïve, deceptive, selfish

2. Unconfident – she is afraid that if the real her is discovered then she will be deserted.

3.  The mother is portrayed as an antithesis of the girl in terms of personality.  Give an example from the text to support this statement. She is down to earth – demonstrated by her doing the ironing.  She is suspicious because she has more life experience.

4.  She changes her story as it goes on, saying first that she is going to go to the beach with Dean, then she says she won’t even be seeing much of Dean.

5. First she tries sounding cool and collected, so she resorts to whining.  She bargains by saying after a day of relaxation she will be better equipped to settling down to study.

6. She takes it out on the cat.

7. Mother is the mother bird. Girl is the baby bird. Dean is the cat, just using the girl as a plaything.

8.

9. The girl thinks that the reason the boy dumped her is something to do with herself – naiveity.  Whereas in fact the boy’s motivations for dumping her are purely selfish – she is not interesting enough for him.  Note the darkness symbolism at the end of the story.

10. Be careful who you choose, as they need to respect you for who you are. Listen to your parents, as they have your best interests at heart.

It Used to be Green Once by Patricia Grace

photo by johnwayne2006 (flickr, creative commons)

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It Used to be Green Once – Theme, Plot, Setting (doc)

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Plot

What happens in the story is called the plot. Sometimes the plot is called the ‘story line’.

Here is a summary of what happens in the story. Copy it out and put a word in each blank so that the summary makes sense:

The children felt ashamed of their mother because she made them make use things that other people didn’t want. She made them wear __________________ that didn’t fit and they had to take __________ fruit for lunch. They always felt embarassed in front of other people.

Uncle Raz gave them an old ___________ he didn’t want. It could no longer be used in ___________. It had only patches of ____________ paint left on it, no_________ and no top. The kids called it a ____________.

They used the car to take the _____________ to the farm gate and Mum used it to go to __________. Every Wednesday she put on her best clothes and head off to do the shopping. She _____________ to let everyone know she was coming. People had to run alongside and shout their orders because she couldn’t __________.

Mum crammed the car with shopping and _____________ it out to people on her way back. Sometimes she met the school bus on the bridge and it had to give way to her. Once she gave the ____________ a ride. The children felt full of ________________.

One day _____________ changed. Dad won $50 000 in the ______________. Dad got a new _________, the children got ________________ and _______________. They went to the pictures every _______________. Mum got a new ____________. It was a _____________ and it was ______________. She treated it just like the old one though. She still loaded it up with people and _______________. She even tied things on the roof. Eventually it looked like the old car. Most of the paint was worn off but in places you could still see that it used to be __________ once.

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Characters

Most of the characters in It Used to be Green Once belong to one family. Someone in this family is telling a story about her childhood.  Patricia Grace starts the story with:

‘We were all ashamed of our mother.’

When the writer says ‘we’, who is she writing about?

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Most stories have two types of characters. There are main characters and minor characters.

The main characters are the most important people in the story. They are also the people we learn most about.

Minor characters are the other people in the story. They add to what happens, but the story doesn’t depend on them.

In It Used to be Green Once, Dad is a minor character.

Patricia Grace gives us some information about Dad, but does not go into a lot of detail. Dad is in the story, but the story isn’t about him.

The main character in It Used to be Green Once is Mum. As the story goes on, we learn a lot about her – what she does, what she says, how she acts and even what she wears. All this adds up to letting us know what sort of person she is.

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Setting

Setting means both when and where.

When

You already know that the writer of the story is telling a story from her childhood. Patricia Grace mentions several things that tell us that the story is set in the past. Some of the words are different or name objects that don’t get used these days.

• Make a list of as many words like this that you can find. Write a definition for each or say what has replaced it.

• List ten items that the family did not buy when they won the lottery because they had not yet been invented.

Where

There are several clues that tell us that the story is set in New Zealand.

• Find some evidence that this is a New Zealand story.

There are some definite landmarks in the story.

• List some of the places that are mentioned in the story.

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Theme

There is more to the story It Used to be Green Once than the characters and the setting.  The writer is doing more than just telling a story about her childhood. Write a few lines about the messages this story had for you.

It Used to be Green Once begins ‘We were all ashamed of our mother’.  The idea of being shamed comes up several times in the story. List four things Mum did that shamed the kids.

Times change, and as we get older our feelings change too.  Patricia Grace seems to be laughing at herself and the things that worried her when she was young.

When she was a child, she felt her mother was shaming her on purposes. How do you think the writer, now she is an adult, feels about her mother?

Mum lived on a farm with her husband and fourteen children.  She probably didn’t have time to worry about what other people thought of her and the way she acted.  She was who she was, and got on with her busy life.

The writer thought taking holey fruit to school was embarrassing especially when Reweti said “Hey you fullas.  Who shot your pears?” Write what Mum might have said back to Reweti.

Life changed overnight for the children when Dad won the lottery. ‘But Mum and Dad didn’t change.  They were the same as always.’ What message do you think Patricia Grace is giving us here?

The first car had once been red, but by the time Mum was driving it to the shop, it only had patches of red paint left. Having a big shiny green Chevrolet didn’t change Mum at all.

Read the last paragraph again:

‘There were always ropes everywhere over Mum’s new car holding bags and things and shovel handles to the roof and sides.  The boot was always hanging open because it was too full to close – things used to drop out on to the road all the time. And the new car – it used to be green once, because if you look closely you can still see some patches of green paint here and there.’

The title of the story comes from this paragraph. What does the title of the story mean to you?

Patricia Grace uses Mum’s actions to put across the themes of the story. The kids are shamed by their mother’s behaviour. What do you think she would have said to them when they:

• Complained about holey fruit
• Complained about their togs
• Complained about her filling up the car with other people’s shopping
• Complained about her tying stuff all over the new car
• Complained that she didn’t smarten up when she won the money

When they won the money “Mum and Dad didn’t change. They were the same as always.”

• What message do you think that Patricia Grace is giving us here?

Values are things that you consider to be really important in how you behave.

• What values did Mum have that didn’t change when they won the lottery.?

Communities depend on people like Mum to help out people who need a hand.

• Why was Mum a really important person in her community?

Most readers enjoy this story because it is humorous and it makes us think of times when our own parents have embarrassed us.

• Briefly write about a time when someone in your family made you feel whakama.

Most readers also feel that this story has a strong message about what is really important in life – what our values are.

• Briefly write what this story help you to understand about people.

For more on the writing of Patricia Grace, see here.

The Pictures by Patricia Grace

Comprehension Questions

1. What kind of film are the teenagers going to see?
2. How many groups of young people does Patricia Grace tell us about?  Who is in each group?
3. How did the girls prepare for the evening out?
4. What was the boys’ biggest problem?
5. Why wouldn’t Aunty Connie give them any money?
6. Why wouldn’t Aunty Myra give them any?
7. How did the boys finally get the money?  What did they think that they might be offered instead?
8. Patricia Grace doesn’t say what Lizzie’s problem is but what do you think is wrong with her?
9. Why was the cough bigger than the sea – bigger than the sky?
10. What phrase does Patricia Grace use to describe the coldness of sand when it is dark?
11. What language features does Patricia Grace use to describe Ana and Linda’s fit of giggles?
12. Why doesn’t Patricia Grace describe the film that the teenagers go to see?
13. How can we tell that Charlotte is not really as ladylike as she would like everyone to think?
14. How do the boys describe the girls’ shoes and hair?
15. Short story writers like to begin a story right in the middle of events.  How does Patricia Grace make it appear as if it is the middle of a conversation?
16. This story is set in the past – probably 1950-1960.  Collect as much evidence as you can to support this statement.
17. What do the girls do to ensure that they are as clean, tidy and beautiful as they can be for the pictures?
18. How can the reader tell that the story is set in a Maori community?
19. How do the boys try to manipulate their relatives? Do you think that this is realistic.
20. This story is about growing up.  Give as many examples as you can to show that the characters in the story are changing.

Butterflies by Patricia Grace

BUTTERFLIES BY PATRICIA GRACE (pdf)

BUTTERFLIES BY PATRICIA GRACE WITH NOTES (pdf)

Listening Comprehension for upper primary school:

(Students answer true or false)

1. The grandmother helped the girl get ready for school.
2. The grandfather is proud of the girl’s reading.
3. The girl has a ponytail
4. The girl had always lived with her grandparents.
5. The grandparents had respect for the teacher.
6. The girl read the story to grandparents after dinner.
7. The girl thinks that the teacher liked her story.
8. The girl had helped to protect her grandfather’s vegetables by killing butterflies.
9. The teacher has a scientific knowledge of the butterfly.
10. The grandfather thought butterflies harmed cabbages.

Twelve Day Wonder by David Hill

1.  How is Luke described in the first 8 or so paragraphs?

2.  The Smales’ daughter Rachel “can’t compare” with Jemma Matthews.  What does this mean?

3.  What is comical about Luke’s fantasy about saving Jemma from certain death?

4.  At the beach what do Luke and Rachel discover they have in common?

5.  Why does Luke forget to count the days at the eighth day of Christmas?

6.  Why does Luke say to Rachel, “Guys are fitter than girls”?

7.  Why does Luke feel annoyed at his parents in the first part of the story, and why does he feel like strangling them in the second part?

8.  Why does Luke not tell Kane about Rachel?

9.  At the end of the story, what is the reason Luke now wants to go to the town pool?

10. Explain the significance of the title “Twelve-Day Wonder”.

Slightly related thought:

In the short story Luke fantasises about Jemma Matthews but he’s not at all experienced, so he’s not quite sure what to fantasise about. So he imagines he’s saving her from a cliff.

Edith Zimmerman (The Hairpin) writes similarly of a fantasy she had in elementary school:

I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find the boy I had a crush on hanging off my window sill, about to fall, so I’d pull him in and save his life. I don’t wish for that now.

in this article (which is actually about pretty boys, and teenage girl crushes).

And I wonder if this is pretty common.

The Doll’s House by Katherine Mansfield

The Doll’s House is concerned with the difficulties of the child in coming to terms with the brutal realities of class consciousness and social ostracism.

A Doll’s House OHP activities (doc)

THE DOLL’S HOUSE close reading questions (doc)

The Doll’s House essay preparation quotes template (doc)

The Doll’s House full text (PDF)

The Doll’s House Questions for Understanding (doc)

The Doll’s House social prejudice (doc)

THE DOLL’S HOUSE theme and symbolism (doc)

The Doll’s House word study with dictionaries (doc)

photo by Suzanna (flickr, creative commons)