On Job Skills and "Qualifications"

So after reading this comic about attending class vs. not attending class, I am very confused about whether I want to attend class tomorrow morning. I probably will, though, since there's really not much else to do. Plus it would only be my second class this week, so it's definitely not asking too much that I be there. It's a funny comic, though. I especially like the phrase, "What the heck is wrong with everyone in this universe?" Brilliant.

My class this morning was cancelled due to some Jewish holiday, so what did I do to get the most out of the free time? That's right, I slept in. Then I taught high schoolers how to play the trombone, something for which I still feel that I am enormously underqualified. Is this how all teachers feel? I can't seem to escape the feeling that I'm getting paid way too much for the little work that I have to do. Basically, the first few weeks of lessons consisted of me helping these kids practice the same three pieces week in and week out. They have to learn three pieces for their Region Band auditions, which everyone in the school band has to take, for some hellish reason. They're also all required to take lessons if they're in band, which is why I get to spend five hours of my Thursday every week in a High School band room. A few of these kids could easily play the pieces, and play them well, if they would just practice, which they do not. The rest, many of them ninth graders, are desperately in need of something a little easier to start them off. I've started to bring in some new stuff for them to play, but I still feel as if I have no idea what I'm doing. Does that feeling go away eventually? Here's hoping.

Come to think of it, the only jobs I ever had where I felt as if I belonged there and was qualified for the work were as a camp counselor and a construction worker. As a counselor, I got to play with five year olds all day long, something which I am, admittedly, quite good at. And construction, at least the job I had as a laborer, means do what you're told and, otherwise, stay out of the way. For me, that meant mostly ripping up carpeting, which is a fairly mindless job. It's either still on the floor, or you already ripped it up.

Other than those two jobs, I had a stint as a tutor, mostly for math, but also for various other high school subjects. With the math I could get by, but a lot of the time I felt as if I was no help at all. That's probably not how it really was, I probably did help, but I felt like I wasn't earning my pay. The same applies for my job the past two summers as an accounting intern at a law firm. I basically sat there and performed menial office tasks when asked to, which sometimes didn't happen very often. And I was paid well for it. That was the job that taught me how to get the most out of my internet surfing. When you spend eight hours a day in front of a computer and get basically nothing accomplished, you must be an expert surfer.

So really, while it's great that I have been able to find these cushy jobs, and I feel very fortunate to be overpaid, there's often a bad feeling that goes along with that. It's the feeling that I should be doing more, that someone is paying me good money and I should be performing at a level at which I have not been performing. With the law firm, they could spare the money, but with lessons, as with tutoring, I have almost always been paid directly by the parents.

Maybe I can make it up when I have children by overpaying their music teachers.