Try this: in 1988-89, I worked part time as a volunteer English instructor at a high school equivalency program in Oregon, while attending the University of Oregon’s totally useless Teacher Certification Program (don’t get me started). I saw some real results (the program achieved a 94% success rate), and decided I was going to love teaching. Upon graduation, I traveled to Alaska, where I tried to find a position teaching high school English. I secured an interview. The first question was, “What prior experience have you had as a teacher?” I responded with a long and rather excited description of my experience as a volunteer. The woman interviewing me listened patiently, then replied, “Well, if you had been any good, they would have given you an actuial job and paid you.” That, I vowed, was the last time I would ever volunteer for anything. I have not kept that vow, but I am now very wary of anyone who tells me that volunteerism might be the road to a good job.
