Ok im 26 i have been working in a shop doing a delivery job for the last 5 years im contracted 16 hours a week but 90% of the time untill christmas i was doing full time hours. Now i took myself down to 16 hours because i can claim housing benefit and go back to college and redo my gcses for a discounted price rather then pay nearly 1000 quid i would only have to pay 300.
So im being a cunt for claiming benefit to get cheaper college fees? Am i being lazy because i only work 16 hours so i can get a better education and with it a better job? That job is the most demoralisng shit in the world if i dont improve myself now i will never go anywere in life.
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no-absolutely not Mike. Some may claim that but IMHO to better yourself and make yourself more employable is a good thing. Your intention is not to stay on benefits for life etc.
good luck and don't let people put you off.
no - anyone who thinks studying isn't hard work has almost certainly never studied and has no idea what they are on about.
You're making an effort to better yourself, to improve your situation and get yourself a better job in the future. That's not being lazy, that's looking to the future and making an effort to change the rut you're in. that takes courage and will power and is to be admired.
Look at it the other way, you're working as well as studying, so are working harder than some of your fellow students who are not putting in the hours outside college to help support themselves.
All the best with the studying - it can be hard going back to it after a break from education, stick with it.
Personally, I have a real problem with people who claim benefits and sit on their arse doing nothing! However, this is not what you're doing and I would happily support anyone who wishes to do something with their life (and will in turn give something back through their taxes etc) - good on you for making the effort to move on in life.
As I teacher, I firmly believe that everyone has the potential to do well - it's just that we all reach the point of readiness at different times and I think it's great when people recognise this later in life.
Good luck to you!
Edit: And stop using the 'c' word - it's foul!!!
I'm a teacher too and would reiterate what Clag said.
All of it.
Esp. the edit bit.
All agreed here too Mike. I've known people close to me in jobs they hated and over the years it almost destroyed them - but they didn't have the va va voom to bite the bullet and do something about it.
Good luck - let us know how you get on.
Go for it.
You can look at this another way. Paying you benefits allowing you to improve yourself is societies way of investing in you. Once you get your qualifications you'll get a better job and earn more money. You then pay more taxes and ultimately, more than pay back that initial investment.
Good luck with the studying hope you enjoy it.
You could work full time, study and pay full price. But that's difficult because you have
to find time to study, work, pay for the course and others. You have cut your hours for a reason.
If that means claiming benefit to help you whilst money is tight, then that's a sacifrice.
Doesn't make you lazy. You doing it for a better life. Once you achieve qualifications and
getting a better job, then it will be worthwhile. You doing it for yourself and your future.
Going by the responses above we're all in support of what you're doing Mike, so you don't need to justify yourself to us. It's obviously something that bothers you though. Of course there will be people out there that aren't supportive of what you're doing - but these will more often than not tend to be people who haven't studied themselves, and don't appreciate the hard work it involves. I know what you mean about the tuition fees too - I really don't know how they expect people who aren't on a high wage to manage that on top of all their other living costs.
When I left school I took an office job for a year so that I could afford to go to uni the next - there were people that told me to stay in the job and work my way up, but the thought of that was just soul-destroying as I knew what I wanted to do. A decade later I had a PhD and a job I loved. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks - this is your life and you have to go for what you want.
Go for it Mike.
Oh, I already said that.
Good ambition Mike - I think that often the best teachers are those with a bit of life behind them. I did the BEd straight from school and the best thing that happened for me was having to get an alternative job for a few years as there weren't many jobs on the go when I graduated. It definitely broadened my horizons, removed my sheltered and naive views on life, and made me far more understanding of people in general (kids & parents) as I realise that there is life beyond the classroom and this is what's important in the grand scheme of things!
Jj, good luck to your daughter too - it sounds like she knows what she's doing, and having your support will help her a lot. My parents were always very supportive of my decisions and without that there were times where I'd probably have given up!
Sorry to hear you had such a rough time Mike, but a lot of people go back to studying later in life (I've taught students much older than me!) and end up doing better than a lot of the ones who went straight from school, because they have the life experience and maturity to make the most of it. And when it gets tough, just keep thinking - your bullies are probably nicking cars for a living now
Its hard because you are studying, getting low income and survive to live and eat.
If you gain those qualifications and get the job you wanted. Then you have achieved what
you wanted to do.
madame0's right. I left skool with nuffink, now have good degree a Masters and another Post Grad qualification. I started basic literacy classes at 25 ish and reckon I was further behind than you are. Enjoy it and enjoy laughing at your bullies and doubters.
the satisfaction you get when you do better than the posh kids who have all on a plate is brilliant
Mike, it's the benefits system which is rubbish not you.
The '16 hour rule' is the biggest pile of shite ever invented by a shitehead lackey working in a shite government department with no experience of 'real life'. It is designed to prevent people working and claiming... but what it actually does is offer a massive disincentive to people who want to make the best of their lives and become fully paid up members of society earning money and paying their way in the World.
For those of you with no familiarity with the benefits system it works like this:
If you work more than 16 hours or are on a college course which will take you over the 16 hour threshold you will be classed as 'in full time employment/training' and have your benefit removed. This means that you will lose all of your benefits including housing benefit.
So, imagine you are claiming JSA and someone offers you six weeks full time work - if you take it you will lose your benefit. All well and good, some of you might be thinking - but then when this six weeks is over it will take about three to four weeks to process your next JSA claim and claim for housing benefit... all this time you will not be able to pay your rent, will fall into arrears etc. Are you likely to take up this offer of work?
Or
Imagine you are offered a place on a course but the course is 24 hours a week and 16 weeks in length - if you complete the course there is a guaranteed job at the end of it - you go to the DSS and tell them you are going on this course - big mistake! They'd rather pay you to be idle than try and pull your way out of the benefit trap by breaching the 16 hour rule. So, what they more or less do is force you to be a criminal and lie to them... or you think - 'why bother?' give up trying and sit on your arse taking handouts and watching Jeremy Kyle all day.
What they will do is after 6 months JSA send you on an 'employability course' where you will learn how to write CVs and be nice to people...
It is sheer fucking Kafkaesque lunacy...
Hoose I'm lucky enough to have only had to sign on twice... 1983 after leaving the army (6 weeks) and 2009 (2 weeks) after coming back from working abroad.
I have had lots of experience in the past helping P/T students negotiate the benefits trap
Mike - well done you for getting yourself out of a job that you don't like and pushing yourself to have a better standard of life, you are doing what most young people should be doing do..trying to better yourself, - good luck and I hope it works out for you.
I agree with the C word - don't use it - it is VERY offensive.