5 Hidden Rewards of Cracking UGC-NET And Teaching English Literature

Within a month after cracking UGC-NET in English Literature in 2019, I joined a University and started teaching. 

I was selected for the interview because of the CV I built over the years. There was a list of job experience, courses and workshops I’ve attended and, foremost, my experience as a writer and marketer.

Private colleges need marketers who can help them admit new admissions. Students pay money, and money fuels a business. In return, students get good facilities and an environment to grow. 

Indeed, businesses and start-ups make the world a comfortable place to live. Innovations are the roots of any country’s wealth. But it is unfortunate to know that a nation’s government screws businesses by leveraging high taxes and autocratic policies.

Coming back, as the chancellor was a retired high-court judge, a bureaucrat, she looked interested in my appearance and how I talked than examining the intellect. 

Vice-chancellor was old and distracted. He began talking about the autobiography he was writing and began dreaming about how I could help him complete his project. It made the high-court judge annoyed, and she interrupted him and took the conversation. The old man didn’t mind her insolence.

After an hour, I had the joining letter, and one week forward, I started teaching English.

1. High Self-Image

Some of my colleagues did not qualify for UGC-NET, and they all suffered from low self-esteem and lack of confidence. While sitting in a group during lunch hours, these teachers avoided talking about academics. 

A colleague cum friend confessed how terrible he felt when someone talked about UGC-NET and how he evaded the conversation by making awkward excuses.

Another friend of mine has been trying to crack UGC-NET for years now. He recently gave up and joined the corporate sector, and now, he is learning Python and Javascripts to earn his living from the IT sector. 

Cracking UGC-NET not only opens job opportunities for you but also boost your confidence. Every achievement prepares you for big achievements, ultimately heightens your happiness manifolds.

For instance, every time I complete writing a blog, reading a book, creating a YouTube video, or helping a student join our batch, there is a sense of satisfaction that I’m contributing more to society than I used to do a few years back.

2. Job Satisfaction

Teaching is highly rewarding in terms of respect you receive from the students. Although I left the job just after teaching for a year, many students from my previous college still look up to me as a mentor. They call me once in a while to tell me how much they miss me and wish I would teach them once again.

The profession of teaching bears your expenses, provides you free time for your family and an opportunity to learn through extensive reading and research. 

The requirements to be a good teacher is your willingness to embrace the attitude of constant learning, empathy for your students and helping them find a higher purpose.

There is nothing more than grateful to see my students reach heights in their careers and live peacefully, and that is what I call job satisfaction. 

3. English Literature Is Not Only About English Literature

When I started preparing for UGC-NET English Literature, I found that English Literature is more than stories, plots and characters. It is about history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, economics, science and politics – the hidden gifts I was unaware of until I dug deeper. 

Before you put your hands on Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, you must know the historical background of the age they were living. 

Before Literature, it is always the history of Britain or important events like World War I or World War II that come first. If you have a grip of world history, Literature becomes ten times easier than you ever thought possible. 

Moreover, as you go through such a wide range of authors, you expand and get faculty to look at the world differently. Literature trains your mind to be more sensitive and mindful about people around you. 

4. You Experience Practical Life

When you crack UGC-NET and join academics, exiting the utopian world of Thomas More and Coleridge or fantasies of J.K. Rowling, Lewis Carol and H.G. Wells, you find that the practical world is upside down.

It’s not because the world is cruel, but because life upgrades its level with each passing year. You will be entrusted with more responsibilities towards your personal, professional and financial health.

Unity-competition, love-hatred, solitude-loneliness, kind-evil… is what the world is made of. People will accept you the way you are, whereas some will reject you for no reason.

But I’ve looked closely at the behaviour of successful teachers. What is so influential about them is that these teachers mind their own business, look for new ways to help the students and on top of everything, they are result-oriented.

As the profession comes with flexible and leisure hours, you shape life-long friendships with your colleagues too. 

5. You Never Go Old

In a TED talk, Dr Waldinger shared an important study asserting the secret of living a happier and longer life is continued social engagement.

People who have no friends and distorted relationships in the family die sooner than those who stay in continuous engagement with the world.

Unless you are eccentric, teaching is one of the highly interactive professions where you have to constantly engage with the students, parents, and co-workers. 

Young students never get you old. You stay updated with what’s trending in their age group, and it helps you understand your own child’s needs and requirements. 

All these hidden benefits will appear once you leap your career by qualifying UGC-NET exam. Enrolling on a PhD program will increase the acceptance rate of your CV. 

Generally, many Universities prefer a UGC-NET qualified student or a PhD holder. If in case, they fail to hire either, unqualified PG students will be hired at low wages.

The first step in making a change in your career is to crack the UGC-NET English exam and charge forward to grab other opportunities.