Working for fun

by Lidiana de Moraes

In our country we are used to seeing children working in exchange of a few coins. This reality is not present only in the big cities. In small towns kids also have to work at a really young age so they can help support their families. But, just because that happens, it does not mean it is right. So at what age should a person start working for pay?
The Brazilian law forbids under-age people to work. They only need to play and study, the other essential things for a good life are the parent’s responsibility, but that is not an excuse to raise spoiled brats. It is important to start teaching from a young age lessons such as the value of money and it is possible to do that through playful ways, after all, who never thought it would be fun to open the “famous” lemonade stand on the sidewalk together with your friends?
As you grow older the amount of responsibilities you have gets bigger. At the age of 16, you almost finished high school, and it is time to choose a career for you to follow. A good way to live the daily situations of a profession is to become a trainee. And if the employer gives financial aid to the students, that will make the experience even richer, because those young learners will have a job that helps to teach how to deal with money.
The critical point in life is when you reach college. If your parents have the money to pay for it, then you will have more time to dedicate to study and possible learning experiences exclusive for students. But if your family can’t afford that, then it is your turn to go to work.
In the end, it is hard to say how old someone must be to start working for pay. But there is one thing you must always keep in mind: money must never be more important than studying.

Journalism or Letras, that’s the question...

by Letícia Cardoso and Lidiana de Moraes

You cannot compare things you do not know, have not tasted or experienced. Thinking about that we decided to make a comparison between two things present in our lives: Journalism and Letras.
What de they have in common? Well, in both colleges you work with the use of words. If you do not like numbers, these courses may be your future, especially if you love to write and read. The personality of their students matches in some aspects also. If you are a shy, private, silent, loner person you may not fit in those areas because they are about communication skills and dealing with people.
But not everything is the same. You can start noticing the differences between the two courses by analyzing again the behavior of their students. In Journalism, the competition is tougher, there is going to be many people who will look at you not as a human being but as a rival. That does not happen as often with the Letras student. Even the most dedicated ones see their fellows as classmates.
The style of the classes is not the same also. Letras is more theoretical, with more classes restricted to the classroom space. Journalism is more about practice, you are not stuck inside the college, you must go out and chase de information in other places outside the University. Maybe that is why some people have the wrong idea that the Journalism students just have fun and do not work.
Another difference we noticed was the profile of the teachers. In some journalistic areas, such as TV and Online, we have really young teachers. In Letras you can see that the teachers are more experienced. That’s probably because the subjects related to Letras need years of study, and the best professionals are the ones with more years in the field. Journalism is not like that because a subject such as Online involves modern technology of information, which is a new matter of study.
So, can we choose which course we like the most? Of course not. We are feeling almost like Hamlet, but our doubt is more like: Journalism or Letras, that’s the question…

Why would a man or woman enter a field that has traditionally been filled by the opposite sex, such as nursing or engineering?

by Vinícius Vieira Dalbem

In my view, people have realized that this superficial tradition is not to be taken so seriously, because, after all, it is just a tradition. Everybody can perform any task of any profession no matter their gender.
For instance, I have watched and read many articles that show women working as truck drivers. This looks and sounds extremely awkard because we seldom see women in trucks, especially driving them, because of the society which had labeled this profession as it may look like “Men only”. Moreover, the articles showed some men and asked their opinions about it. Most of them said that the women are great and do the job very well and also that is nice to have some feminine company for a change.
Another example is, considering only Brazil, the Portuguese and English teacher career. For example, I did not have a single male Portuguese teacher during all my school time. Perhaps the explanation for that scarcity is that people keep saying that teachers don’t have a high salary and that is a profession made for women, which is very wrong again. A man would enter this field because definitely is not a “Women only”, everyone can learn anything if they put effort in it. It is such a beautiful career, to handle your mother language. It should not be scorned.
Finally, as I said in the first paragraph, everybody can perform anything. Men and women wisely have been destroying this old tradition. They are working with what they love to do. Nobody can deny that is the most important thing ever.