Hi Tam,
I feel that pay shouldn't be the most important factor if one is interested in a particular job. No point earning alot in a job you are half-hearted about it. I always believe that interest can fuel passion and hence affect the level of excellence of delivery (of the job). Some people expect to be paid a lot but they don't want to give their best or go the extra mile. The difference between mediocre and excellent is a lot. Every job will have its demands for sure - individuals have to match with the right attitude and aptitude. I think there are many dinosaurs in the workplace who are so fossilised in their ways that it hampers productivity and objectivity.
I had the same thing with GP/Lit as with your Eng Lit. In JC2 they assigned the fiercest but best GP/Lit tutors to firefight. It was like some sort of enlightenment - suddenly we could read more effectively and grew interested in widening our vocabulary.
In JC One, the tutor (who had a fake Brit accent and totally clueless about what she was teaching) used to make us define terms like metaphors, iambic pentameter and transferred epithets. We even had a test on it and had to come up with examples of each device. I understood every term but still failed 'cos I didn't memorise the fixed definitions. Worse still, she read through pages of the set texts and explained every line. Basically, she didn't focus on interpretation/analytical skills, language or depth - just literal understanding. She really killed my interest in Lit - I began to wonder if I picked the wrong course/subject and even school! I was quite depressed for a while because I had no problems understanding /analysing everything on my own but the scores just didn't reflect my efforts.
In JC 2, the expats who took over a few subjects stressed over and over again that it's useless identifying a poetic device unless we could explain the use of it and how it enhances understanding of the text/language. These teachers exposed us to a wide variety of genres and styles of writing, expanding our vocab as we went along.
One of my tutors (who started off sighing every lesson 'cos he said we were of crappy standard) was a walking thesaurus. He'd give us other choices for every one word we volunteered. Eg, lusty = licentious, lascivious. Something yucky = pugnacious, distasteful, repugnant... He would never scold, but "chastise" us or "repudiate" us for our odd/illogical answers. That's how we picked up 50 new words or more every tutorial
I hope we can have more passionate teachers who can challenge minds and are forceful and erudite. Some of my friends felt offended and hurt when they were ticked off or corrected but I appreciate a frank teacher better than a fake one.
Year Two was a tremendous change from JC1. We suddenly felt more confident and connected with the subjects. I really thank my lucky stars for the ones who saved us our A-levels grades. Believe it or not, I still get nightmares of the A level exams (eg. losing lecture notes, late for exam, being unprepared and clueless over the subject etc). University was a breeze, compared to college!
look so big! too bad i am allergic to seafood! 
