From Hong Kong to UNSW
An international student originally from Hong Kong in his teens, John had little idea about his initial career plan. "My mother only finished primary school. She didn't work much at all apart from some odd unskilled jobs, too busy as a widowed housewife, trying to raise four kids on her own. In the aftermath of the Second World War, she did not have the opportunity to attend high schools, let alone universities."
After finishing school in 1973, people asked John what he would do next. He admitted that he was a total ignoramus. There was no career advice or aptitude test. But since there were only two universities in town – Sydney Uni and UNSW – the choice of which was easy. He picked the newer one, of course.
Law or Medicine?
Having had little aptitude for engineering, commerce etc., he tried his luck in medicine, as expected by many Chinese parents of their offspring. "There was a Chinese axiom," John says. "Law is for those students who hate blood, as if there is nothing else worth studying. And I was curious about the human body and hated writing, so medicine was the natural choice between the two."
"I wasn't sorry, though. If I had chosen arts instead of medicine, I would have failed. I remember I had to do an elective humanity subject in first-year medical school – to write 1000 words on the Russian Revolution. To argue about Marxism almost killed me. I was, and still am, not good at arguing. In comparison, anatomy and pharmacology were a lot easier, despite the long Latin names. In medicine, you don't argue."
"But as you know, medicine is a long course spreading over six-years. Oh, my goodness. It was such a boring course. When I say boring, I don't mean unstimulating (it was, in fact, highly intensive), but it was very long. You get a bit frustrated that you might never get to the opposite shore. Like a long-distance ocean swimmer, you may drown or be eaten by a shark somewhere in the treacherous waters. I was frustrated when I saw students doing 3-year courses graduate, get a job, and enjoy life, whereas I was still drifting halfway. Understandably, when you're studying for a job, you want to finish as soon as possible."
After Uni
"When I graduated, I worked at the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry and a few other hospitals. After that, I joined a private practice in Campbelltown, where I worked for 35 years. It was tough when you needed to build up a practice. You worked six and a half days a week continuously for a month, and then you have a one-day break and work for another straight month again. But that was fine; it was expected in my line of work. You just had no spare time to do other things."
"You could hardly go and read a novel from cover to cover without interruption, given those incessant demands on your time. I read only one novel a year over Christmas, so I decided long ago to retire early to catch up. I started studying part-time, majoring in English and minoring in creative writing and history five years ago, with some fine art subjects in between. A lot of people found this very strange. I thought, what’s so strange about it? Because for me, it was quite a natural thing to do, but apparently, it’s not so. A lot of people continue to work till they drop because they always say, what am I going to do after I retire?"
Returning to UNSW
Many also don't want to go back to university because they don't want to subject themselves to the pressure of studying again, but that wasn't the case for John. At first, it was a bit strange (but can be made much easier by doing a Uni-Prep Program), as he explains, "I found it a bit difficult initially because medical reading and writing are all conducted in concrete scientific terms and numbers. You cannot use figurative language in medicine. If you do, colleagues (or judges) might question why you write poetry. They only care about the essentials. Be terse. Once, a doctor depicted a patient with a personality disorder in a medical report as 'someone who is nuttier than a fruitcake!' He was severely chastised. After many years of writing in an objective language, it was hard to re-adjust to writing subjectively in abstract verse and prose with colours and feelings. But after a couple of terms, I gradually got used to it, and now I enjoy using colourful language with total impunity."
"Perhaps another reason I am doing this is to keep my mind active. After years of running on high octane, I do not want to stall suddenly and find myself in a pit. The other thing is I have to upskill because of my four grandkids, ranging from one to seven. And you know kids nowadays are super clever. Each generation seems more informed than the previous because of the internet, and I feel obliged to keep learning to catch up with them. I don't feel good when they know more about Roman or Chinese history than I do."
What's Next?
After graduating next year, John hopes to "maybe do a little bit of voluntary work, perhaps in the local library, organising a reading/writing group. I am not planning to publish a piece, but there're definitely opportunities. I look at my studying as more for enjoyment and interest than anything else. I do not feel much pressure in doing this course but sheer joy. The takeaway message is that I'd encourage retirees to go to university to do something they like but never had the opportunity because of a hitherto busy life. It's not difficult once you get into the groove of uni routine. "
"It does not matter what subjects you do, although it’s probably pointless to do nuclear physics. I don't want to become a scholar either. But learning the intrigues in literature has markedly increased my enjoyment in reading and writing. I think there is still a lot of potential for retired people like us. New shoots continue to grow from an old tree until it dies. So, I think you might as well do something rather than sit around and spend all your superannuation money, ending up empty-handed and empty-headed. What's more, I think we can still contribute. Who knows, maybe our determination to achieve new goals can help to inspire younger generations to achieve theirs."
