When I decided to finally go for a degree almost four years ago, I felt that it was something that, while being interesting and valuable to life, was mainly done to get that “piece of paper” that opens doors closed to the uneducated. Whether I wanted to close up my frameshop and go to work for someone else or whether I wanted to pursue a writing career, a degree was necessary to go any further—or what am I saying! To even get in the running.
But with age and “lack of experience” (coming from another “job”) no one will hire me anyway, so spending another few years to be handed a Bachelor of Arts is not truly going to be valuable to me in a career.
While this does not mean that I will not go further in my education, it does mean that perhaps I should forget about what’s required for a degree and go after what I want to learn or learn more about. After spending time and money on courses that I really can’t mentally get excited about just to fulfill degree requirements, maybe I should just go down the list and sign up for those that make me want to sit for three hours a week and learn. I’ve already been kicked down the road of life just enough to be a bit more well-rounded. Why not roll into the places and pick up some of the wildflowers and diamonds from the fields instead?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology