Friday, February 27, 2015

Matriculation


My mother was the valedictorian of her graduating high school class. I told you she was intelligent. Of course I delighted in telling her that it was not too difficult. There were three students in her graduating class.

I did not fare as well as she did. There were almost 1000 graduates in my class. My grades were high but there were other people who were awarded the honors.

Both of us married the same year we graduated and that was the end of our educations. Mom was so disappointed that I did not go to college. I was too. But at that time being married meant you were supposed to be a wife and in due time a mother.

So time went on. My mother had seven children me being the oldest. She nurtured us and we grew to be adults with families of our own. I had four children who of course were a bit younger than hers.

One day I stopped by my mother's house after I had picked the children up from school. She looked at me and said, "I went and signed up for college today. You need to go tomorrow."

I had no choice. Mom told me to do it so I did as did my youngest sister.

The three of us ended up with several classes together. Because we had been out of school for some time we needed the 110 classes. They were above entry level classes but below the more advanced classes. So English 110, Algebra 110, etc.

We were able to ride together for most of our classes which was nice because I did not have a car at the time. When I had a class that one of the others did not I had to take the bus.

One of our classes (and our favorite) was an English class. It was quite basic dealing with grammar and punctuation as well as some writing. Often the instructor would write something on the board with no capitalization or punctuation and have us write it correctly.

Sometimes he gave us a topic and had us write about it for say 20 minutes. Then he would have us read them to the class. It was interesting to see the different ways of looking at a simple topic.

I began thinking I would major in computer sciences. I cannot begin to tell you how boring I find flow charts. I switched to accounting and business management.

I am a born paper pusher. I would be perfectly happy with a job that required sorting and filing.  At any rate I began to do some research (a little late don't you think?) and realized that the whole area was glutted with accountants and unemployed accountants.

It was about that time that my husband left for good. I had four children and I needed to bring in more money to support them. I dropped out of college.

Once my children were older I went back to school. By then I changed courses again. I enrolled in a Natural Resources package of classes.

These classes were taught by guest instructors who were employed by the federal government. Upon completion of these classes we would be qualified for a job with the government.

What appealed to me the most about this course was that there was such a wide variety of careers available. Of course you could go on to train to be a forest ranger or to work in a fish hatchery. Perhaps your tastes run more toward the sciences and research; there are opportunities.

The propaganda field appealed to me. It ranged from writing those informational pamphlets that you can send for in Pueblo, Colorado, to writing public service announcements, to coming up with promotional ideas for various governmental agencies.

Once again I had to leave school. I only had one Economics class left to get my degree but I could not stay. Now they have changed the requirements so I would have more than a semester of classes to complete now.

The one thing I do well is learn. I cannot do but boy can I learn. And I love it. My poor little brain is packed full of totally useless information.

One of my favorite things to do is surf the internet. I find a subject that interests me and I proceed to learn everything I can about it. That is my major form of entertainment.

So I have some college. I enjoyed it but I still had children to take care of. The kids always come first. Maybe someday I will take a few online classes. I will not go back to school because too many younger people need those seats so they can go on to more productive lives. But I will never stop learning.

10 comments:

  1. And when I divorced, I looked at the want ads to see what job paid the most money, as there was precious little from my husband. Accountants made enough money to live on, so I got the degree in a year and a half and am an accountant ever since.

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    1. Good for you! I wish I had the foresight you did. I wandered from job to job never making more than enough to get by even with multiple jobs at a time.Why is it that the non-custodial parent all too often thinks that the lousy pittance the court orders them to pay (which in my case he did not pay) will allow the custodial parent to live in total luxury?

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  2. I ran into the same think when I went back to school. I started first time in 1968 and went for a couple years part time and worked full time.
    Then I was drafted.
    When I returned, I went straight to work, but started back to school in 1984 and got my associates.
    Then I realized most of the people at work who were getting promotions, had college degrees, so I went back in 1992 and stayed until I graduated with a Masters in 1997.
    I was fortunate in that my company paid for tuition and books so all I had to do was show up and make good grades. It wasn't always easy, but I did that. I'm glad I did.

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    1. I am glad you did too. It is so difficult sometimes but it is worth the effort.

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  3. Ha! My brain is also packed with lots of useless information! People constantly ask me if I am a teacher. No, I say, I am just interested in lots of things, and try to find as much information about as many subjects as I can! Like you, I only have a little college, but I will never stop learning!

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    1. Good for you. The way to stay alert is to keep an active mind.

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  4. Life is a continuous learning process. I was talking with some colleagues last Satuday and we mentioned that one thing we should never lose in life is curiosity for that is what drives us to continue going on. I acompletely agree with him.

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    1. And I agree with both of you. I hope to have some of the wonder and curiosity of a two year old. Everything is new and full of wonder to them.

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  5. We are alike as are many other curious folks in that we surf the internet to find out more. In my case, I start thinking about one thing and then have a second and third idea and so on and can happily while away hours just reading online. And people wonder WHY we don't have TV service. I think, who needs it? Give me a good Wi-Fi connection and I have all I need.

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    1. It is amazing some of the places I have visited and things I have seen on the internet. I have met astounding people from all over the world. I have learned of things I might never have even heard of if not for the internet. It is a marvelous tool/toy.

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