E is for Educational risks. I think that as we grow up our first role besides being someone's daughter/son is as a student. We spend much of our time in a classroom setting of some kind learning. It is there that we first learn the risks that are taken during the learning processes.
This week my students are taking the SAT test. As I walk around the room it occurs to me that there are a lot of risks being taken during these testing moments. Choosing one answer over the other, skipping a question in hopes that going back to it later will enable them to make the right choice. The risk of being the last one finished with the test. All of these risks are ones that will determine the educational risks that are to come.
When I think about my own education I am forced to acknowledge risks that I took. I risked going to one college over another. I risked getting my Masters degree right after my B.S. degree because I needed it to teach (or so I thought).
Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you had gone to a different college? Maybe for some of you that did happen. Maybe you started at one college and then left it for another. If you did that, do you think that changed the way you view risk?
I stayed at my same college all 4 1/2 years. I know that it was exactly where I was supposed to be. The risk for me wasn't in leaving it was in staying. It was probably the one time in my life post high school graduation that I have been in the same place for 4 years, and even then my summers were spent away. That says a lot about that place, and the people that were there. It was enough for me. It was a good fit for me, even if it wasn't perfect. I grew, I learned, and expanded who I was during that time of staying risk.
Do you ever regret risks?
I think my Masters degree is a risk I regret. It cost a lot of money, and even though I want to say that I needed it to do the things I have done, and go the places I have gone....well I am not really sure that I did in fact need it. I think that it was a pressure that I put on myself. Something that I felt would make me more successful, and the quicker I could complete it the better it would be! No matter what the cost. I also think 10 years ago when I was beginning my Masters there was a definite push for people to do that right away. And now....
Well I kind of feel like people are pushing to take the risk to enjoy life. Education is important, but so is seeing the world, isn't it?
3 comments:
I regret... I regret going for my associate's. There was a reason for it at the time, but I sunk a few thousand dollars into it and stopped a couple of classes short due to a combination of depression and shifting priorities. That's not a whole lot of money as far as education goes, but still I'd rather have spent it elsewhere. Honestly the whole topic is pretty close to home for me.
Let's just say I think people should feel free to choose what they will risk to live the life they want instead of being told by society that there's only one path to happiness and only one definition of success.
I have a juris doctor degree [I'm an attorney]. I definitely don't regret it, but I know several attorneys who do. So yes, sometimes all that time, energy, and expense is worth it, and other times it's not. And no one should feel obligated to do something just because it's "expected". They need to personally want to do it.
Dena
https://denapawling.blogspot.com/
I almost got a degree many years ago, but life intervened. That didn't prevent me from learning. I don't think it ever occurred to me that there might be risks involved in education. Somewhere early in my life I came to understand that I had a right to know and that teachers were there to teach me what they knew. True, there were a very few who were only cared about their paycheck, but most teachers seemed truly interested in sharing what they knew with me. Those others, well they were the ones for whom shrugs were invented. At my age, learning is still my favorite form of entertainment. The one subject I wish I had studied but didn't have an opportunity to is calculus. Maybe someday.
Thank you for sharing in A to Z.
http://thebookwright.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment