It's Never Too Late

[nissangirl74]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100515/ap_ ... ating_at94

After reading this, absolutely no one has an excuse not to go back... <unless you just don't want to. >

I have thought a lot about going back to get another degree or advance the one I have. I do suffer from the typical excuses though. I AM busy, I DO have a lot going on, and I would hate to invest all that money if I didn't have the time to apply myself completely and pull down straight A's.

[RCA]

That is pretty cool.

I wonder if grad school is next...

[nissangirl74]

Not sure. I wonder if she got the same support from people her own age?

[Mr1der]

you mean like a walker?

[Jesda]

This is why I keep nagging every 20 or 30something I know to go back and finish. Its so easy, an elderly woman can do it.

[Dattebayo]

Good for her, but it's still pointless.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I bet Sallie Mae is s*** bricks about this, 4 years of student loans that will likely NEVER get paid back. I love it.

[Koshin]

I bet Sallie Mae is s*** bricks about this, 4 years of student loans that will likely NEVER get paid back. I love it.

funny

[Jesda]

Good for her, but it's still pointless.

Only if you're mad dumb.

[Dattebayo]

I meant it was pointless for her. Gee, what's she gonna do, go start a career?

[MinisterofDOOM]

<unless you just don't want to. >

That'd be me.

[Jesda]

I meant it was pointless for her. Gee, what's she gonna do, go start a career?

That's a limited view of education. You've never wanted to know about your world beyond working, s***, eating, and sleeping?

Formal education can be an "investment", yes, as a means of furthering oneself economically, but its also a means of human enlightenment. Our ability to think, create, and learn separates us from cockroaches.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Formal education can be an "investment", yes, as a means of furthering oneself economically, but its also a means of human enlightenment. Our ability to think, create, and learn separates us from cockroaches.

There are other (and arguably better) ways to learn than school. I absolutely agree with your second sentence here. But I'll teach myself, thanks. Classroom settings and rote curricula have done far less for me than my own efforts have.

I won't deny the value of a degree. But if all you're after is knowledge, there's no reason to pay college costs.

[nissangirl74]

There are other (and arguably better) ways to learn than school. I absolutely agree with your second sentence here. But I'll teach myself, thanks. Classroom settings and rote curricula have done far less for me than my own efforts have.

I won't deny the value of a degree. But if all you're after is knowledge, there's no reason to pay college costs.

I will agree to a point. However, some of the most interesting stuff I learned in college from my peers in my debate / discussion classes. Sometimes another person's input can push you further, make you want to ask another question, want to find out why.

[MinisterofDOOM]

There are other (and arguably better) ways to learn than school. I absolutely agree with your second sentence here. But I'll teach myself, thanks. Classroom settings and rote curricula have done far less for me than my own efforts have.

I won't deny the value of a degree. But if all you're after is knowledge, there's no reason to pay college costs.

I will agree to a point. However, some of the most interesting stuff I learned in college from my peers in my debate / discussion classes. Sometimes another person's input can push you further, make you want to ask another question, want to find out why.

I've learned plenty of valuable things in classes, often in that same way. The irony is that most of those things were learned while NOT doing anything class-related.

[nissangirl74]

I had an English Comp course one semester that had a pretty forward-thinking instructor. We met three times a week for an hour. On Wednesday, we had discussion. She would make us put our chairs in a circle and put all of our books, pens, and paper under our chairs. We weren't allowed to take any notes.She would then right a topic on the board and tell us to discuss it. Some times she would start it off for us, other times, we would dive right in. At the end of the discussion, she would tell us that our assignment for the day was to write down what we had discussed and turn it in the next session. She would then read the responses out loud, no names mentioned. She said it was an exercise in discovering how people take different things from the same discussion / information and how people prioritize. It was actually very cool.

[bcar240]

I had a history class in college a few years back where the teacher was discussing post-WWII changes in the US and the effects of the holocaust here after the war and an older gentleman who always sat in the front row raised his hand and said he remembered that period in history and offered a few stories. It was actually interesting. I had assumed he was part of the staff but he was actually a student just like any of us.

[Jesda]

This is why the top MBA programs look for professional experience and sometimes value it over academic performance. Much of the learning comes from discussions, presentations, and debates that draw from the real world.

And there are some things, like art, literature, and music, that are more comprehensively understood in a classroom setting, and the discussion presents angles the solitary student or instructor may not have noticed. The whole process of education, as one advances further, becomes less about taking in and repeating information and becomes more about discussing, debating, proving, and defending.

Every human being should have a couple years of exposure to liberal arts. Its essential to cultivating critical thinking ability and provides basic intellectual tools for understanding the world. I didn't realize it until I did it. A degree itself may or may not have economic or social value. The goodness is in the process.

This is why I despise degree farms that emphasize income potential.

[PoorManQ45]

A degree itself may or may not have economic or social value. The goodness is in the process.

This is why I despise degree farms that emphasize income potential.

I believe this stands alone even out of context. Very well said Brown man.