Comments | nzraya: the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again'

nzraya

the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again'

Jun 15, 2010 18:39

I see we are once again in RaceFail territory thanks to some writer in SPN fandom (is it just me or does that fandom generate more drama than the rest of TV fandom put together ( Read more... )

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Oh, look. One of my hot buttons. lovefromgirl June 16 2010, 01:28:32 UTC

Actually, I think the bolded statement makes a lot of sense if free choice is maintained, and from where I sit, I think a lot of folks get pushed into choices that weren't ( ... )

Re: Oh, look. One of my hot buttons. nzraya June 16 2010, 01:54:33 UTC

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think way too MANY people go to college and it's definitely not for everyone, nor is it the obvious route to a fulfilling job that people think it is. Most of the top ten fastest-growing jobs do not, as you say, require a college degree: but nor are they grunt work; they're things like vet techs and plumbers and yes, hairdressers, occupations that require competence and skill and pride in one's work, but NOT a fancy college degree. My beef with the Wal-mart program is that it's the worst of BOTH worlds: it totally feeds into the "everyone must have a BA" frenzy (currently being stoked, shortsightedly in my opinion, by Obama) while at the same time providing nothing that actually resembles a BA (and $24,000 is not exactly small change). This kind of thing is bad for people AND bad for higher education; it dilutes the meaning and content of a BA degree to where there is even less point in getting one that there is now (and makes a mockery of the years of study people undertake to become qualified to work in ( ... )

And now that I am done being overemotional lovefromgirl June 16 2010, 04:45:57 UTC

But I think it's deeply disingenuous for a Yale-educated person to opine about what the masses should and shouldn't be encouraged to learn; and I think it's deeply disingenuous for Wal-Mart to pretend it's offering its workers "a college education" when it isn't.Which is the real crux of the matter, yes ( ... )

Re: And now that I am done being overemotional nzraya June 16 2010, 14:54:15 UTC

Heh - no, many of them would not make it. (The best would -- I don't mean to imply that all my students are entitled snots, some of them are wonderful, and many of the best are like you -- struggled with motivation the first time around, dropped out, then came back with a renewed sense of purpose and a genuine love of learning ( ... )

Re: And now that I am done being overemotional lovefromgirl June 16 2010, 17:46:36 UTC

Well, at the moment, I'm between public health and creative writing -- both degrees I'd have to build myself, pretty much, but degrees I'm encouraged to build because I'm going through Empire State, which focuses on autonomy in the learning process as much as getting a piece of paper. ;-) In fact, I am looking forward to building my own curriculum, because no matter what, I'm going to end up some kind of educator, so I'd better get started. (The teaching part is turning out to be the non-negotiable. Never saw that coming.)

And I agree completely here with the rest -- am still waking up (stupid fatigue) so am not as coherent as I could be, but I want to say "holy cricket, YES".

Re: Oh, look. One of my hot buttons. nzraya June 16 2010, 02:06:03 UTC

P.S. I'm so sorry to hear about your health problems and the difficulties you've faced in finding a path that makes sense for you (and that you sound a little conflicted about even now). FWIW, it sounds like you ended up getting a very great deal out of your college education, without the designer label that is largely superficial anyway. I wish you could have earned a "degree in finding yourself" at a less terrible cost to yourself. But given that you paid that price, I'm glad you have something real to stack up against it, and not just a worthless piece of paper.

Re: Oh, look. One of my hot buttons. lovefromgirl June 16 2010, 04:37:19 UTC

*goes all to pieces* Aw, Raya. Thank you so much, both for putting up with my, um, mood about this topic, and for your well-wishes.

I got so much out of two years at a community college. So much. I'm hoping my equally-inexpensive next two years will be just as awesome. And yeah, I have amazing things to show for where I've been -- my college career to date culminated in a performance at a staged reading in which I became, in effect, the voice of a child abuse victim. The play was autobiographical, you see, and apparently my performance was just that spooky.

She was proud of me. As if I had any right to that pride -- she was the one who did all the work. I was just the vessel.

Re: Oh, look. One of my hot buttons. nzraya June 16 2010, 14:57:47 UTC

Well, but it sounds like you gave voice to her experience in a very meaningful way. I'd be grateful for that if it were me. And proud, yes. It's wonderful to be able to look back on something like that and see how far you have come, how much you have truly accomplished.

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