I got my bachelors in social work when I was 22 years old. I felt like I learned more in the year after graduation in my first social work “job” than I did the entire time I was in school. I always had a yearning to go back, though. Despite wanting to go back , myself and others were saying I couldn’t. Then a year and a half ago, someone told me I could. And that is exactly what I did. I am now finishing my first year of grad school. I am in summer course, social justice practice! I am learning sooo much. one of the biggest skills they hone in grad school is critical thinking. To me, thats priceless. For me, its about personal and professional growth, and I can feel that. theres this big ol world that we can literally do anything we want in. Why not dabble in academia? there are a lot worse ways to pass the hours, imho.
@Scarlett
It’s like school teaches you what to think.
But a good higher education should teach you how to think.
Like you I feel great satisfaction in personal growth and extending boundaries.
The trigger point for me was that I did not want to become ignorant and therefore hateful of various social processes going on in our culture. I think I’ve achieved that; but having started it’s now like I don’t want to stop! There’s no goal of a job that I’m reaching for. I’ve just always been intensely curious about everything.
Perhaps there’s future purpose I cannot yet see. But for now it certainly does make me feel very overqualified for the career I’m currently in!
Education can actually do a lot of harm. Talking spiritual here, disinformation of all kinds are out there and so many groups get stuck on this or that detail… and they remain stuck. No growth, no advisement.
Real education is spiritual. As Christ-ians, that is what we do, as does our head: we teach.
But, we are students and teachers.
Ultimately serious advanced comes from hearing the call to “seek the Kingdom before all else”, and then listening to what Jesus said about false religion (and he showed this, too, not just saying it)… and listening to what Jesus said about the praise of God.
Every other data is just data. Information which is part of this creation.
Real reward then become cyclical.
Other types of education, not deserving comparison or equality with the truth that comes from the Kingdom.
As for studying other matters, I do that all the time. Usually downtime, goofing off, wanting to answer a spiritual question, work, etc.
None of that matters much. I am known as smart. But smart is nothing without something to be smart about.
The only thing “formal” education can do is make sure you can learn. My best friend from ehen i was 5 never obtained an education past grammar school and even though it would help him to get it for a variety of reasons, at this point he doesn’t want to bother.
@Jear77
If one just wants a job, research what skills are in demand and are likely to still be in demand in 2 years — and go to a trade school! There is a profound and ever-increasing demand for skilled labor — but everyone right now just wants a huge paycheck handed to them — whether they work for it or not (but especially if they do not!)
Higher education should be reserved for those who want to learn how to think — and not just those who want a paycheck.
Any perceived “drawback” to it, is perhaps a simple matter of definition.
@griz not necessarily. In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to get even a cashier job without an associate’s degree. Anything fancier will require a bachelor
@Jear77
Why would any business want such an overqualified cashier?!
They would most certainly be unsatisfied/ unfulfilled in their work and by anxious to move on should any opportunity present itself.
It’s a foolish expending of resources four little lasting gain. I don’t doubt such fool businesses exist. But they would be unstable employment at best.
So what’s wrong with Mike Rowe’s trade school route?
@griz it’s not like the businesses themselves want it, it’s the corporate level that does it. If you want to have a job at a recognized company, you have to play their games. EVERY company wants overqualified help. They may not always be able to afford it
@griz i can quit my job, go home, but don’t want to. It’d be more problematic. In order to get one day off without calling off sick, i have to plan 6 monyhs + in advance.
@griz i have creativity… but where has it gotten me? Basically nowhere. People meet ne and i see what goes on in their minds “nice guy, but he wouldn’t fit into our team. He’s too quirky.” And this is after 2 decades of trying to learn the appropriate things to say and do in an interview.
@Jear77
Few people currently doing it, were naturally born to it. It’s amazing what one can do when then finally realize that all other options have fallen through or are out-of-reach!
There are online courses you can take at your leisure to, for example, recondition batteries right in your own home. There’s not a lot of mechanical aptitude required. If one can manage to dress themselves in the morning and brush their teeth without gouging out an eye — opening a battery, cleaning it, safely disposing of spent components and replacing them with new ones — is not that hard AND is in high (and increasing) demand . . . plus it pays well.
And is likely to continue to do so for our conceivable lifetime.
So this is something one can profit off of with just a bit of effort and determination, and it really doesn’t matter how inflicted, conflicted or quirky one is — providing it can be turned off for long enough to not scare customers away!
(But then the same restriction would hold true if one was in a corporate team environment too!)
@griz you’re telling me to mess with stuff that has acid inside, ya know the stuff that can eat through almost anything – (except glass for some strange reason) Are you insane!?
@Jear77
There are proven safe ways to deal with such hazards — and perhaps it’s also linked to how much such people get paid??
I once had a land-class 1&3 exterminator’s licence — a pre-requisite for the forestry course I was taking. Some of those chemicals don’t just eat through body — a few drops can short-circuit your brain by inhibiting the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain. A nerve that fires, just keeps firing and firing and firing until it’s toast.
But people — even brain-dead simpletons with shaky hands — learn how to handle this stuff safely without incident for a lifetime. AND they tend to be paid accordingly.
So there ARE solutions and there ARE ways to handle even hazardous materials AND . . . you will get paid outrageous sums of money to do it!
But the down-side is that one greatly diminishes their ability to gripe and bitch about things — and they are called upon to carry a heavier share of the tax-load. BUT they can afford to and still live well.
So again; is one prepared to concede that they’ve maxed-out their human potential at their current state of misery and learn how to be grateful and content in their lot in life . . . or is there more they could reach for?
(Supposition is, that there always is more one could reach for; and likely achieve if effort put into complaining and self-limiting behavior/thinking was better utilized)
@Jear77
Agreed. Running on it all the time only works when everything is clicking. There are times to turn it off and just surf naked.
But the benefit is that superficial tracking/tracing is defeated. The trick is to bounce it through enough neutral nations to be too much of a bother to waste more advanced forms of tracking on . . . without bouncing it through too many to raise suspicion to the point where the more labor-intense exercise is warranted.
28 responses to “Is education its own reward?”
I got my bachelors in social work when I was 22 years old. I felt like I learned more in the year after graduation in my first social work “job” than I did the entire time I was in school. I always had a yearning to go back, though. Despite wanting to go back , myself and others were saying I couldn’t. Then a year and a half ago, someone told me I could. And that is exactly what I did. I am now finishing my first year of grad school. I am in summer course, social justice practice! I am learning sooo much. one of the biggest skills they hone in grad school is critical thinking. To me, thats priceless. For me, its about personal and professional growth, and I can feel that. theres this big ol world that we can literally do anything we want in. Why not dabble in academia? there are a lot worse ways to pass the hours, imho.
@Scarlett
It’s like school teaches you what to think.
But a good higher education should teach you how to think.
Like you I feel great satisfaction in personal growth and extending boundaries.
The trigger point for me was that I did not want to become ignorant and therefore hateful of various social processes going on in our culture. I think I’ve achieved that; but having started it’s now like I don’t want to stop! There’s no goal of a job that I’m reaching for. I’ve just always been intensely curious about everything.
Perhaps there’s future purpose I cannot yet see. But for now it certainly does make me feel very overqualified for the career I’m currently in!
Yes.
Education can actually do a lot of harm. Talking spiritual here, disinformation of all kinds are out there and so many groups get stuck on this or that detail… and they remain stuck. No growth, no advisement.
Real education is spiritual. As Christ-ians, that is what we do, as does our head: we teach.
But, we are students and teachers.
Ultimately serious advanced comes from hearing the call to “seek the Kingdom before all else”, and then listening to what Jesus said about false religion (and he showed this, too, not just saying it)… and listening to what Jesus said about the praise of God.
Every other data is just data. Information which is part of this creation.
Real reward then become cyclical.
Other types of education, not deserving comparison or equality with the truth that comes from the Kingdom.
As for studying other matters, I do that all the time. Usually downtime, goofing off, wanting to answer a spiritual question, work, etc.
None of that matters much. I am known as smart. But smart is nothing without something to be smart about.
The only thing “formal” education can do is make sure you can learn. My best friend from ehen i was 5 never obtained an education past grammar school and even though it would help him to get it for a variety of reasons, at this point he doesn’t want to bother.
@Jear77
Actually most formal education lets people get by with just a sponge mentality: soak it up and ring it out.
It’s more the higher education the teaches you not what to think but how to think.
At least it’s supposed to.
@griz higher education teaches nothing about how to get a hon – that’s its drawback
@Jear77
A hon?
@griz a job. Typing on my phone
@Jear77
If one just wants a job, research what skills are in demand and are likely to still be in demand in 2 years — and go to a trade school! There is a profound and ever-increasing demand for skilled labor — but everyone right now just wants a huge paycheck handed to them — whether they work for it or not (but especially if they do not!)
Higher education should be reserved for those who want to learn how to think — and not just those who want a paycheck.
Any perceived “drawback” to it, is perhaps a simple matter of definition.
@griz not necessarily. In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to get even a cashier job without an associate’s degree. Anything fancier will require a bachelor
@Jear77
Why would any business want such an overqualified cashier?!
They would most certainly be unsatisfied/ unfulfilled in their work and by anxious to move on should any opportunity present itself.
It’s a foolish expending of resources four little lasting gain. I don’t doubt such fool businesses exist. But they would be unstable employment at best.
So what’s wrong with Mike Rowe’s trade school route?
@griz it’s not like the businesses themselves want it, it’s the corporate level that does it. If you want to have a job at a recognized company, you have to play their games. EVERY company wants overqualified help. They may not always be able to afford it
@Jear77
It would seem that an education in the trades would greatly negate this as an issue.
If the path you’re on isn’t working out, try a different one!
@griz at present i’m only off Mondays and Tuesdays. Most meetings happen on Thursday nights, when i work late.
@Jear77
The things in life that are truly worth doing rarely come easily.
And we usually can find plenty of reasons to stay in a sub-optimal situation. If that is what we value most.
The question then becomes how do we change what we value most?
@griz i can quit my job, go home, but don’t want to. It’d be more problematic. In order to get one day off without calling off sick, i have to plan 6 monyhs + in advance.
@Jear77
So would you say this is your highest achievement possible in life, given the sheer number of things that hold you back?
@griz i have creativity… but where has it gotten me? Basically nowhere. People meet ne and i see what goes on in their minds “nice guy, but he wouldn’t fit into our team. He’s too quirky.” And this is after 2 decades of trying to learn the appropriate things to say and do in an interview.
@Jear77
Businesses say they want creative people, but really what they want are manageable people. And creative people are not manageable.
But they do fairly well in the trades. Which also seem to better tolerate a bit of quirkiness.
@griz trades as in (usually) mechanical fields. I’m a mechanical idiot.
@Jear77
Few people currently doing it, were naturally born to it. It’s amazing what one can do when then finally realize that all other options have fallen through or are out-of-reach!
There are online courses you can take at your leisure to, for example, recondition batteries right in your own home. There’s not a lot of mechanical aptitude required. If one can manage to dress themselves in the morning and brush their teeth without gouging out an eye — opening a battery, cleaning it, safely disposing of spent components and replacing them with new ones — is not that hard AND is in high (and increasing) demand . . . plus it pays well.
And is likely to continue to do so for our conceivable lifetime.
So this is something one can profit off of with just a bit of effort and determination, and it really doesn’t matter how inflicted, conflicted or quirky one is — providing it can be turned off for long enough to not scare customers away!
(But then the same restriction would hold true if one was in a corporate team environment too!)
@griz you’re telling me to mess with stuff that has acid inside, ya know the stuff that can eat through almost anything – (except glass for some strange reason) Are you insane!?
@Jear77
There are proven safe ways to deal with such hazards — and perhaps it’s also linked to how much such people get paid??
I once had a land-class 1&3 exterminator’s licence — a pre-requisite for the forestry course I was taking. Some of those chemicals don’t just eat through body — a few drops can short-circuit your brain by inhibiting the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain. A nerve that fires, just keeps firing and firing and firing until it’s toast.
But people — even brain-dead simpletons with shaky hands — learn how to handle this stuff safely without incident for a lifetime. AND they tend to be paid accordingly.
So there ARE solutions and there ARE ways to handle even hazardous materials AND . . . you will get paid outrageous sums of money to do it!
But the down-side is that one greatly diminishes their ability to gripe and bitch about things — and they are called upon to carry a heavier share of the tax-load. BUT they can afford to and still live well.
So again; is one prepared to concede that they’ve maxed-out their human potential at their current state of misery and learn how to be grateful and content in their lot in life . . . or is there more they could reach for?
(Supposition is, that there always is more one could reach for; and likely achieve if effort put into complaining and self-limiting behavior/thinking was better utilized)
@griz something to look into. Hopefully looking for it won’t put me of the NSA’s watch list…
@Jear77
Get a VPN and route yourself through Swaziland or Canada or some other backwater nation!
@griz vpn? A varable isp program? Meh. Lots of headaches there!
@Jear77
Agreed. Running on it all the time only works when everything is clicking. There are times to turn it off and just surf naked.
But the benefit is that superficial tracking/tracing is defeated. The trick is to bounce it through enough neutral nations to be too much of a bother to waste more advanced forms of tracking on . . . without bouncing it through too many to raise suspicion to the point where the more labor-intense exercise is warranted.