Everything I Learned in College.....

Problem: My son told me something amazing. All the scientific research that has been done on bumble bees shows that bumble bees cannot fly........ Apparently no one told the bumble bee. The same is true about some over-achieving humans. There are some people who we all know that despite their lack of formal education, perform above all expectations. They seem to just know what it takes to get what they want or need out of life (evidence: Bill Gates). I guess no one told them that they couldn't be as successful as they are without a degree. Or conversely, maybe someone DID tell them, only to be proven wrong.

Anyhow, success is not a problem. The problem is that some of these over-achievers are constantly badgered into getting a degree anyhow. "Gotta get that piece of paper! It'll look great on your resume." Pressure drags on for years, perhaps their whole life. My point is that a degree doesn't guarantee success and neither does success depend on a degree. It can mean different things to different people.

Solution: I think everyone should decide for themselves whether to go to the trouble of getting a degree; and it IS trouble. Those who don't have a degree but are meeting their own career expectations should feel good about their success. At any rate, it might be a help for me to list everything I learned in college. The list might not seem like much to you, but each of these items have been very meaningful to me. If you think they would be useful to you, maybe a degree could do the same thing for you (remember, no guarantees!!). Here's a list of everything I learned in college:

1. My diploma isn't printed on a sheep skin. It's just ordinary paper. Well, not ordinary; it's kind of wrinkled and old looking, like they couldn't find any new paper. Anyhow, it's not sheep skin; I think I would know that.
2. How to deal with tedium. Not everything was tedious, but college sure had more than its fair share.
3. How to follow rules. Rules, rules and more rules. I had to learn that if I wanted/needed something from somebody (like a degree), that THEY get to set up all the hoops. No matter how many hoops, or where they're placed, when they're placed, etc. I have to first find all the hoops and then jump through them.
4. How to deal with bureaucracy. I never mastered this but I learned enough about it to get by. That's all we need sometimes isn't it?
5. How to deal with egos, mine and others.
6. It doesn't matter how long it takes to get through college. I'm an odd case; it took me 20 years off and on to finally get the degree. I never saw the light at the end of the tunnel until the final year, but somehow I knew it would be there.
7. Perseverance. Enough said.
8. Your major doesn't matter as long as all the courses add up to a degree at the end. Of course employers seem to filter out resumes based on majors, but it really doesn't matter. You're better off not working for an employer who does that, anyhow..... ;o)
9. In general, other people value my degree more than I do. This goes especially for people that don't even know me. Strange but true. On the other hand, since I already had a job while I was going to school, the people I wanted it to mean the most to, my employer(s), couldn't have cared less.
10. Getting a degree is a lot of work. It's quite an ordeal, but don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's any more than that. It doesn't begin to approach what I would call true human suffering, no matter what you study or how long it takes.
11. I'm incapable of original thought. It's all been done before. As hard as I've tried I've never been able to find any subject that doesn't have a gazillion things already written about it. That's why you find these new PhD candidates studying the mating habits of Peruvian piss ants. (Geez, I gotta find something no one has ever done!) Sorry, that's been done, too.
12. It's literally impossible to know everything; corollary: it's okay to say "I don't know." I left this for last because it was my most useful lesson. It has saved me immeasurable time. Since I now don't have to know everything, I can equate that to mean I don't have to know anything........... (just kidding .. :o)

So anyhow, that's what college did for me and I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, since obtaining a degree has to be an individual effort, I think it also needs to be an individual choice.