Today I will stray from the hubub surrounding the Tour of Hope and it’s continuing training/preparations to discuss something I was pondering last evening.
When it comes to my higher education, I’ll be the first to admit – I was an idiot. I took 8 years to get my 2 year degree that I’ve never used. I’d say it was youthful indiscretion, but that’s just a cop out. I was too busy partying and I – to some extent – regret it now. Not because I feel like I would have a better/higher paying job, but because as I’ve gotten older (wiser?) I see that there’s more to understand than why there’s bubbles in the beer.
It occurred to me yesterday that it would seem most folks’ sole motivation to educate themselves today is merely to advance in the workplace and/or make more dough.
The idea of education for the sole purpose of expanding your mind or bettering yourself as a person seems outdated and would probably get one laughed at these days.
Most folks I know would say “If it’s not going to get you more money and/or a better job in the long run, what would be the point – seems like a waste of time and money.”
Lyn was telling me how in Europe, they have the ‘University of the 3rd Generation’ or something like that, which is basically a school for elderly folks to go and take classes. I don’t think that someone who is 60-70 years old is going back to school to advance in the workplace.
Shouldn’t we ALL be going to school ALL the time? Wouldn’t increased understanding of things around us make us much better people, and consequently help us to get along much better?
Seems sad really. To me it would appear that higher education has just become a means to acquire more stuff, but stuff of the wrong kind.