Like Youth, Education is Wasted on the Young

You would think that since school has been out for a week now I would have the time to write, truth is I didn’t want to have anything to do with a computer after the hellish semester that I just got over.

They say that you are never too old to learn and school provides endless opportunities regardless of age.  Well let me tell you, as much as ‘they’ are right about the opportunities post-secondary provides, ‘they’ probably don’t know shit about going back to school as a mature student.  I have been in college now for 4.5 years and still have another year and a half to go before I finally graduate.  I applied to the Early Childhood Education program at my local college and was there for two years; the idea was finish with the diploma and bridge to the degree program and head to Teacher’s College and teach in the school system.  Having raised a child on my own I knew that the baby thing was cute but I wasn’t about to change diapers for the rest of my life and deal with brand new “only organic this” and “natural that for my baby” parents (my daughter ate what the local grocery store shelves had stocked didn’t have a stroller the size of a small car and she turned out just fine).  I wanted to teach older kids how to do math and read, not how to get to the toilet on time and chew food and not their ‘friend’s’ arm.  This was going well until shit started to hit the fan in my third semester.

I had a 4.0 GPA in my first semester and I was breezing through the diploma; daycare placements were nothing short of annoying but I did them well, and assignments were so easy that I practically did them in my sleep.  I started applying for universities and jobs for the upcoming summer; then this little 3 year old temper tantruming brat happened.  Six weeks into third semester I was in the preschool room at my placement when I pulled my back on a child who decided to have a temper tantrum in the middle of my picking her up to check her pull up.  I was in agony and had to be pulled out of placement and some of my marks had to be put on hold until I had the go ahead from my doctor.  Fourth semester started and arrangements were made to pick up where I left off in May when fourth semester was officially over.  This was all fine and dandy, until of course fourth semester happened.  One of my professors decided that one of my final assignments was less than adequate and failed me by three percent.  I appealed with the notion that I have proved myself worthy with all of my other classes and the fact that I had a 3.8 GPA at the time, topped off with the fact that I was injured during my placement yet continued to push through regardless of the pain that I was in.  This was all to no avail, bottom line – professor was a bitch and I made sure she knew that straight from the gift horse’s mouth.

Things started to fall apart shortly before that in other aspects; my relationship with Mitch was shaky but I held on, the job that I had lined up for the summer (camp counselor at a summer camp) fell through due to the lack of registrations and the universities never received my transcripts (that I sent out in November!!).  By the time that I realized the transcript situation I was on the waitlist for universities and then due to the 3% deficit, I was out of contention for the ECE degree.

After that summer (and the break up with Mitch) I knew that I was not content with my lack of post secondary education, so I decided to take another whack at it and applied to the Special Event program at a more accredited college in the downtown core.  Having a background in the event and hospitality industry I knew that I was going to be happier planning events than wiping the snotty noses of bratty children.  Again I excelled at school and graduated with honours from the Special Event Planning last April.  During the time working on my diploma I came to learn that the school offered a degree program, it was a Bachelor of Applied Business in Hospitality Operations Management, I would bridge directly into the third year.  I researched it, thought about it and the fact that this would keep me in the classroom for another two years (bringing the count to six years in total); so I registered and was accepted, duh.

Throughout my diploma years I struggled with balancing part time work and full time school, throw in a daughter and a hint of a social life and it’s enough to drive anyone a little bonkers.  The group work was manageable and my group members were fantastic for the most part (especially the ones I got to choose).  I am currently in my third year of the degree program and I must admit it is more bittersweet than anything.  The premise behind the degree is that it will open more doors in my career and offer more insight to the way things are currently in the industry.  This is a great sales pitch, however when you take into account the professors who have been in the classroom for the last 10 years you begin to question just how current the information that they are passing on is in fact current to the industry.  One of my professors (who also plays the role of program coordinator) was constantly mentioning in her lectures the “way things are in the industry” and “the current policies and procedures in industry” and the “things you need to know working in the industry today” blah blah yadda yadda, clueless!  She is not the only one, I had another professor who would ramble on about concepts he didn’t even know about.  He would read off of the textbook’s slides and try to talk over the students that had no respect for him, or themselves (student behaviour will be an entirely different blog in itself).  Another professor rambles on so much that she took two weeks to cover each set of 45 slides, if you ask me she just enjoys the sound of her own voice.  Where does the college get these people?!

The professors go off on tangents constantly about the high quality of students that are allowed into the program, the crème de la crème; again another great sales pitch, but being in classes with these students are proving that most of them are nothing but rejects from the closest trailer park.  Some of the inferences that I have made about the crème de la crap idiots that surround me on a daily basis are the following:
- They are there on daddy’s dime or are suckling at the teat of the government
- They are more focused on creating friendships with other pathetic low lives who will surely drag them down in life as opposed to assisting them in career advancement
- Drinking and sex are more important than studying and report writing – this is after reading reports written during the Sunday afternoon hangover or by their 10 year old sibling (either way their mental development is comparable to a retarded chimpanzee)

The frustration is endless when it comes to being in the same room as these daft individuals; it is one thing to impede your own growth and education but another when you get in the way of others who pay money out of their own pockets and spend priceless time away from their families in order to improve their quality of life.

The following is a message to my fellow students:

“You’re a bunch of dumbasses!”

12 Years in the Waiting... and I am finally getting off of this rock!

"You can use your money for something else."
"Why do you want to spend your money on a vacation?"
"You don't need a vacation."
"Wait until you're done school, then go away"
"You don't have their life, you can't just pick up and go on vacation."

These are quotes that came from, you guessed it, my mother.  I swear to you she is a wonderful woman, but she always manages to get under my skin, discourages me from making my own decisions and even manipulates me into thinking like her.  Not all of this is bad, thinking like my mother has its good points; such as her savvy financial sense, and cooking skills to name a couple.  However these blessings have also been my curses; because when it comes to buying things that is when the discouraging hat finds its way to her head and I end up having buyers remorse BEFORE I buy.  Some people would consider my lifestyle cheap or frugal, others wonder why I work as hard as I do and not spend some of it on things that I want.  I only get my hair done once, maybe twice a year, I wear cheap clothing until the stitches come apart, and the two bras I own have lasted me about a year now.  I had the same bathing suit for five years before buying a new one this past summer.  I live as though these items are made to last, like buying a car, you hope when you buy it it'll last you at least until you're done paying for it.

So due to the wonderful words of wisdom from my mother, I have put vacations on the back burner for the last decade.  I have watched all of my friends travel the world and come back with everything from tans to accents, and new love interests to new body images (tattoos).  I have lived vicariously through them all... Until now!  Yesterday I booked a trip to Europe!  I leave in a couple of weeks and I am thrilled!!  I am nervous tho, I am leaving my mother a week after her surgery (non-invasive day surgery, but surgery non-the-less), and my daughter behind for two weeks.  Not that my daughter needs a vacation, she goes to camps practically every other weekend and I spent a small fortune on her this past summer sending her away for two weeks herself.  I am not a huge fan of flying, probably because I don't do it often enough o get used to the feeling.  I am looking forward to the trip nonetheless.  My cousin and now travel partner Mel is uber excited about my decision to join her over there; we're leaving on the same flight so hopefully she'll be able to relax my nerves a bit mid-air. One of my goals while away is to live a little, my cousin is 9 years younger than me (but in grandma years it's more like 39).  I hope that I can learn to be more carefree and relaxed in my day to day and relax and treat myself more; the European way of life - vino everyday type of idea.

I went to my doctor last week as I was having severe back pain and I wasn't able to function at my potential at all.  Last winter I had the same issue and x-rays found something of a benign cyst or tumour on my spine in the lower lumbar, this was never taken care of.  This time the doctor told me that he didn't want to x-ray me again, but that my back and spine were fine and that I should be better if I took up yoga.  YOGA!!  Seriously??  I can't bend over to put my shoes on in the morning and the guy wants me to get into downward dog and twist like a pretzel?  I think he needs to reexamine his calling in life or learn to listen to his patients before I go all warrior pose on his ass.  I am hoping that my old lady body doesn't hold me back from enjoying the trip and keeping Mel from having a good time; the last thing I want is to be the boring travel partner.

I went to the museum with Eric today and he was telling me about domesticated animals that end up in the wild or 'feral.'  This was an interesting concept that I had never really thought about until today when I applied it to myself in reverse.  I am not saying that I am a wild child or anything, but people do become a product of their peers or of their habitat.  I told Eric that when I was on my own I had a bit more of a social life than what I did living at home with my parents.  Even though I was only on my own for a year, I still went out, made my own decisions and lived like an adult woman.  When I moved back home with my parents I became a 'child' again, docile, not only to their rules, but to the way they live their lives.  I became a product of my peers, a camelion in their home; I became my parents.

I am not sure what I am going to do about this, aside from recognize it and move on.  I became single because I was tired of being a great half to a shitty whole and I went from independent woman to dependent daughter.  I appreciate all that my parents do for me, I really do, but the one thing that I wish they would not do is continue to direct my life.  Being a parent myself I know that ensuring your children are on the right path is important to living a happy and healthy life; but my parents have nothing on me.  I don't smoke, do drugs, drink excessively, behave irresponsibly or do anything that would tarnish the family's image.  My only vice is tea and crochet - and believe me you can't go very far with those.  I just realized something, are the airport security people going to take away my crochet needle on the plane?  Guess I'll have to take the e-reader instead.  Hmmm, I digress.

I guess what I am trying to say is that there is a point in people's lives when the umbilical cord needs to be cut and that people need to live their own lives.  My parents are helping me financially through school, etc, but (correct me if I am wrong) does that give them the right to dictate where I go on a Friday night or what I eat or whether or not I want to spend my own hard earned money (after giving them money for bills) on something that I will enjoy and make me feel good?  After all I am 32 years old!