Going back to school

You may have noticed that my regular column, which has been appearing in the Messenger for about 3 years now, has been on hiatus. It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing, but the reason for the break was that I started school. I am a student at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, working on a Masters Degree in Communications. It’s been about 10 years since I got my bachelors degree in Musical Composition, of all things, and for most of those 10 years whenever I thought of going back to school, the thought "why?" and the word “homework” would start painfully flashing in my head.

And then at the end of last year, going back to school started to make a lot of sense. And for me, going to get an advanced degree in Communications at UW Whitewater was a logical choice. Everyone at school was friendly and helpful, and in late January I started the classes.

My first reaction was thinking that this is not so bad. The classes were taught by people who knew their subjects well and whose expectations of their students were reasonable. Even reading the textbooks was more enlightening than boring. For the first time in a long time, my brain was learning some totally new information. I started to be able to look at things and people in a new light.

As the days progressed, I got used to driving to Whitewater, about 40 minutes each way, on daily basis. I passed the time thinking and listening to audio books. An unabridged biography of Einstein comprising 18 CDs flew by.

Even the mid-terms were not too bad. While there was definitely room for improvement, I saw that I was in line with the rest of the class. It reminded me that not only are the subjects I was studying were ones that I never formally studied before, but that coming back to school after a long time off can be a bit rough, especially when it comes to taking tests. On the other hand, writing research papers turned out to be easier and more fun than I hoped. It also saved my grades. Still, by the end of my first semester I came to the conclusion that the APA style of formatting papers can be accurately described as “cruel and unusual punishment.”

What am I really saying here? Education is there for a reason. Going back to school helped increase my confidence level and gave me a sense of accomplishment, while increasing my options in any job market.

There is a fear, I think, that says that non-traditional students can’t succeed or are frowned upon in colleges. I have never seen that to be the case. Non-traditional students I’ve seen, have a lot of pride in their education and work hard to excel, with usually very positive results. In fact, non-traditional students tend to encounter a certain respect that comes from the fact that like it or not, older students have life experience. And apparently it counts for something.

Myself, I was older and definitely balder than anybody else in my classes. And that was fine. On the other hand, I actively participated in discussions and it helped me in learning the material, improving my grades, and even earning some respect from my peers and instructors.

Bottom line is this: if you have the opportunity to go back to school and improve your skills, I urge you to look at it seriously. It is a big decision, but you will have more fun than you think and you’ll learn more than you know.