Re: Door Slamming/Question

["Janice Walker (ENG)" <jwalker@chuma.cas.usf.edu>]

I've had my share of doors slammed in my face...some because I didn't 
have a degree, and some because I was "over qualified."

I was one of those flower children looking for relevance in the late 
60s/early 70s, dropped out of college and had a baby.  Raising him by 
myself, I managed to work my way up in the business world to what, in the 
early to mid 80's was middle-maangement job security--without a college 
degree.  When I could, I went to school at night, but working and raising 
a child alone is not very conducive to finishing one's education.  And I 
couldn't seem to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up.

When I started college in the 60s, I majored in Drama (very practical, 
huh?).  After I had my son, at my parents' urging, I switched to a major 
in Elementary Education and got as far as an Associate Degree in that.  
But there were dead ends in the business world because I didn't have a 
degree (though they really didn't seem to care what the degree was 
actuall in).  So I switched to a major in Business and got less than a 
year away from finishing.

Enter the recessionary years, and the death of middle management.  Armed 
with unemployment compensation, and full pell grants for both my son and 
me (yes, now my son was starting college, too!), I returned and finished 
my degree--in English.  And my son is majoring in jazz performance 
(guitar)....

Not very practical.  But I'm now in grad school and learning that my 
years of experience in the business world and my love of writing and 
computers has finally brought me to a place in life where I am extremely 
happy (if extremely poor).

So what do I tell my son (and my students) about the "real world"?  It 
changes!  We change.  Our interests change.  Major in what you love, work 
at what you love--and when that changes, go on to something else.  We are 
not tied to one career, one line of study--but the habit of learning, the 
stick-to-it-iveness necessary to finish a degree, the hard work and the 
quest for knowledge for its own sake--the sense of accomplishment for a 
job well done--these things are important in that "real world," and are 
valued by employers.

My son just turned 21--and he's been playing professional jazz for almost 
6 years....  He's never had a "real" job in his life--but he earned $150 
last night alone for a 4-hour gig.  Of course, he doesn't always work 
steadily--plenty of starving musicians out there.  But he's happy, and 
he's doing what he loves, and he works very, very hard at it.  Do I tell 
him to major in something more "practical"?  

I feel I'm one of the lucky ones--I found where I want to be at this 
point in my life (took me long enough...).  I firmly believe now that our 
children and our students need to devote themselves to what they love, 
now, while they can.  And if that isn't practical, and when they need to, 
or want to, they can go back to school, or change careers, or play guitar 
on a street corner for spare change--or do all of those things at 
different points in their lives. 

I guess the point of this long, rambling post (forgive me) is that we 
need to help our students learn a love for learning itself--to learn that 
education is everything we do in life, and that it goes on as long as we 
live.  And that, regardless of degrees, and majors, and jobs, we're not 
tied to any one thing or place forever.  Help them learn to be flexible 
and maybe they'll make it; help them learn to be happy, and they already 
have.
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Janice R. Walker, Dept. of English         Email jwalker@chuma.cas.usf.edu
University of South Florida                Tampa, FL  (813) 974-2421
            http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/janice.html                  
                HURRY!  ONLY ONE DAY LEFT UNTIL TOMORROW!
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