The end of the beginning..

Well, my first quarter as a returning student is over, and I'm glad I've got a chance to take a breath.

After this week, I have a new appreciation for those who are able to dedicate all of their time to schooling, and don't have to divide their attention between a career and their studies.

However, that being said, those who are able to juggle both work and school and still excel in both completely ASTOUND me. I mean, I've been working on and off during my classes, and I can't honestly understand how some folks can work full-time, go to full-time classes, and still do excellent in school plus do an outstanding job at work. For those, I honestly bow in awe and admiration.

I finished this quarter with perfect attendance, and a 4.0, so I'm happy with the results. However, this is just the head of the beast, and I know that the classes are going to become more troublesome and difficult as the weeks progress. I'm just looking forward to the opportunity to learn what I need, and gain the holy relic that employers are looking for now instead of experience: a school degree.

I recall when I first entered my job market, there wasn't any kind of specialized degree for my field of work. As long as you knew what a computer was, and could operate it, you were hired. Now? If you don't have a specialized degree in a specific field or area of expertise in that specialized field with the corresponding degree, you aren't even considered for the position, much less hired for it!

Whatever happened to that adage that experience provides the best teacher? Some of the class sessions I sat in strongly disagreed with me. Why? Because school tries to teach each student absolutes. However, in the workplace you don't get that luxury. What might be black and white in a classroom is quite often clouded with many shades of gray in the real world. Thus, there were quite a few times where my angest and "bitter" real world experience kept me from sitting still and listening, and giving an opinion that quite often ended in a nice long debate session. However, in most cases what I disagreed with was also seen as true by my instructors, and I wasn't belittled or degraded for offering my experiences. In this, I'm really looking forward to further classes. However, I'm also wondering at which instructors are going to be more close-minded than the ones I previously had. Each teacher has their own teaching style, and I'm sure not all are going to be as easy-going as my first instructors.

We'll see.

I'll keep you posted, and can't wait for my two week vacation, but much more for my second set of classes!

Cheers!