Learning Curve

I walked into a funny conversation with my coworkers. Two of them were talking about “being old” and going to school. One was adamant, “If I don’t have my degree before I’m 50, that’s it. Even if it’s just one more class. I’m done!” And it made me think about the value of education. Her view is, “Look? Who wants to hire an old person who’s going to be retiring soon anyway?” My view is, “Education isn’t just about getting a job though.” She said, “Well then, what you goin to school for?” I said, “To learn!” She just couldn’t wrap her head around why that would be worth anything.

First of all, in my sincere defense I attested, “Honey, 50 is not old.” And, furthermore, what’s wrong with wanting to study even if you’re not in the prime of your youth?

Georgia State University has a program called GSU 62: if you are 62 years of age or older you can attend GSU for free. I think it’s an excellent program! Not only for that working mother who missed her dream of graduating from college because she had a family to raise and a home to tend to, but also for the adult who is retired and wants to explore those disciplines he never could because life got in the way. In my eyes, if I could be paid to go to school that would be my heaven! I just like to learn. Maybe I’m a modern-day hippie. Yes, if I could tour the world sampling new foods, new places, while reading new books and learning new things, and didn’t have to pay a mortgage or work a full-time job to keep my butt off the streets, I would be living in complete happiness. Sucks I might have to wait until I’m close to 60 to do that though… Sure I have dreams of retiring early, but I don’t exactly have a “hustler mentality,” and those are the ones who “make it.”

But I digress. Back to the fruits of education.

So her claim that why would someone want to go to school if they’re not using it to apply to a job struck me as odd. Have we really gotten so far down the economic drowning pool that everything is looked at on a commerce scale? So is that the real reason why when the budget is tight the first programs to get cut are the Arts, because really… what can you DO with art? That’s a shame.

So I hinted, why not learn for the sake of learning? Because there’s all that information out there, so much that we haven’t learned or can’t learn in a 4 year- or 8 year- degree, why not just attend school “just because”? And maybe the degree won’t go toward a job requirement, or give me the raise I’ve been waiting for, but isn’t the knowledge from the experience that much more valuable?

An economist would probably spit his best coffee out at this article, but I am sincerely concerned. Why has the value of an education gotten lost in the bustle of money, job security, and/or promoting professions? I know that a particular professional pattern I’m interested in pursuing does require a higher degree, but my sole purpose of returning back to school right now is not to get a raise. I am fortunate enough to be employed for an institution that will pay for my classes, even in the Graduate level, so maybe my simple view of learning is lost among those who have to actually pay for it, but even if I didn’t have this perk I would be trying to figure out how I could learn just a little more… even if that included teaching myself through books and (albeit) the internet.

There must still be some value, some treasure, some enjoyment we can find in knowledge. Or is this world settled on being dumb and blinded unless a check comes attached to it? Hmm…