This is dedicated to Sweet Polly Purebred, whose recent post about women and education really got me thinking.
She asks, What part of your post-high school education do you use on a daily basis?
The question intrigues me so much because I find it's impossible to separate what I learned in the classroom from who I became. For me, those were still formative years, so I'm glad I was in school. I can't imagine a better environment for someone still coming into her own.
I was a late bloomer, academically. I went into college a major goof-off, skating into my school of choice with barely passable grades and ACT scores. I spent as little time as I could studying and even less in class. I left papers and projects to the last minute, and had several close scrapes, including once missing a final and another time falling asleep during one. I chose my major late in the game, after taking whatever classes sounded good for two years. I realized I had more credits in English than anything else, so I declared it my major and started filling out the rest of my semesters more systematically. In short, it's a miracle I graduated with a relatively high GPA and with professors urging me to stay for graduate school.
By that point I was married and pregnant. I was much more engaged in my coursework, but I wasn't concerned about having a career. All I wanted out of life was growing inside me. Then after the baby came I realized that as much as he was the center of my universe, he didn't need me 24/7. I am not saying that all women should feel this way. I'm talking about this particular child and this particular mom. We were up for much more. And it was so convenient. I was there, living just off campus, still visiting professors and still very much living the student life. Mike decided to stay for graduate school so it was an easy decision to throw an application together and start a masters degree. That's when I really began to work. During the next two years I threw myself into the culture of academia, taught freshman English classes, and received only one cursed A- to mar my perfect GPA. At the same time I was a mom, a singer in a band, and an active member of my ward.
Those two years were both stressful and invigorating. I pushed myself to my limits and learned, ultimately, that I couldn't have it all but I could come pretty close. The awareness of my own ability was by far the most important outcome of my college experience. Knowing I could perform so well became a part of my core identity. And that's the part of my education I use every day. It's not what I "learned" in the classroom, but the path of learning that changed me. As William Butler Yeats says, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
