“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” ~Mark Twain
I didn’t get the best grades in college. Isn’t it funny how by saying I didn’t get the best, it implied I failed? That’s a discussion for another day. But I made mostly A’s and a few B’s. And a C thanks to Chemistry… blah!
There are two reasons I wasn’t valedictorian. One, I didn’t have valedictorian set as a goal – in fact it wasn’t on my radar. But two (and more importantly) I was too busy getting an education to be bothered with too much study.
A college degree is good to have on the outside – it shows people outside yourself you have certain levels of proficiency and smarts. But it doesn’t contribute much to your education – where you will spend most of your lifetime working hours doing.
An education is exploring your passions and natural talents.
For me, much of my college career was spent writing, hacking my computer and improving myself via self development. Is it odd? weird? strange? to see I am still doing those things today and making a living from them?
I think coming to terms and honestly deciding where one’s true interests are is half the battle. It makes getting a true education almost effortless. And it is where you will make your greatest contribution as a human being.
Just make the decision earlier rather than later.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree, education is not all about tests, books and papers. It may be more about learning from the person sitting next to you, creating a network, or opening avenue to diverse backgrounds and a broad mind than just making an A in class. Think Huge when it comes to your education. It is a process with no boundaries, it is a treasure no one can steal from you!
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I dropped out of college after one semester. There was more involved, but I’m pretty sure that if I had stayed I wouldn’t have received nearly as good of an education there as I did by following my heart and learning what I wanted to learn. I still do this and I expect I will for the rest of my life. The lack of a degree hasn’t hurt me any and I don’t see any reason to make that a goal going forward. I’m not saying it isn’t good for some people, but just not for myself–and I do place a high value on education, just necessarily on formal education.
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Ricky, how did your friends and family deal with your decision?
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Brad – Surprisingly, it wasn’t a big issue with friends and family. If I had continued working on my degree, I probably would have been the first, or at least one of the first, in my family to do so. Both of my parents dropped out of high school and I don’t think either of them ever worked toward their GED either. I was academically aggressive in high school and had excellent grades; I had a 4.0 for the semester I finished and if I’m not mistaken I’ve received A’s in every college class I’ve taken on my own. So, they were proud that I was going to college, and they encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, but there wasn’t an expectation that I had to, or that I would be a failure in life if I didn’t.
As an academically aggressive student, most of my friends had similar grades and I think all of them did finish college and earn their degrees. One of my best friends from high school hasn’t had anything to do with me since shortly after high school, but I don’t know if it’s over my lack of formal education or not. Other than that, all my friends were very encouraging to me to seek out my own path to success as I defined it.
I remember about 5 years that were particularly challenging for me in regards to progressing in life, and I remember a good friend giving me a pep talk about goals–the focus even then was on where I wanted to be successful and not just being successful in education; he was never judgmental that my lack of a degree was the cause of my circumstances at the time.
So, today I’m involved in a number of my own entrepreneurial activities (like you are), and I also have a full-time employer (like you) where I’m a corporate trainer. I find it interesting that in spite of my lack of formal education most of my work involves teaching others in some fashion either in the classroom or online and I’ve written three courses that are essentially college-level computer classes.
I share this not to brag at all, but only to illustrate how earning a degree isn’t necessary for everyone in life. It’s much more important to chase after those things that interest you most. Do that and success will follow.
Ricky Spears´s last blog ..magicJack Hijacks My Free Conference Calls to 218-339-2500!
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This is very true. Practical experience in the real world beats “education” in a safe controlled environment every time.
Ages ago I got acting training. I thought I’d learned a lot, but it was only after going to all those auditions, finding my own way to prepare for them that I really achieved some mastery over what I was doing.
I also used to do standup and character comedy. That really helped with acting, too, mainly because for a joke to work you have to make it look as spontaneous as possible. I never learned anything like that at drama school.
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