Opus 2022-120: Progress in Education

When I was in college I used to pull all nighters.  Remember those?  It always amazed me how much I could cram into my head at the last minute.  Maybe you were one of those misfits that kept on top of your studies.  I am afraid that was never true of me.

I finished college and took some graduate classes as I waited to be called by my draft board for an exchange class in Vietnam.  After my jungle experience I ended up spending three years in seminary.  I was a little better at studying and having a hard time staying up all night.  Eventually  I left the ministry and went back to school to get the classes for a teaching degree.  At that point I would go to bed at my regular time.  All nighters were a thing of the past, the far past.  

Why?  I would like to think it was because I was smarter but it does not usually work that way.  There were two major reasons.

One, I was too old to stay up all night.  Part of that was more of a willingness to get by with passing grades.  Part of it was an awareness that I would probably pass.

Two, the competition was not near as sharp.  One of the sad realities of educational life is that they can’t make it too hard or no one will pass.  I remember reading about high school students in the 19th century knowing Greek and Latin.  Now we have conversational Spanish which is mostly making costumes for the Day of the Dead and cooking Mexican dishes.  Additionally, the sharper students had gone into fields that paid more.

I have this feeling, just a feeling, that I could go back to college at this point and graduate without cracking a book or accessing a program.  I could be wrong.  I could be right.

I don’t ever plan to find out.

homo unius libri