Consider the Alternative

I wish someone had been there in the summer of 2003 to slap me HARD across the face. Wake up! You just graduated high school, you have to be an adult now. I also wish someone had been there to properly advise and prepare me for the challenges I would face wading through the process of higher education. Unfortunately the “guidance” counselors at my rural high school were less than forthcoming about the process, and I was the first person in my family to test the waters. Like most of my fellow graduates, I picked an in-state community college and enrolled myself  under the guise of a psychology major. (I mean I took one psychology class in high school, and my parent thought that I had a knack for “reading people”. How could I not succeed? Parent said I could do it!) Poor idealistic me. After flunking out of my freshmen year-not due to lack of attendance, I didn’t miss a class-the material was endlessly fascinating, I just despised the work, I took a year off. Deciding I needed a serious shake up I got a job in Alaska, worked, met some interesting characters and really had to start thinking about the difference between interests and aptitudes, the latter of which I had to look up in a dictionary. 

I went back to that same in-state community college on academic probation. I took one or two classes a semester still not know what I wanted to major in, but knowing that knocking out those general courses was important. I was utterly lost and I didn’t know myself well enough to know what I could excel at. The US recession hit and Alaska became an increasingly important part of my life. While people were losing jobs left and right and the population realizing it needed to tighten up those proverbial boot straps; I was making an obscene amount of money for someone who wasn’t even 25 years old yet. I was also spending an obscene amount of money, I wish someone had been there in the summer of 2008 to slap me HARD and tell me to save those precious greenbacks. I made more money that summer, than my parent made that entire year. My monetary comfort was ephemeral. After a verbal tongue lashing and less than positive end of season review from my superiors it was quite clear my summers in Alaska were over. 

I once again entered the classrooms of that in-state community college and took my first Art History class. Things really changed after that, not only did I have an interest in it, I had an aptitude for it. Feeling triumphant, if I wanted to major in it I was going to have to transfer to an actual university. I applied and got accept to one of the few prestigious (I use this word so loosely) universities in my state. I spent three years studying Art History and graduated with a B.A. in Art History in 2012. The time I spent studying there were the most insightful and defining of my entire education. I was expected to perform at a higher academic level and I was given the resources to do so. I should have pushed myself harder and really taken advantage of all those resources, but being closer to thirty than twenty I was tired, and just wanted a piece of paper that meant I’d finished something. I wish someone has been there in the summer of 2012 to slap me HARD across the face and tell me to be realistic. Even though I wanted to pat myself on the back and congratulate myself on a job well done, as I descended the steps of my university, diploma in hand. It dawned on me that I had no job skills that related to Art History. I had no work experience that related to Art History. I had no job in Art History. I simply had an interest in and an aptitude for Art History. 

As I sit here typing, unemployed and my student loans in deferment, I have come to some conclusion about my twenties, higher education, and what the next generation should know. About my twenties-I had many great adventures, met some really captivating people, wasted time, money, brain cells, but I actually finished something. About higher education-you only get out of it what you put into it. I was an average student and got an average education. About what the next generation should know-interests and aptitudes are fine, but really think about what you willing to give up for your interests and aptitudes. There is something to be said for a more practical, more useful degree; basically degrees that teach actual skills that equate to actual jobs.  Be realistic about how comfortable you like to live. What you want to be able to see and do in your lifetime. And what degrees and jobs are going to provide those comforts and adventures. This is your HARD slap.