Post-Secondary Schooling

When I was 12, I remember wondering "Why are we not getting paid to go to school? School is work". - Kids say the funniest things sometimes.

I didn't go to post-secondary after high school because I hadn't planned for it simply because I didn't know what I wanted to do and quite frankly, I needed a break from school. So after graduation I got a new job and put off the extra education for a bit.

A year later I started a course at BCIT which was hard but I do admit was fun and I enjoyed studying something most people don't enjoy which led me to taking part two of that course. Part two was a lot more work, a bit more expensive and a whole lot more time-consuming. Though I liked it, I'm still unsure if that's what I want to do it for a living. Why did I take this course to begin with? A good question with a simple answer: I felt like it and I'm glad I did. It's just a bonus that it looks good on my resume.

With regards to what I want to do with my life, I still don't know. Since age 14 I've had five official jobs plus babysitting, house-sitting/dog-sitting, housecleaning and the current tutoring that I do. This doesn't involve any volunteer work that I've done. All of my experience has just opened more opportunities and choices. All these options, which one is supposed to be the best for me?

When I asked a friend who's taking a stage-management program for theatre what she thought of school, she told me:

'I love school! I like learning new things and there's always stuff to keep learning. I like making new friends, when you're put in situation together for a period of time, you really get to know them. We go on "learning adventures"'.

I later asked her, "Why don't you want to work instead?"

"It's not that I don't want to work. There was a quote I once read that said "An artist lets other people decide whether they're someone who is working or who is playing". I'm hoping that schooling will lead into being paid".

Well that is the general idea, you pursue extra education to be better employed for a more secure and better paid job then an average high school graduate. Though it does happen, as much as we wish it isn't always the case. Don't forget there are others in your class that also want to find work and positions available may be limited.

Perhaps I'm just critical of continuing studies because I just haven't found that love of something I wish to submerse myself into and make huge sacrifices for. Or maybe I'm just being too practical in thinking it's best to learn to take care of yourself first before making rash decisions at such a young age of what your future will like. Or perhaps I just enjoy being a 'rolling stone' sometimes.

School isn't a terrible thing. You learn new and exciting things with an infinite bounty of resources and you meet new people with similar interests. It's sort of like camp but more practical for day-to-day life. And if you do have a goal to reach at the end then all the better. Personally, I'd just rather learn new things and get paid at the same time. I've learned so much and gained so much experience from my previous places of employment and I guess I'll continue to work in different places and learn new things. Like my boss once told me "nothing replaces experience".

My friend also commented "Perhaps I like school so much because I've never known anything else."

In that case, go for it. If you're fortunate to have someone else pay for your education then all the best. Either way, whatever it is that you're going to do, you should at least enjoy it.