[at-l] Graduating from School: How Will you Use Your Educationonthe Trail?

[mizwaterfall at yahoo.com (Nina Baxley Rogers)]

I already have two degrees and am thinking about
getting a third, and I still don't know exactly what I
want to be when I grow up! :)

Whatever I do in life, it seems I can't get away from
using bits and pieces of my high school, college, and
grad school educations (not to mention the
"educations" I got as a secretary, a social services
worker, a kitchen employee, etc.). During the
"formative" college years, my education experience
really molded me, the same way the AT molded me,
working at Yellowstone molded me, reading Emerson
molded me and seeing "The Marriage of Figaro" molded
me.

Geez, I'm a regular ball of silly putty. Can ya tell I
went to a liberal arts college?

It seems like a weird question to ask if one uses
their education on the trail. For me, the trail gave
its own kind of (very valuable) education--not the
other way around.

When my husband left Colgate to hike the AT for 6
months, one of the requirements for him to keep his
job was to write a report showing how the lessons he
learned on the trail could be applied to
manufacturing. And he did ...

That being said, I did appreciate the massage
therapists and physical therapists who were willing to
give free services to their fellow hikers! And it was
cool to hike with a geologist in Maine and a fellow
English Lit grad through Pennsylvania. So you can say
that they used their educations to help or enlighten
others, even though they didn't necessarily get paid
for it.

Waterfall



--- Shelly Hale <shellydhale@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I have wrestled with the issue of the importance of
> a college education for
> the past several years.  Alas, I find myself
> following the herd on this one.
> Around here, the only way to make any kind of money
> or to even be able to
> receive some small business loans heavily depends on
> having a degree. (It
> used to be an Associates, but it is shifting towards
> a Bachelors now.)
> 
> I started going to college in '92 to become a nurse.
>  Then I found out that
> I might enjoy giving shots in a painful way to
> complainers & whiners, so I
> did not think that this was a good path to follow.
> ;-)
> I went back to college in '99 because it was the
> only way to move up in the
> company that I worked for at that time.  Long story
> short...when they asked
> me to choose between my kids and the company, I
> ditched the job and kept the
> kids & journey to my BSBM.
> 
> Queen Diva and I actually discussed this very issue
> at Camp Thornwell this
> past weekend.  When she asked me why I was still
> going.  I told her that is
> now more of an exercise to complete what I had
> begun.  I am totally
> disgusted with taking classes that have nothing to
> do with Business nor that
> I will ever use for the rest of my life.  It seems
> that it is such a waste
> of time, but I decided a couple of years ago to go
> ahead and complete it
> because of the "you-never-knows".  I guess it's kind
> of like an insurance
> policy more than anything for me.  Should anything
> ever happen to my husband
> (who is the main bread winner of the family), then I
> would have this to help
> me take care of my girls.  And, like insurance, I
> may never use it, but at
> least I know it's there.  (But, still seems almost a
> waste of money.  Guess
> I'll end up dancing naked across that stage to get
> my diploma still wonderin
> why I did it in the first place!  LOL)
> 
> Shelly StilltryintofigureoutwhatIwanttobewhenIgrowup
> Hale
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Shane" <shane@theplacewithnoname.com>
> To: <AT-L@Backcountry.net>
> Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 3:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Graduating from School: How Will
> you Use Your
> Educationonthe Trail?
> 
> 
> > > So IMHO taking a hike is using your education on
> the trail, just as
> taking
> > a
> > > hike is using your life's experiences.
> > >
> > > What do you think?
> >
> > I wouldn't know...  I never went to college.  I
> only have a High School
> > diploma.  Everything after that, I learned
> myself...
> >
> > I suppose that I think that college is highly
> overrated, and that the
> trail
> > is a far better school than any held indoors.
> >
> > I suppose now I have to quote John Muir...
> >
> > "...Full of God's thoughts, a place of peace and
> safety amid the most
> > exalted grandeur and eager enthusiastic action, a
> new song, a place of
> > beginnings abounding in first lessons on life,
> mountain building, eternal,
> > invincible, unbreakable order; with sermons in
> stones, storms, trees,
> > flowers, and animals brimful with humanity." OUR
> NP, pg. 87
> >
> > Which, of course, reminds me of the first two
> Rules For Being Human:
> >
> > 1. You will receive a body. You may like it or
> hate it, but it will be
> yours
> > for the entire period this time around.
> >
> > 2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a
> full-time informal school
> > called life. Each day in this school you will have
> the opportunity to
> learn
> > lessons. You may like the lessons or think them
> irrelevant or stupid.
> >
> > Shane
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > at-l mailing list
> > at-l@backcountry.net
> > http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
> 
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