(no subject)
Today is August 27th. On Monday, August 25th, I received an e-mail from Queen’s University accepting me into their Bachelor of Education program and today was the deadline that I was given to let them know whether or not I’d be saying yes.
So, today is the day I had to reply and essentially tell Queen’s thanks, but no thanks.
All things considered, it was harder than I thought it would be to hit that send button. It certainly didn’t help that I had the few people I had confided in second guessing my resolve. I spent my long and groggy morning shower today mulling it all over one last time. It took a little longer than usual to clean the sleep from my eyes, but once awake and alert, I realized that there really was not contest to be called.
This past spring I had been informed by all three of my choice teacher’s colleges that I had been put onto their waiting lists for enrolment and, to everyone else’s surprise, I was more than happy with that. I had found something else that had piqued my interest and, being freed from the unwritten obligation to accept an invitation from a university, I found myself instead college-bound and happy.
Now, to be quite clear, I have not completely written the pursuit of a teaching degree out of my future. It’s just not something I care to do now. Aside from the more Queen’s-specific issue of the fact that, had I actually really wanted to accept their offer I would have had less than a week to pull all of the strings necessary to make it happen, there is also the very simple fact that there are other things I want to do at this point in my life. My interests are too global and my passions too varied right now to be settled neatly at such a young and capable age into the rather defined arena of education. Teacher’s college is not going anywhere (and given the current state that teachers are facing in an oversaturated market right now, it seems that I’d be doing myself a favour in waiting anyway) so should my desires ever lead me back in that direction, I can follow them then. Cliché as it has become, education truly is a life-long process and I am really okay with that. If it was something I was truly meant to do, I’ll get there eventually.
I suppose it is also pertinent to mention my current disenchantment with the young right now and my truly loathsome opinion of the school system in general. Whoever thought that a “no fail’ system would be beneficial to students needs a good shake. Nothing sets a child up for failure like leading them to assume that they need only apply the most minimal amount of effort and the whole world will bend to their will. I’ve spoken with parents and soon-to-be teachers struggling through placements and can truthfully say that I am not the only one dismayed by all of this catering to a generation already plagued by self-entitlement (which is not to assume that mine was any better, but at least we had deadlines and could, oh, I don’t know, fail). What I’m actually trying to get at with this current long-winded tangent is not that I hate children (which is entirely untrue, regardless of how this all sounds) but that as it currently stands, in-class teaching may not have been my ultimate goal in the end anyway. My desire to implement (hopefully well informed) changes to the system would require me to pursue a masters in education and beyond, and while that idea does strike a certain note with me, it is still not something I wish to dive into right now.
Next week I will be starting classes in a post-graduate program in public relations and promotions. I was intrigued by the program in my first year of undergrad and after a great deal of research, input from dear Candice (who has also taken the program and finds herself arguably content with her choice), and my own experiences in the field, I can honestly say that I am truly excited about what lies ahead.
What I can also say with honesty however, is that I can now truly empathize with anyone who has ever felt scorned by others for choosing to go to college rather than university. Whether it is a decision made out of necessity or person preference, I’ve found that many college-bound students often find themselves placed on a lower rung of importance on the post-secondary ladder in the eyes of others. I too was at one point guilty of this preconceived notion of university being “better” than college, but I didn’t know then what I know now. I’ve had countless people tell me (sometimes in essence and sometimes quite blatantly) that I am throwing away my time spent toiling at U of T by going to college. And why? Because I didn’t want to do a masters? Because I did not feel inclined to further my life in academia and instead chose to seek out a career? Gone are the days in which a university degree was all the education one needed to land an ideal future, and I suppose that’s something that may take a while to saturate the minds of the general populace.
All-in-all, I’m quite pleased to be getting the proverbial best of both worlds. Coupling my theoretical education with practical knowledge works for me, and I am not willing to let anyone make me feel like less of a person for making that choice.
So to summarize: I wish to thank the good people at Queen’s for their offer, regardless of how untimely it happens to be. Mayhaps we shall be in talks one day in the future. In the mean time, I appreciate the ego-boost. I’m going to college and I’m perfectly happy with that.
And in a totally unrelated note - Someone just asked me what, for some reason, felt like the oddest question:
Cpt: Is your husband a Snowbird pilot?
Moi: (the only baffled response I can muster) … No?