I’m 53 years old. I’m a father of four beautiful girls ranging from 13 down to a year and a half. My life changed drastically 6 years ago when I got married for the first time. I went from being single to a family man. My wife says, “change is good.” I started into a Masters program 4 years ago, but it became too difficult to manage the time. I wanted to be at home at night with my kids. (What was I thinking!)
My wife started back into college at night, so now I have to watch the kids. The longer I taught school, the more I knew that I need to go on for my Masters and, eventually, my doctorate. Two years of scrambling with the time management of work, kids, and school was daunting, but my wife said to me, “The next two years of your life are going to go by whether you are in school or not, so you might as well go back now.”
And so I write this to you as an on-line learner. I was anxious at first but now, not so much. What was I anxious about? The online element? I teach computers. I maintain a website for my students. I love exploring new software. This is the ideal place for me to be. The content? I’m an educator. I love to learn about new things. The writing? Apparently not.
So it comes back to change. That, to me, is the number one deal breaker for many of us. Can I change my life and lifestyle to accommodate taking classes? And when it comes to deciding about going back to school, many people stick with the traditional classroom and lecture taking familiarity of education because the idea of change is frightening enough without adding the technology and on-line component. Having done both, I can now say that, for me, on-line is the solution that I was looking for.
What scares YOU about going back to school? What are the things that are affecting YOUR decision?Let’s talk.
