Then there are the fun statistical outliers when it comes to education. I have a BA in Theatre and an MFA in Theatre Sound Design. Despite the fact that neither of those should lead to anything very lucrative, I've successfully built a career and not only support myself but keep a bunch of employees busy. While a degree is not a requirement for anything I've done, I won't have been able to end up where I'm at without do the degrees the way I did.

I should not watch a Nova on Elsa the lioness (Born Free fame) when I know I'm emotionally wobbly. I need to bwow my nobe.

When I talked to Taylor about college, I emphasized that while with her plans, major does matter, and mastering certain subjects is an absolute must (she wants to go to med school) the most important thing she'd learn is HOW to learn and discipline. So she needed to engage even that stupid art history class* taken for an arts requirement, even if she didn't care; she would learn how to act as if she cared. And that is a bullshit skill useful in being a grownup.

I think she heard me. She's taking classes this summer, and we've had one Come To Jesus conversation about an incident she posted to fb that I was all OH HONEY, BABY GIRL, DUMBASS! WE'RE ON TO YOU, YOU ARE FOOLING NO ONE...and also, that's jerky, think about it. It was so classic teenager, I wasn't shocked, just....oh, teenagers. Think they know everything. She was so embarrassed and ashamed when I called her on it, not for getting caught, but once she realized how she'd presented herself in the described incident. Also, she learned to use privacy settings. And so far, I don't think I've been put outside the fence. There's still enough I'm seeing that indicates she's still trusting me;)

*= no offense meant, it was an example a class I did have to take my senior year when I was consumed with thesis. I was a physics (thesis) and polisci major. So it was pretty low priority and resented the time it required of me. And I'd maxxed out on museums and art in Prague, so I was exasperated with it most of the time. But I still wrote damned persuasive papers (honing my skills in research and writing further,) and learned that what moves me in art is generally that which inspires me to touch- I'm tactile with art, even if it is a photo, it's the suggestion of texture and movement that engage me as much as the subject. So I learned something about me! I found a way to make the research more interesting to me by delving into the socio-political of the art topic, so learned a bit there too, both in content and how to repurpose the odious;)

OH HONEY, BABY GIRL, DUMBASS! WE'RE ON TO YOU, YOU ARE FOOLING NO ONE...

I say this all the damn time.

I'm sure you do. I think every-thinking-one who has been let into a teen's life must...

Hah. I majored in chemistry, and quickly realized I didn't want to stick with that, but it was too late to change my major and still graduate on time! And while my parents expected college of us, they also had no plans to pay for more than 4 years, since they were barely able to pay what the school thought they should for those 4 years.

And while being a science major kinda got me my job/career, I don't actually use any of it on a regular basis. I would've been better off getting a nursing degree, for this job. Or bio. I did not take any bio in college.

I can no longer do integrals (math minor!) or calculate the trajectory of a dead horse, much less e&m or god forbid thermo or quantum. Haven't really touched on galaxy age composition since 1997. I retain most of the precalc math of high school, which occasionally comes in handy, like when calculating the amount of mulch I need for the spot between the sidewalks or potting soil for flowerpots. But I can write database queries like no one's business! I learned that on the job.

As a middle school Science teacher, I am certainly not getting the ROI I probably should be getting from four years at a fancy school and one more at a different fancy school, but I was lucky in my parents for the first four and got the masters paid for by by my later Educational Martyrdom (gotta love those programs) so have no debt. We are paying off my wife's, but it is manageable.

And though I could probably have gotten this job eventually with less fancy and expensive education, I would not be nearly as good at it. College was amazing for all my brains.

Gah. It's never a good idea to just take a quick look at work e-mail when I'm at home, is it? Learn this lesson, self.

Step away, -t, step away.

I may not be getting a good ROI for my late in life degree, but my quality of life is better. I wouldn't have been able to get my current job which may not pay me fantastically more than what I was earning pre-degree. But moving the Colorado for this job makes the financial pain a bit less painful.

Man, if i could get a job doing integrals I'd be pretty happy. Though it's really basic algebra and linear algebra that I sometimes do for fun. They sometimes come up in my job by way of abusing Excel, but never for very long.

And I remember some thermo. Well, the ideal gas law, I remember the hell out of that.