The few, the proud, the over-educated

Good news from my chairperson. She liked my Chapter 1. A few minor changes, and I'm good to move on to Chapter 2, the Literature Review. I'd like to say I'm hopeful and heartened by her response, but honestly, I'm so tired of this, all I can do is put my head down and pray for the stamina to keep slogging forward. It seems like every other minute I'm mimicking the kid on the sock commercial—you know, the one where the dad says, “We can't get socks that fit, and we're sick of it!” and the little kid echoes, “Sick of it!” while his dad is dunking his feet in a bucket of latex. I walk around muttering, “Sick of it!” at odd moments when I hope no one is listening.

It's embarrassing to admit I'm sick of something like the privilege of working toward a Ph.D. It's what my friend would call a luxury problem. Something like 3% of the population has earned a doctorate, and if I just keep plugging away at it, I will probably earn one of my own. The few, the proud, the over-educated and possibly soon-to-be unemployed—and quite possibly unemployable. How's that for special? A Bachelors degree is a leg up over a high school diploma, I think there is widespread agreement for that position. One could argue the payoff drops from there, depending on what your Masters degree is in, and unless your doctorate is in Computer or Biological Sciences, I have doubts that the benefits of a doctoral degree outweigh the costs.

The best I can say is that I will have no student loan debt if and when I finish. Yay. At least I won't have any bills when I'm living under the Burnside Bridge. Just kidding....I'll probably still have a few bills, just not from the student loan companies.

We are half way through the 10-week term at the career college. For the past couple weeks, many students have been absent. Some are on vacation. A few have family obligations. A couple are sick, so I've been told. The rest are AWOL, apparently. This sometimes happens in the computer classes after the first test. Some students get demoralized from the amount of work. Or they get their student loan stipend and go on a bender. Or they get charged with murder and end up in jail. You know, just the challenges of life. Not everyone makes it through college, even our college. Hard to believe, I know, but even we have standards, even this low on the higher education food chain.

I don't mind that students disappear. I consider it a strange kind of success. It's a weaning of sorts. Only the serious students survive, the rest fall away, scatter like cottonwood fluff on the breeze. The ones that are left are bright, hungry, and determined. No matter what idiotic thing I say, they will succeed. They don't need me at all, except perhaps as a cheerleader or an occasional coach. They have learned how to learn, and nothing, not even a lousy podunck career college like ours can hold them back.

The online university I pay all my discretionary income to is coming up for reaccreditation in a couple months. I've been reading the discussion folders with some alarm. Students are fuming over recent changes the school has implemented to improve standards. Some of the changes haven't gone as smoothly as one would hope, but it's highly unlikely anyone at the school is maliciously trying to sabotage students' success. From some of the posts, one would think some of my fellow students are being singled out for harassment and persecution. One irate soul is urging us all to send our complaints to the Higher Learning Commission, the agency that accredits the university. Others are cautioning against precipitous action, worried that our accreditation is at risk. It's true that if the HLC decides not to re-accredit the university, the degree I am struggling to earn becomes worthless. But that is unlikely to happen. I hope.

I'm trying to stay out of the wreckage of the future.