College. Take 2

It's never too late to go back to school.

I recently decided to go back to college. I’m 43 years old and I will be 44 when I start back to school in the fall. I am simultaneously looking forward to it and very excited and dreading it.

I’m excited because I love to learn, to read, to experience new things, and to meet new people. To me, learning is a life-long process. I love reading and I am always exploring new things, sometimes I even explore subjects I’m not interested in just to know a little something about them. I even like study and research.

I’m dreading it because, while many people my age return to school, most of the people I will be around will be young, hormonal teenagers who are clueless about the real world. When I get frustrated, I sigh, but I guess it’s a distinctive sigh because my kids have nicknamed it the “sigh of despair.” Having been to college already as an adult, I know that I will be “sighing in despair” often.

I’m also dreading the mountain of paperwork I have to go through to start college. I’ve already completed a lot of it and I am very thankful for electronic forms because I type way faster than I can write and typing doesn’t hurt my hands as much.

Some have asked me, “Why now?” I always assumed I would go back to college at some point, maybe part time or after all the kids left home.

My plan, while on active duty was to transfer my G.I. Bill to my kids, but was unaware of some of the stipulations required to make that happen. With two of my kids on active duty and a third preparing to go in, they will have their own G.I. Bill benefits and my youngest daughter has no desire to go into the military. Not that she’s anti-military, she just realizes that it’s not for her. So, I was going to transfer my benefit to her.

Unfortunately, since I have already left active duty, I no longer have the ability to pass my benefit to her. I don’t want it to go to waste, so I might as well take advantage of it.

Interdisciplinary Studies

So what do I want to major in? As you can see from the title of the blog, I am undecided at life. If you go to my Facebook page, you will see that my occupation is listed at undecided at life as well. So a major selection is a good question. I have wide ranging interests that include music, politics, religion, and the great outdoors, but for many years, probably the past two decades I have a developed a love of history. I’m leaning heavily toward history. In fact, I think I have all but decided to major in history.

With music, as much as I love it, I think that will stay at hobby level. I have had people ask me to give them lessons because while I’m not at the professional level by any stretch of the imagination, I also don’t suck. With some practice I know there are areas that I can improve in. There are some age related limitations that will make it difficult for me to make a career of music outside of education at this point..

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook or follow me there or on Twitter, you’ll see lots of posts about religion and politics. Since last summer, my posts have probably been most dominated by politics. As much as I love our constitution and have an interest in politics, I feel that my interest only extends to being a good citizen, exercising my rights, and faithfully exercising my duties as a good citizen. But a major in political science? No. I have a friend who is a political science professor at Texas Christian University. While I like to peruse as many sources as possible for my information and come to my own conclusions, he helps me make sense of the information and that’s good enough for me.

Religion. Again, if you know me, are a friend of mine on Facebook, or follow me there or on Twitter, I make no secret of being a Christian. I love God, Jesus, and the Bible. I love learning about the Ancient Near East and the history of the Christian church, the cultures, the customs, languages, and practices. I love talking about religion, sharing my faith, and even debating. Sometimes I like it too much.

Because of my enjoyment of debate, I once thought about pursuing a Master’s Degree in theology or divinity with an emphasis on apologetics. That is still a possibility. I earned a Bachelor’s of Divinity from a college in Georgia, but it doesn’t transfer well and I would like to earn a degree that will give me better opportunities outside the church in case I have to work bi-vocationally.

I like the outdoors and there are many programs out there that would allow me to work outdoors. I considered a forestry degree, but the nearest forestry program is Virginia Tech, I can’t relocate right now and I would prefer to take some residential classes. I don’t even know if VT offers distance programs.

History, though. I love history. The great thing about history is that it touches everything. Art history is its own discipline, so is music, but even without majoring in those two disciplines, I can still learn about them through history. If you go to a State Park, National Park, or Museum, many of the docents and guides have history degrees! Plus, there is research that allows me to discover even more than what I can learn in college and if you pay attention to the news, there’s a lot of history discoveries still to be made!

Who knows? Before I start work on a major, I have to retake a bunch of lower level courses. In that time, I might find a love for something I never even considered. A woman I work with has a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, maybe that’s a way to go. “Interdisciplinary Studies” sounds more formal than “Jack of all Trades,” but it boils down to the same thing and still opens a lot more doors than my divinity degree does.

College Take 2

I’m calling this “College Take 2” because I have been to college already and finished a degree, but the best I can hope for is volunteer positions for the time being. There just aren’t that many paid opportunities and even if I decide to go into church planting again, I will probably have to do some vocational work, which I’m not opposed to. I would just like to have a little more money than what security work can provide. I would also like my wife to work because she wants to, not because I can’t bring home the bacon by myself and she has to.

I would love to get your perspective, some comments about your experiences going back to school if you returned at a later age, or advice if you think it would be helpful. If you don't have a google account, but you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, please leave your comments there.