The contrast of commitment levels at my school is most evident around lunchtime. The main building for instruction is called Parkhouse. It's one of the original campus buildings and has a really wide, inviting, well furnished lobby.
In the lobby is where a lot of student groups carry on their fundraisers and where four years schools, the military, and potential employers usually hold their fairs. Today, when I came in right before my 12:45 class I saw two very different scenes.
On the left, two nursing students were sitting behind a sign that read "Free Blood-Pressure Screening". They were chatting with a student, looking pleasant enough. Both the nursing students had stacks of books with them and were dressed as the health professionals you see on pamphlets and posters.
On the far right, two teenage guys were selling, believe it or not, cheap-looking, gold watches. They had them spread out on a table and were shouting for people to come examine their so-called "Sale of the day!" They didn't have any books with them.
My class was to the left but before I went there I needed to stop and make copies. The copier was behind the amateur watch dealers.
I wandered over. They ignored me, thankfully, but kept shouting to people their own age.
"The holidays are comin'! Ten dollar watches!"
I made my copies and turned around to survey the scene. Everyone is, wether or not they know it, making the same decisions that the watch dealers and the nurses are making. Are you going to succeed in the long-term, provide for a better future, or do you just want ten bucks now?
One of the bonuses of being a non-traditional student is that we are more capable of critical reflection than the average 18 year-old full timer. We can look back and understand what we've done as being right or wrong with more clarity and certainty. We can also look forward and better understand the outcomes of what we're doing now.
Take some time today to reflect on what you've done and hope to do. Thoroughly think things through before deciding on something. Be like the nurses!
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1 comment:
I like that thought. Sometimes we just have to think ahead... and not just for the moment.
I have added your blog to my pages at http://www.nontradstudents.com. Would you like to add mine on your blog site? We could "site exchange" that way. Thanks!
E.S.
PS I also have a blog at:
http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/
where I wrote about study groups and my experience with them as a non-traditional student. Hope you like it! We could also put a link there (exchange links) if you like.
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