4/23/15 A B.S. Is BS?

    Having another discussion here with my favorite coworker.  He fires off with "do you think you're better for having a degree?"  Of course, you have to retort back with "no, a degree does not make me better."  He quickly took the defensive position that ok, degrees open doors, but here we both are.  You have a degree and I don't and we both do the same job.  Ten to fifteen years ago I would have gotten defensive and fired back with a "yeah, but I still make more money, so whatever." 
    Age has taught me that the degree was part training for a profession but it was also a full on opportunity to discover about who you are.  I took five years to get my BS in chemistry.  The first two years were at a junior college where I commuted from my folk's home, drove the bus the second year.  I then spent three years at UT in Austin to complete my degree.  This was the first time living away from home and truly for the first time had to learn to rely on myself and the connections I made as far as completing my courses. 
    Another thing a degree does is force you to expand and look into other fields.  I had to take classes in Art History, Psychology, French (3 semesters), among other "time wasters".  Yes, to a cynic, this was a horrible waste of time.  But to a lifelong pursuit of knowledge, it was just a glimpse into a museum, it was an introduction into a culture I never considered caring about.  Learning does not end at 18, when you graduate high school.  It is something that interesting people do all their lives.  Just this year, I have read five or six books.  I have another 2-3 that I dabble with but are too dense to tackle on the shitter.  This doesn't even touch on the magazines I constantly go through, tutorials on youtube, documentaries on Netflix about how people live, where they live, what they eat.
    As you can see, the interesting things in my life aren't even related to the countless classes of geometry, physics, calculus, and oh so many chemistry classes I went through.  I am not even sure what I learned in any one class transfers to real world usefulness, but here I am, in my 40's.  I am doing alright, people tell me I'm a smart guy, I am satisfied being called a smart-ass, personally.  My boys are both very aware of what Daddy does.  To them, I am a scientist, and they both want to grow up and contribute like I do.  That is the best thing I can take out of my life choices.  Whatever I have done, my boys see as a good enough example that they are following in my footsteps.
    I cannot answer whether a degree is a waste of money and time.  I certainly feel like a better person for having gone through the process of being "indoctrinated" in a system of higher learning.  That reminds me, it's about time to go to the bookstore.