Month: June 2019

Planning Ahead

 

At this point of my return to school.  I am in my first semester at community college.  I plan on finishing with an associates in teaching.  I estimate that I will transfer by Spring 2021. Then on to a university, I am not 100% sure on which one yet. I have narrowed my choices down to three. University of Houston 90%. University of Texas- Austin 8%, and Sam Houston State University 2%. I realize I can elect to go anywhere in the world, I choose to stay in Texas because I just moved here, cost of living, and the veteran’s program I am using coincides with Texas.

How do I choose what college to go to? I think about what I want to do. I want to be a teacher. Great. Okay. What kind of teacher? There’s P.E, Art, Math, Early childhood development 1-6, social studies, special education, English as a second language. There are so many options! How does one choose? At this point I’ll finish with my associates in teaching. I have yet to take any classes either. I would like to volunteer at some schools in the Fall. My initial thoughts were to be a language teacher in a foreign country. I have a lot of time think about this idea and I will use the upcoming year to flush it out.

I finished my art exam test on got off of class early one day. I used that time to take a tour of University of Houston. It was an unusually cool for a June day in Houston. So a walking tour was perfect. The university was great with all the amenities and opportunities it offered. It is one the most diverse schools in the nation. It is located in the 4th largest city in the nation, behind Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. It was an easy sell for me because I just moved here and I didn’t want to move again.

The thing I don’t like about colleges. First and foremost it is a business. I didn’t really know what that meant when I was 18 years old. Higher education is a growing industry. In essence a school tour is a 90 minute sales pitch. I have visited a few schools in my time. I had a girlfriend who went to Cal( UC Berkeley), so I went there often and college avenue ran from my art school in Oakland to UC Berkeley. I visited Stanford University for the Cantor museum and Rodin sculpture garden. When it comes to colleges nothing really impresses me anymore. A normal tour consists of showing us buildings of where students and/or teachers gather, and so on. Unfortunately you can never know what a school is like until you go there. It is one of those experiences you can’t fully grasp until you jumped in. Much like the military me.

The tour illustrated an emphasis on college life. The first time I went I didn’t really enjoy that. I feel its probably better for young adults to start renting apartments and start being an adult sooner vs living in the dorms and life on campus. This is probably for economical reasons, city planning, and ease of access to campus. As an older student I will probably move closer to the campus but continue my activities in the city vs college activities. College will eventually end for all students. There’s no reason to switch off campus because you already have a community. No need to transition. In school, it is super easy to meet friends because they have similiar goals and interests. As an adult, making friends is very difficult. I believe people should be exposed to that as early as possible. These are a just a few thoughts on how broaden your college bubble.

What do you think? Did you graduate from college? Do you have children? What do you think they should do? Write your comments below.

Next blog post: Alaska.

Back to school

So I officially started school AGAIN.  It’s a little weird to go back.  The young students are probably wondering why I’m so old and going back to school.  That’s just me projecting and being insecure about being older.  Back when I was in college I used to wonder why the older students were so driven.  Now as an older student I know why.  I have had so much life experience and years of working in the world.  I’m going back to school more focused and knowledgeable on how to accomplish tasks.  I look back on my 20s,  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  I’m impressed with these kids that do know what they want to do, but really they don’t know what it’s like to work in their proposed fields.

By being older I’m more focused and dedicated to my craft.  I know what I’m capable of and how the world works.  I’ve failed at many things in life. I learned resilience from getting back up.  For example, I’ve dropped out of art school, I failed out of Navy Dive school and I’ve had two knee surgeries.  These low points are necessary for the high points.  If I didn’t drop out of college, I wouldn’t have join the Navy and seen the world. If I didn’t attempt to try for special operations I would have always regretted not trying.  I’m a better person for failing at something.  My recovery from my knee surgeries gave me the opportunity to learn Spanish, something I always wanted to do.  Now I’m learning Korean and improving my conversational Spanish towards a near native level.  The experiences I’ve had from the time I’ve left college initially couldn’t have been learned by following a common archetype.  Even now I plan on finishing towards a Bachelors degree.  My future job will be an unconventional location in relation to forty years ago. My age is an incredible asset when it comes to returning to school.

I have to address that many students choose nursing as career of choice.  Nursing is an up and coming industry that will need workers.  It is a stable career.  I’m Filipino, it is ingrained in our culture, well, my upbringing.  My mothers a nurse, both my sisters are nurses, several members of my extended family are nurses.  I know very well about this occupation.  I worked as Navy Hospital Corpsman for 7 years.  I know what it is like to work in the healthcare industry, among doctors, nurses, and other specialists.  To sum up my experience, it isn’t for everyone.  I didn’t enjoy seeing people put in hospice care.  I didn’t enjoy the bedside care.  I didn’t enjoy people dying.  I think the last reason was why I couldn’t deal with it.  That aspect is a small part, it takes a toll on a persons mental health.  As a result most of the ICU staff I worked with had black humor, as most do that work with death so closely.  Its an interesting coping mechanism among first-responders.  I won’t mention the bureaucracy among the United States healthcare system or the how we heavily medicate with drugs and pharmaceuticals.  I won’t forget my time as a corpsman.  I admire any one willing to aspire to be a healthcare professionals.  I just hope they do it for the right reasons and not the money.

Some other News

I finished my Spanish intermediate online class.  I received an A.  There’s something wrong with the foreign language education system in the United States.  Is it the teaching method? The policy? America’s general attitude towards languages of foreign countries? That’s another blog post.  I have to keep studying.  There is so much to learn.  I learned many different nuances and subtleties in the class.  I still do italki.com classes with a community tutor.

I got a new/ old job.  I draw caricatures at the Downtown Aquarium here in Houston.  I drew for Kaman’s Art Shoppes from 2004- 2008 at Great America in Santa Clara, Ca.  I miss being around other artists.  It is very hot humid here in Houston.  It is something I just have to get used to.  So far my boss is cool and my co workers are warming up to me.

I started teaching Jiu Jitsu to kids again. Well, I’m the uke. (Uke: a japanese term for someone receiving the technique.)   The purple belt uke.  More to come on that.

I will try to post more.  College is about writing papers.  I have to practice writing.