My life (thus far) as a student...

I have been a student at many colleges.  At 18, I thought the University of Montana was the center of the universe.  This is where I read the words of Emerson and Thoreau and where I first acted on the stage.  This is where I stayed up all night just talking, and where I could linger at the local coffee shop over chocolate chip cookies pondering just the idea of what life had to offer. 

BYU was where I learned discipline and where I learned to write.  Where I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.....  

The University of Texas was a place where I felt like I got to SHINE as a student.  I was more mature (read, older) and more focused and school came easier to me. Much later, I enrolled at Everett Community College for Spanish where I learned that I should have started learning a language a long time ago.  

Now I am a student at City University in the Master's of Reading and Literacy program.  I love learning new ideas that I can apply right away to my classes. It is a GRAND experience to know that I am involved in cutting edge best practices that I can put into play immediately.   But.....(and you knew this was coming) I long for the swirl of ideas that surrounded my colleges of yesterday.  At City U, we pay dearly for our education.  We all have busy lives and we commute to the school one weekend a month, eyes always on the clock, anxious to know what is required, and discarding anything that we don't "have to know."  I remember how back in the day what I learned was more important than the grade I received; the experience was more valuable than the result.  I loved the discovery of thoughts that made me feel so connected to humanity; the excitement of feeling VITAL and pertinent and a part of something bigger. Alas, I don't feel that at my weekend school.  Maybe I am foolish to miss it so much.