I was going to go to WCC commencement tomorrow, but I forgot to buy a cap and gown, and don’t know where I can get the right ones in the appropriate color. It is probably black, but I would be embarrassed to show up as the only person wearing navy blue or something. Anyway, I don’t particularly mind. Originally, I felt I ought to go, just in case I regretted it later. I mean, you only graduate once, right?
Well, not really. The degree I am supposed to be awarded (which I won’t actually have earned till the end of the summer semester) is an associates in general studies. As the pinnacle of my educational career to date, it is hardly something I would readily boast of. What does a degree in “General Studies” mean, anyway? Even capitalization doesn’t add much grandeur to it. All I can think when I look at is is, “Gee, I’ve been hanging around here for a while.”
Don’t misunderstand, it isn’t that I am ungrateful. Washtenaw has been good to me, and if anything, I kind of felt I ought to attend commencement as to honor their institution. I have, for the most part, enjoyed their classes, their instructors, and their coffee. But I haven’t been particularly challenged, and so graduating is no particular achievement on my part. Really, it’s just a reminder that it’s time I moved on.
Trouble is, I don’t have anywhere to go to yet.
So maybe that’s the other part of why I wanted to go to commencement. Maybe, I’m afraid it will be the only college graduation I ever get. Honestly, that thought kind of terrifies me. Right at this moment, I have a lot of grand ambitions, and a fair number of them begin with some sort of truly challenging academic environment. So long as I get in somewhere, I will be content. But as long as I’m preparing for another year of In-Between, I’d like to feel like my associates degree isn’t something I’ve settled for.
It is a landmark, certainly. When I get it, I will be glad. But it’s no place to stop and rest. I’d like to think of it as a stepping stone, or a spring board. Like, “something underground’s gonna come up and carry me.”
Moving forward, onward ho, land off the starboard prow. Or something.
Congratlationss on the degree. At the end of 2007 I gained a “Bachelor of Science Open” from the Open University. The first “Open” means it was cobbled together from a variety of subjects chosen by myself (no “major” as you'd say in the states). In fact I was able to transfer credit from previous study at college when I was young (an accountancy qualification which I did not complete) too. So I feel a bit like you, I think, as to what the degree actually represents. But I did do some serious studying! And I learned a lot, especially from the third level course I did, which I think I've mentioned before (Cities and Technology)- I read about so many places and developments in the history of cities and of technology that I found it really enriching. Now I often think “I read about that on my course” – e.g. the other day I saw a picture of San Gimignano in Italy, which has skyscrapers hundreds of years old, or if I see a large building from the past 2 or 3 centuries I know a bit about the development of iron, steel and concrete construction.
LikeLike
Well, hey, congratulations! I'm still in the middle of some of the studies I need in order to finish up my degree, and honestly, they're enough to make me feel like I really am earning something. But anyway, give me a few weeks after the end of the semester, and I'm sure I'll feel differently.
LikeLike