I set up a table the last three weeks at the Lebanon Farmers Market, hoping to catch a few eyes and have a few conversations. Granite State College is still a small player in the Lebanon community so I was there to have a ready answer for all those people who walked by and asked "Who are you?".
I was lucky enough to be placed between a fabulous food stand and a farm stand. One afternoon as I was setting up, my neighbor at the farm stand, an older woman, asked me THE question: "Who are you?"
As I was giving my standard answer (adult continuing education, career training programs, affordable college study, etc.) she came over and browsed through a fall course schedule.
"I started writing a book about education", she said.
"Really? Wow. That's great", I replied.
"Don't think I'll ever get it done."
"What's it about?"
She went on to tell me about research she had done for her book about the rise of higher education in the 40's and 50's. With the GI bill helping so many servicemen and women pay for college, college enrollment grew astronomically. She also made the point that so soon after the wars and the Great Depression, many people were looking for something that no one could take away from them. After losing so much, many people turned to higher education as security for the future.
I had never thought about my education in those terms: something that will never not be mine. I could lose everything I own in a fire tomorrow and be homeless and penniless, but I will still possess my greatest assets and investment, because I invested in myself. It's not a sheet of paper or books or papers written and published. It's the knowledge that I carry around all the time and use everyday in ways I could never have imagined. It's the confidence and the tenacity, the passion and the dedication. It dawned on me that my education has made me rich in ways I had never realized, and will always be there to hold me up.
I took a moment to breathe deeply and congratulate myself on not letting that dream of education get away from me. I finished setting up my table and sat down to talk to people, excited and energized by the comments of my world-savvy, produce-selling neighbor. And her cucumbers were tasty too!
I was lucky enough to be placed between a fabulous food stand and a farm stand. One afternoon as I was setting up, my neighbor at the farm stand, an older woman, asked me THE question: "Who are you?"
As I was giving my standard answer (adult continuing education, career training programs, affordable college study, etc.) she came over and browsed through a fall course schedule.
"I started writing a book about education", she said.
"Really? Wow. That's great", I replied.
"Don't think I'll ever get it done."
"What's it about?"
She went on to tell me about research she had done for her book about the rise of higher education in the 40's and 50's. With the GI bill helping so many servicemen and women pay for college, college enrollment grew astronomically. She also made the point that so soon after the wars and the Great Depression, many people were looking for something that no one could take away from them. After losing so much, many people turned to higher education as security for the future.
I had never thought about my education in those terms: something that will never not be mine. I could lose everything I own in a fire tomorrow and be homeless and penniless, but I will still possess my greatest assets and investment, because I invested in myself. It's not a sheet of paper or books or papers written and published. It's the knowledge that I carry around all the time and use everyday in ways I could never have imagined. It's the confidence and the tenacity, the passion and the dedication. It dawned on me that my education has made me rich in ways I had never realized, and will always be there to hold me up.
I took a moment to breathe deeply and congratulate myself on not letting that dream of education get away from me. I finished setting up my table and sat down to talk to people, excited and energized by the comments of my world-savvy, produce-selling neighbor. And her cucumbers were tasty too!
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