Are you someone who is debating whether they should return to college and if professional development in education (AKA learning through the educational system vs youtube and google) is worth the time and effort? These are the 7 lessons you learn in school and how they can change your path in life.
Going back to school is a huge investment. One that takes a lot of time and money. I had my doubts about returning but now I can look back and say it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. Also, it led me to an abundance of opportunities.
As someone who was struggling to make more than 30k a year and had no idea what success should look like… here are seven reasons why school is so important. Including what it can give you and why it’s better than the internet.
This post is all about the 7 Revolutionary Lessons you learn after returning to college & why professional development in education is important.
Professional Development in Education is Important
1) Morals
We all have them. Things we believe in. But most of the time these beliefs, morals, or values are ingrained in us. Obviously nothing wrong there. It’s a beautiful thing to have.
However, there is a lot we don’t know. There is a lot of information the public elementary school systems don’t cover and that pop culture doesn’t invest much time in. Learnings that can be layered into your current belief system.
When you’re in college you’re able to take electives like Global Conflict, Philosophy, World Religions, and Ethics. Subjects that make you realize how important your opinion is, how your decisions impact others and how everything is connected.
After taking global conflict, I became a vegan and now I am hyper-aware of the working conditions of any company I chose to buy a product from. Philosophy led me to realize the importance of being a gadfly. A gadfly is basically someone that questions the status quo in pursuit of justice. World Religions made me feel better connected to others and left me feeling in awe over different faiths. Ethics gave me some context regarding why we make some choices and how to peel away at conflicts.
It’s not a matter of questioning everything you’ve ever been taught to believe. It’s having an understanding of your position in the world and how you make your decisions.
2) Interests
Due to the nature of having to select classes and electives, you become very exposed to subjects outside of your everyday scope.
College allows you to discover things about yourself that you wouldn’t have otherwise realized. Things that help you feel inspired and whole. Also, you have a better understanding of why you like the things you do.
Let me share the interests I discovered in hopes of being more darn specific than using “things” in every other sentence.
Art History is a magical class and if you find a passionate teacher you have hit the jackpot. This class was not about memorizing dates and pictures. Which is what I thought. This class uncovered what was happening at different times in history, including how people felt about it, and how artists captured their stories.
Italian Literature brought me to a book that has never made me cry so much in my life and how my ancestors felt growing up. I’m not Italian, I’m Dominican but there are worker generations that fought tooth and nail for a smidge of the opportunities we have now.
Business Management led me to a fascination with organization and structure. As someone who hates feeling lost, having an understanding of order and how to create it was intoxicating.
3) Finances
We all know it. The public educational school system is not equipped to prepare us for our finances. We don’t learn about interest rates, compound interest, liabilities vs assets, or retirement accounts.
Ignorance is not bliss in this situation. In this situation, ignorance leads you to poor financial decisions that end up impacting the quality of your life more than you ever thought. Continuing professional development in education is easily measured when it comes to your financial choices and quality of life.
I’m grateful my parents taught me how dangerous borrowing money is. I have a ton of friends that are in debt over loans for school or credit card debt over everyday items. The amount of stress they feel on an ongoing basis is something I would never want for anyone.
But there is way more to that when it comes to finances. And you learn of a world of opportunities when you become exposed to financial literacy. Sure YouTube videos can teach you this, but school forces you to learn the basics. I encourage anyone returning to college to take some form of accounting or personal finance class.
4) Critical Thinking
Einstein said it best, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think.”
I remember thinking – what the duck does that mean? Well, it means this, we do not view a problem from different angles or rationalize others’ input in a manner that is well structured. We view things either from an emotional perspective or from a singular angle.
When you take classes like critical thinking, economics, or physics you discover how many different factors impact one element. And this is best done in school, under the guidance of someone like a professor, who lives their life balancing the details.
5) Just keep swimming
With any college degree, you will have to take classes you do not like. And this is an opportunity to learn how to complete the things you do not care for.
Any job will have very unglamorous tasks or projects that no one wants to do. After I had to take international business and write a ten-page paper for foreign investments in China, I realized that I could do anything.
You learn that completing a job well done is hard work, it’ll push you out of your comfort zone and it’s something you can’t escape.
6) Negotiation
For the difficult tasks that you can delegate, or make easier, you should.
In college you’ll always find yourself with a teacher’s style you don’t understand. You just can’t learn following their teaching style. And this doesn’t mean they’re a bad teacher or you’re a bad student. This just means there is a level of miscommunication in the room.
I can’t emphasize enough how important having a conversation with them and mentioning your hardships is. It can curve your grade, you can complete extra assignments or you have a better understanding of what their expectations of you are.
These are all lessons that will drastically improve your working relationships in life.
7) Time Management
If you’re returning to school then the chances of you returning with extra responsibilities are incredibly high. Maybe now you have children or a day job or you’re acting as someone’s caretaker. Either way, you most likely have a limited amount of time.
When you return to college you are forced to implement a level of time management and flexibility in your life in order to be as productive as possible.
And believe me, I know it is hard. It was difficult for me to work full time and attend school full time but in the process of figuring it out, I learned how to take advantage of each moment. You say to yourself – “hey I have an extra hour here, I’m going to work on completing this task I’ve been putting off.”
In elementary school, you become accustomed, for the most part, to watching tv when you come home or do homework and that’s it. But when you’re an adult and you have extra responsibilities and you become addicted to crossing things off your list.
Hey, you may even add things back onto your plate like starting a blog or taking a language class.
This post was all about professional development in education and how it can lead you to live a better life.
Leave a Reply