Further clarification on the college thing:

[apocalypsos]

-- There's a weekend course program around here which is the only one I wouldn't mind taking. My mother took it. The problem? I work a four-day-on, four-day-off schedule. The weekend that I have off right now, I'll be working in four weeks.

-- Get another job? I took the one I have as a holdover so I'd be able to pay the bills until I got a better job. Two years later, I still can't find one.

-- Financial assistance? No one will be giving me money. Trust me. I wouldn't give me money. I wouldn't give me a loan, a grant, a scholarship ... hell, I wouldn't throw a quarter into a coffee cup I was holding on a street corner. My situation is THAT bad.

So even if I found a college course I could take, I couldn't pay for it. No, no matter how cheap it might be.

Hence the "exercise in futility" statement. I might as well be window-shopping for ponies.

(There's a reason my list only says, "See about college classes," but says, "Get published." Because I have a better chance of getting published at this point. Hey, anybody want to buy a kidney? Or some eggs? God knows I'm not getting any use out of them.)

Comments

[nute.livejournal.com]

The first question is: WHY would you want college? Are you interested in the kind of jobs that stick to the outmoded and useless racket of "college degree required"? Or is it just a matter of "self-improvement"?

If it's the latter, then college is nothing more than a leisure pursuit, and can be accomplished just as effectively for free with a library card.

If it's the former, then you can keep perpetuating a corrupt system by paying money for education that should be free, or choose to buck the system by substituting actual knowledge for classroom education and applying for those jobs anyway and leaving the "education" section on your resume blank save for a "details available upon interview" notation. I've done that with every job I've applied for, and it's always proven to be effective in interviews.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with every single thing you just said. On the other hand, the job pool around here is such a joke that the good ones that aren't in nursing or long-haul trucking won't let you in the door unless you can name the college degree you have. I've tried not getting into heavy description of my college experiences and no dice. And I'd move, but since I can barely afford to buy groceries most of the time that's out of the question.

And of course, there's always shutting up the relatives who want to know when I'm going back to college.