Day 344 of 1000
I stretched my college years out way longer than made any sense. Actually, it was pretty irresponsible and had ramifications for the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong. I am very, very happy with the trajectory of my life. I have amazing interesting work, have travelled the world, have a family that is way better than I deserve, etc., etc. Still, I try to tell my kids that when your in school, your whole goal is to get out and go to work. Even if, maybe especially if you want your career to be as a professor it seems like a good move to get through the school and go to work. Work pays MUCH better than student life.
I separate all that from the concept of life-long learning. I think one of my biggest regret is that I did not get more than one Masters degree. A second, third, and fourth Masters degree is about the joy of learning, not punching a ticket. I had an acquaintance who was a high school physics and chemistry teacher who just kept going back to school to get more degrees one class at a time after work. He always liked to research, write, and defend a thesis with his degrees, too–none of that project stuff for him. He had a great life, a LOT of knowledge, lots of friends and opportunities just kept opening up to him because of all his knowledge, learning, and ability to share what he knew.