Full Potential, or Not?
I didn't do well in high school. I failed Algebra II my Junior year. I started working at the local auto parts store just before tenth grade, and I didn't make too much time for school. The teachers weren't interested in me, nor I in them. Sure, there were the few who stuck out. My coin collecting is a result of my fourth-grade teacher, and my painting skill I owe to my high-school art instructor. The light on the rest seems to fade when it comes to their accomplishments in my life.
So I sold auto parts and didn't care too much for school. No one was there to tell me what I could do or should do; I don't think I was expected to go to college or actually be anybody. So I joined the Army to get something started.
Sometime in my second year of service, it hit me. The Army had taught me something: I should have gone to college. I'm actually smarter than I thought I was after high school. I kept telling myself that I'd made the wrong choice, that I should have never signed that contract.
I tried to attend a local for-profit college, but my military agenda conflicted and overruled that of my educational one. When I finally got out, I immediately enrolled in another private college of a bit higher standing.
I finished an Associate of Information Technology (Honors) at Colorado Tech earlier this year, and got a job in Florida. I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice again, as I thought in the military. I want to think I would be better off having stayed where I was and finishing a Computer Science or Engineering degree. I saw in the latest IEEE magazine that their president is now a professor at the Computer Science department at CU-Boulder. I'm sure I could have gone there. In fact, I think I could attend and succeed at MIT. But could I even think about applying? If accepted, would it be a possibility to attend? I'm 26, not 18. I've got a child on the way. A family to support.
What I'm really trying to get at is why I'm 26 and not finished with college, and why I'm not where I feel that I'm operating at my full potential.
I'm constantly in the process of reading five or more books at any given time. I want to know everything. I like to listen to and play music. I want to be a good father. I love computing, but I don't make enough time for it. I want to be more knowledgeable about politics and law so I can be an informed and involved citizen. I want to contribute to my community, but I don't have the time.
Or is this my full potential? Never. I am better than this. Given the opportunity, I will do so much more. In the words of John Mayer, "I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for."
So I sold auto parts and didn't care too much for school. No one was there to tell me what I could do or should do; I don't think I was expected to go to college or actually be anybody. So I joined the Army to get something started.
Sometime in my second year of service, it hit me. The Army had taught me something: I should have gone to college. I'm actually smarter than I thought I was after high school. I kept telling myself that I'd made the wrong choice, that I should have never signed that contract.
I tried to attend a local for-profit college, but my military agenda conflicted and overruled that of my educational one. When I finally got out, I immediately enrolled in another private college of a bit higher standing.
I finished an Associate of Information Technology (Honors) at Colorado Tech earlier this year, and got a job in Florida. I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice again, as I thought in the military. I want to think I would be better off having stayed where I was and finishing a Computer Science or Engineering degree. I saw in the latest IEEE magazine that their president is now a professor at the Computer Science department at CU-Boulder. I'm sure I could have gone there. In fact, I think I could attend and succeed at MIT. But could I even think about applying? If accepted, would it be a possibility to attend? I'm 26, not 18. I've got a child on the way. A family to support.
What I'm really trying to get at is why I'm 26 and not finished with college, and why I'm not where I feel that I'm operating at my full potential.
I'm constantly in the process of reading five or more books at any given time. I want to know everything. I like to listen to and play music. I want to be a good father. I love computing, but I don't make enough time for it. I want to be more knowledgeable about politics and law so I can be an informed and involved citizen. I want to contribute to my community, but I don't have the time.
Or is this my full potential? Never. I am better than this. Given the opportunity, I will do so much more. In the words of John Mayer, "I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for."
posted by Ben at 13:11
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