Myopia and the new global economy

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Back in the 1970s when I was attending college the first time, an old boyfriend, whose foray into the halls of higher education included TIG/MIG welding, sarcastically called me Mr. Peabody, after the 1960s near-sighted cartoon character. Mr. P, in case you don't recall, or weren't born yet, was a myopic, pedantic . . dog.

The implication, of course, was . . "Stop wasting your time on those books and pay attention to ME."  When this infant-in-adult-clothing announced, "Your future is very bleak, Sandy" near my graduation time, I ejected his unsympathetic, non-supportive sass out of the shared rental and my life.

Okay. Maybe I was a little like "Mr. Peabody." Yet rather than near-sighted, by some psychological quirk, I was farsighted. I always knew that lifelong learning was important. So, following a four-year break after earning  my bachelor's degree, I started taking some courses at CSULB. It didn't click. Several years later, I was accepted into the Educational Psychology/Instructional Technology graduate program at USC. One class at a time. Before I could finish what was actually a short, doable MSEd program, I was laid off. The job loss also meant the loss of education reimbursement, which, at the time, seemed to be my only way of getting the degree.

Shortly thereafter, I came to Ohio, taking some time off working to reunite with my mother, who was getting on in age. Here and there, I took a course at Lakeland or Cleveland State to keep up my computer skills. Other than that, I was a full time housewife. At the same time the marriage was ending in the early 2000s, economic change was turning into heavy weather.  My personal life was one major change after another, which left no time for classes, let alone catch my breath. I grabbed hold of a job opportunity and kept at it. When I was taking care of my dying mother, she told me I'd make a good nurse. The social workers, the Hospice nurses and home care staff agreed. What? Me?

It took 5 more years to rise far enough above the surface of personal and professional changes to gulp some air and decide to explore the health care field. Lo and behold, the promise of job growth, flexible working hours and geographic location. That brings me to the present plunge into classes to see if I have the aptitude. Well, here's the truth. I have to work extra hard. The biology class requires about 20 hours a week of study. That's a part-time job, right there, isn't it? Studying this hard is a challenge for which I was totally unprepared,  being accustomed to taking only courses that are easy for me. Performance anxiety hit early and hit hard. Maybe that's a good thing. It propelled me into a discipline of focused learning and engaging help in the form of a tutor. Performance anxiety caused me to miss 3 or 4 questions on the first biology test, but made me realize how to be a better test taker. On Tuesday, the tutor commented, "Of course, this course is going to be difficult - it's hard for everybody because it's different from the way we are used to thinking and looking at things." I had just slowly arrived at the conclusion that I was pushing myself pretty hard. I think I'm adjusting.

I got my eyes examined last week and need a stronger prescription for my astigmatic, myopic eyesight. Fortunately, my farsighted ability to envision the future hasn't really let me down. I quipped to a friend today, "Hey it's like this - I am going to school today for a job I will have in FIVE YEARS."

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