Day 23: What Has Life Taught Me?

So today's prompt....

 Things you've learned that school won't teach you

Honestly the first thing I thought of is what school lied to me about...so I think I am going to go with that.  As teenagers/children, we are really taught that college is the goal.  Do your schoolwork, get good grades, so you can get into a good school. For some students this is hard to get behind, for me I was just fine because I wanted to go to college.

I got good grades in high school...applied to nine schools and got into all (though one was a wait list). I picked BYU because of the money and it just made sense.  I wanted to be a teacher, and going to college is required for that.  However, what NOBODY told me is that with the amount of money that you spend on college tuition, books, housing, food etc., if you just pick certain careers you could actually not go to college and make more than I do.

You know how I know this...my husband works at a credit union.  If he went full time plus his current typical bonus, he makes more than me! And he doesn't have a bachelor's degree (yet)...how come I went to college?! Because everyone said that was how you got a decent job to make a decent amount of money...lies!

Now, I want to be clear.  I am glad I went to college--I learned SO much and LOVED the experience. I encourage my students to go to college if they have the desire...and for some careers you don't have a choice.  But I hope that we stop telling people that college is EVERYTHING.   I just really wonder if I had known earlier on if I would have changed careers.  Today, I really can't see myself doing anything else because I have wanted to be a teacher for SO long!