sisterkat--

I dropped out too! (Had to, for reasons of mental health as family situations deteriorated and I grew increasingly shellshocked. Still don't clearly separate junior year realities from the nightmares about trying to make that year's classes.)

"But you'll never AMOUNT to anything!!!!"

Oh, yeah? Then how come the same high school called me back years later to teach a parenting module to teenagers? Could it be the seminal work I had done in parent involvement and empowerment, funded by a grant written by yours truly, working for a school district, making more than the most senior masters-degreed teachers, doing fun stuff, and solving outreach problems for the superintendent?

One day in the copying room (always seize control of the printing press!!), a "colleage" asked me what my masters was in. I replied, Oh, I don't even have a degree." "WHAT??? But you're so.... why haven't you gone back to get one?????!!"

"Which of the many specialties I have self-taught and now incorporate into my work should I have given up to go spend time taking classes? Which program, what new specialty, will teach me more than I know, and which skills shall I choke off to pursue the piece of paper? Where do they teach at the speed at which I assimilate? In what classroom can I learn something relevant to my field-- what is that field anyway? If there were such a program how would I keep from becoming the professor?"

Of course, she had to agree. Some people, some times, some subjects, are better in an atmosphere where mentors and materials can be sought, explored, learning put directly into practice for more learning...

So I am a little weak on literature. Oh well.