Dooley Noted: 5/25/2016
I was a matriculating student from age 6 to age 36.
I have a bachelors, masters, doctorate, and have completed three years of another four-year masters degree.
I hold honors with all of my programs. Plus, I currently teach for four different professional schools.
Because of all this education, people might think I am an advocate for going all the way with education.
But frankly, I don’t think collegiate education is for everyone. And I don’t think you learn everything you need to know in school.
After more than three decades surrounded by education, I’ve learned that standardized education does not promote thinking for oneself.
And it doesn’t promote entrepreneurship.
If anything, standard curriculum education often breeds conformity.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to school.
For me, education was required to obtain my licensure. And I’m very proud of what I have accomplished and what I’ve learned and shared with the world.
But to assume your education teaches you everything you need to know will get you trapped – and inevitably disappointed.
Get the degrees if they are what you need to fulfill your purpose.
But please don’t let what you learn limit you from learning more and broadening your mental scope.
Don’t be frustrated that you didn’t learn everything you recently learned when in school.
And don’t be mad when you learn contradictory information that debunks what you learned during your curriculum-based education.
Thought processes evolve – in research, and hopefully, in your life.
Allow yourself permission to reformulate what you learn.
Accept what you learn – and please don’t throw it away.
Your education did not fail you.
But education does not stop when you leave the classroom.
Fuel your hunger to learn more and to never except dogma.
Listen to what people have to say, and allow your opinions to be adaptable.
We can have conviction and still learn more.
Remember there’s a difference between principal and dogma.
Be wary of the people who are skeptics of things they never experienced.
You will find the more you think for yourself, the more you’ll discover how frequently people around you really don’t think for themselves.
I hope your education never stops.
As always, it’s your call.
-Dr. Kathy Dooley
