No Shame

Recently, on social media I have seen quite a few people talking about going back to school after taking a hiatus. They needed a break from school maybe after high school, or they tried a year of college and something didn't work out causing them to take a step back. Even my dad told me that he is going back to school, after years of not being in school, to work towards his Bachelor's Degree which I support fully. I wanted to talk about how there is no shame in going back to school after years may have gone by.

We all know that many people attend college right out of high school meaning that they will most likely earn their degree by the age of twenty-one or two. However, there are some people in those college classes that are older than the other students because they may not have had the time, opportunity, or the money to be in college in their youth. I see many people judging and shaming the adults who are trying to get the degree they wished they had gotten years ago, and I don't understand why people feel the need to shame them. It takes a lot of courage to go back to sitting in classrooms a couple of hours a day with people that aren't even the legal age yet. They already have a lot on their plates because most of those adults have families and jobs that they have to work on so they don't need the staring and judgement of their new peers. In fact, I think that they deserve praises for deciding to go back to school and further their education.

There is also no shame in going back to school after flunking or dropping out. Flunking out of college is a major setback in someone's life because they have to reevaluate what their next course of action will be. I actually flunked out after my first year of college which was damaging to my self-esteem because I graduated high school in the top ten percentile. I thought that I was going to go to college and graduate a semester or a year early, but the freedom got to my head. I also don't think I could balance having a part-time job while keeping up with schoolwork even though I really wanted it to work. I had to press the pause button on my life, and figure out what it is I needed to do to better myself. I did decide to go back to school, and I'll be finishing up my last year in the spring. I may even double major and proceed to getting a Masters degree after graduation. For the people that had to leave college after their first year for whatever reason, know that you are not alone. College is an entirely different experience when compared to high school, and people have to work hard to change old habits. Do I wish that I hadn't messed up my first year? Of course, but it helped me with understanding balance, time management, and responsibility. I forgave myself for making that mistake, and I have moved on. I won't be making the same mistake twice.

There is no shame in getting your degree later in your life. A degree is a degree no matter what age you receive it. It will always be considered an accomplishment.

"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

#College