Why keep studying?

I stumbled across a story on Slashdot that discussed whether or not going to graduate school was a Good Idea™? . The Slashdot Effect is still in full swing so I haven't read the linked article yet (or, since my geek is already showing, I have yet to RTFA, but that's never been counted against anyone on Slashdot anyway) so I'm not entirely sure what the original article was about. Since I don't live in the States, I'm not overly familiar with grad school but I'm assuming the following:

• people in the States do a three (or four) year bachelor level degree
• if they want to, they then go out and get a job
• if they want to specialise, they will go to a different university (or should that be college? I don't know) and study for 2 years for a Masters level qualification in something or longer for a doctorate

I'm not going to prattle on about the Australian education system (if you want to know more, let me know and I'll post about it) but it's enough to say that most people will only do their three year degree (four years if they do an Honours year like I did, or 5 years if they do a double degree eg B Laws/B Arts or something). If they want to research a specific topic, the student might do a Masters research degree or even jump straight to a PhD. If they just want to do further study (or looking for a career change) they'll do a Masters coursework, which involves post-grad level subjects but doesn't have any research or a need to write a thesis. I'm not sure where the US system of grad school falls here - maybe a combination of the two? I'm off track here anyway...

The thought of "grad school" got me thinking, given that at the start of the year I re-entered the world of study to (eventually) obtain a coursework Masters in Science (IT - probably Systems Administration but I've still got some time before I sort that one out). More specifically, it got me thinking as to why I'm doing it all.

When I finished school I originally wanted to do an IT degree but changed my mind at the last minute after being put off by my abysmal maths efforts (I could have passed maths but I had no motivation to do so - boring teacher and the rest of it - at least I wasn't disruptive in class I guess) as well as a horror last semester struggling with the joys of SQL in Oracle (gah!). I changed my mind and decided to do Psychology and then changed my mind at the last minute to do Journalism instead (big mistake - maybe I'll blog about that some other time). After a year of Journalism, I switched majors and studied Sociology before doing Honours (First Class - yay! I worked damn hard for that, too) with a thesis topic that examined the impact of globalisation on rural and regional areas. (as a side note, it's strange how globalisation just isn't sexy anymore. In the late 90s it was all the rage, and now it's just, well, accepted I guess. Makes all my hard work seem a little redundant when I look back on it).

There is a point here. Trust me.

I've spent the last 5 1/2 years working as a public servant (or civil servant or government worker - however your culture defines it) doing "knowledge worker" type roles using all my research, analysis and critical thinking training (on a good day anyway). Deep down inside I was still a geek at heart who just wanted to fool around with computers. I didn't know if I had any particular talent in any particular area of IT, or even if I would be any good at any of it at all, or if it was all just a flight of fancy and one day I would look back and laugh at my follies.

After playing around with the thought of going back to study, at the start of this year I made the plunge. Studying part time, working full time, paying a mortgage and raising a baby boy has made this a considerable challenge. So, why am I doing it?

Because I need to know. I have a burning desire to discover if the flood of bits in my blood is a temporary affliction or if I really have missed my calling. It's got little to do with money. In fact, when I graduate and start looking for work in my chosen field, I will likely have to take a pay cut of $10,000s in the short term, which is not something to be entered into lightly. In recent years, the pull of tech has got stronger, not weaker.

Because I need to keep learning. If I stop learning, I stop moving. I stagnate. Sit still. Tread water. Run on the spot. Sure, life is one big lesson. I get that. Experiential learning without structure doesn't sink in with me. I need lessons. I need directions. I need goals. Without these, my life starts to drift and my brain starts to atrophy.

Do I need to be paying what will be close to $20,000 once it is all over? To learn with lessons, goals and directions and receive recognition of my learning outcomes - yes. To see if this is a lifechoice (it's probably not a real word but as a trained Sociologist I'm good at making up new words) I want to make - maybe not. I think only time will tell on that one.

I promised a point somewhere in there, didn't I. Sorry. I'm not sure I ever really had one. I think I was hoping one would materialise as I went along. My bad.

How's this one?

That's why I continue to study.

And if you got to the end of this, no, you can't have those 10 minutes back. You probably were only going to waste them on something else anyway.