Hmmm. I LOVE the smell of fresh textbooks in the morning
I offer that post title with apologies to all of you who are “Apocalypse Now” fans. I just couldn’t resist pirating that famous napalm line and spoiling it with textbooks and stuff related to school and classrooms.
It’s the fall weather that has settled all around us here in the Missouri Ozarks, following a not-too-hot-but-way-WAY-too-wet summer. And when fall settles down around me, I cannot help but think of the many, many enjoyable years I spent in my life as a student. I love school. I always have loved school. I love school so much that I decided at the age of 55 to return to graduate school for an M.A. in history. The good news is, I fulfilled all the course requirements with a nearly perfect G.P.A., though I never got the seminar paper and comprehensive exams done, so I never got the degree. The bad news is, I DID get humongous student loan debt built up and I never got the degree to earn money to pay off those student loans.
But I’m sure I’m far from alone when it comes to frustrating student loan debt, right? I would bet most of you reading my rantings are either paying off student loans, paying student loans for children or spouses, or you know many who are paying off student loans. Student loans have become such a necessary part of higher education in America that I just read a news story saying the U.S. House just passed the extension of a law intended to keep easy student loans available even in these dire economic times.
So, may you enjoy the smell of those textbooks yourself this fine fall morning, and beyond that. And may you always find a way to get the education you need — AND to pay off those student loans!