We have been running on this education treadmill with no end in sight.
I am tired. They are hoping I will give up. I want off the treadmill because it isn't getting me anywhere.
I have been fighting this fight for so long. I know I can't give up--it isn't my personality to give up BUT sometimes it is SO hard.
Just when I think I have made some headway, it is like three steps forward and four steps back...I am treading water and feeling like I am not getting anywhere.
Apparently there are many Americans out there like me.
We all have worked hard, got good grades, and then when transferring to another college the rug gets ripped out from underneath us.
Colleges can play with our credits--toy with us--make us repeat classes we have already taken while greedily taking our money.
They put us on that treadmill and sell us a dream--a paper with the word "degree" on it.
Today I received yet another letter from another college saying ALL my education---ALL the years I went to school--are worthless.
They expect me to repeat every class I have already taken.
I have been here on teamsugar.com ranting and raving- attempting to gather the masses (ALL OF US--that colleges take advantage of every day) and try to foster change.
For every encouraging note I receive, there are three more that say "That is just how it is" and I get more and more angry.
Not at those that say that, but because that is how change never happens. We sit and moan and groan, then do nothing.
When someone wants to do something about it--the reaction is "Well I had to deal with it so now it is your turn."
The really sad reality is that when colleges realized they could get away with denying a single credit here and there, they figured--why take any of them if we can make them repeat it all?
That is how those greedy minds think and we are at their mercy.
We have been sold a way of thinking-- thinking that we cannot succeed without a degree-- a paper that states we meet a "minimal" standard, yet without it our resumes are over-looked and our experience is worthless.
Now when we look at our education system I cannot help but think-I am going to be repeating classes that are already outdated and probably won't transfer...what I have no isn't...so I will be in the same place I am now. Jobless and without what many say is the only valid education one can get in America.
I wonder if my education will even help me get a job. There are literally millions of new grads that cannot get a job and equally there are those like me that have valuable experience but cannot get a foot in the door without that degree.
Adults just like me are flocking to colleges and universities hoping to update our skills to make us more marketable.
Unfortunately we are also being told by recruiters that we are overqualified for the jobs out there.
How can I be both overqualified AND also uneducated?
Headhunters scan resumes for the guidelines for openings and I get tossed in the exit pile. I go to agencies, they look at my resume and qualifications---and then shrug. They don't know what to do with me.
I go to colleges and they say I am an uneducated fool. My military education transcripts are worthless according to them. They also say my 20 years as a medical professional are worthless.
How can 20 years of saving lives, making the quality of life better, helping create life---be worthless?
Our president wants to stimulate the economy and he has lofty goals for rebuilding education--the education he publicly scorned during his campaign--but I am not eligible for any of his new little bundles of bright ideas.
My fight...it is just to have colleges all over America recognize the value of the education and experience that I and many other Americans already have earned, and then allow us to build on that.
Every American is fighting this same fight and it feels like a losing battle, but I cannot give up. We can't give up.
I refuse to accept the alternative.
Americans cannot afford the alternative. We MUST be given the credit we have earned and build upon that.
We cannot afford to "DO-OVER" anymore. We are spending our retirements to try to be "marketable."
I am spending my retirement AND my kid's college fund. How can I help them through school if I am without a job?
More importantly, how can I afford the possibility that this problem we have with education/college/university and their refusal to transfer of credit/units --- when my kids are then faced with it?
Will I be paying for them to repeat courses they have already taken merely on the whim of some college/university that does not have ANY accountablity to our government?
Probably. It may even be worse.
That is a whole new way of looking at "paying it forward" right?
Our government is planning on our children to get educated, work and attempt to pay off all these pet programs---BUT will they be perpetually repeating courses at colleges/universities when their credits/units are denied transfer?
Will we sit aside and watch their frustration, having had the same experience yet failed to step up and foster change?
We are a nation that cannot give up.
We are a nation that cannot afford to repeat education already completed.
We are a nation that should have the highest level of educated individuals, with the American ingenuity we are famous for.
American ingenuity would not accept this current dilemma.
American ingenuity would stomp and push--demand change because we are all about what is FAIR.
We should look to our future--to the future of our children--and demand that we be given the credit we are due.
Are we hamsters running on a treadmill at the mercy of colleges/universities? YES
Are we okay with that? NO. I sure hope you said NO.
I can't afford to be okay with that. Can you?
Have Americans just given up? Have you given up?
Is it okay for our kids to see that it is "OKAY" to just give up?
NO. It is against everything we have ever stood for.
America can't give up.
It can't allow our colleges/universities to dictate our worth.
We can't allow them to take away the American dream...and an education which is valued and validated by every college and university in America.
They simply HAVE to change how colleges/universities view transcripts and each other's credit/units.
They have to end this stupidity and greedy monetary motivated intellectual arrogance.
There simply must be an end to the statement............
"Your previous college credits/units are NO good here!"
Americans can no longer afford that kind of arrogance.
I can't. You can't. Our kids can't.
We are too smart to let colleges/universities get away with this anymore.
We are consumers paying for a service...an education...and if those credit/units don't transfer I want my money back.
We all should demand our money back.
If our education is worthless and not recognized by another college/university then why shouldn't we get our money back?
American colleges and universites...give us our educational credits/units or give us our money back.
You can't have it both ways.
Put up or give us our money back.
Where is an attorney when you need one?
Panache
You have a reasonable point, but the issue as far as colleges is concerned, is economic: as I see it they have no reason to change the way they are doing things now, unfair as that may be. They want money and they have little reason to play ball wit someone else's instruction sets.
1This is a global issue that every student encounter. Education system is not ladderized which forces students to re-take subjects in case a student transfer to another university. Sad to say but this really is a problem everywhere we go.
Like what happen to my cousin. She's a registered nurse in an Asian country ans when her family moved in California she was advised to review and re-take the board exam because here licensure was not recognized to be able to adopt to the education system in the states.This is an example of delays in pursuing a career early on. Sad but its what we are facing now. What happen to the concept of United Nations? is it to bind countries of different cultures? why not the United Nations implement a new system of education wherein everywhere we go in any part of the world our education and professionalism would be recognized..
just a thought..:-s
2i dont understand the post that you dont have a degree when your profile says you have a post graduate degrree.
I agree with you viewpoint in the blog.
3GOOD QUESTION angelbaby2...YES that is confusing isn't it? I will happily explain.
When I signed up for the USAF my recruiter assured me that my education would be EQUIVALENT to a degree and recognized at all institutions. Why wouldn't I trust him? He works for our government.
I scored in the highest 3% on the ASVAB test--the military placement test, and I was offered professional education based upon that score. After completing basic training I went to medical school.
Two years of medical school with a specialty in radiology. I became an x ray technologist and also became a phase II radiology training coordinator. Then I went into the ultrasound specialty and completed another year and a half of medical school.
When I left the USAF I was assured that my military education was equivalent to a Bachelor of Science Degree. The civilian sector (medical centers etc...) snapped me up immediately because I had experience with technology that they would not actually see in their facilities for another 3 to 5 years. They greatly valued my military education and never questioned it.
In any emerging technology you must commit to continued education and this is especially important within the medical arena. I took all the continued education which was offered every year and eventually also went into vascular imaging. So, now I was doing continued education for radiology, ultrasound and vascular imaging, three areas of similar but separate technology.
My continued education went on to span 20 years while I also typically worked an average of 55 to 60 hours a week. Long hours are typical for the medical profession. On a daily basis I was face-to-face in actual patient care, assisting with diagnosis, and often after hours I was the one making a recommending and advising on whether someone needed surgical intervention.
So, when I decided to go into medical mediation law, I was accepted into a Master's Program at Cal State with open arms. After I had some law classes under my belt, I realized that I really wanted to stay in patient care. I loved my job.
A work injury sidelined me for a couple years and ultimately ended my imaging career. It is not my personality to be a burden on society so I decided to go back to medical school to enter either a Physician's Assistant Program or the Nursing program with a goal to become a nurse anesthetist.
When I approached medical school I was told that my entire career---all my prior education---would have to be repeated. They refuse to recognize even anatomy and physiology classes I took---and I took those already for radiology, ultrasound AND vascular imaging. When I asked the dean to explain WHY he had no answer.
Human Anatomy has not "evolved" or changed during my lifetime...and I can't see the value in repeating this course in point having already have taken them three other occasions and actually LIVED anatomy and physiology on a daily basis.
So here is the irony...if I will go into ANY field except medical---I could go into a Master's program...BUT if I actually want to use my valuable 20 years of actual experience AND almost a lifetime of education already---I must re-do everything.
Where is the logic in this? There isn't any. That is the point.
When I contacted the USAF about the fact that no colleges would take my military transcripts as a valid education statement they of course voiced alarm--but did nothing to change that. Apparently they have given up fighting colleges on this one. THAT is not acceptable.
BTW...the AVERAGE amount taxpayers pay to train military in high tech fields such as mine...... $700.000 plus. As taxpayers, shouldn't we all get our money's worth? Of course I could just stay on disability an be another weight on our economy.
Wouldn't it be more prudent to let me finish school and be a contributing part of society which would of course reap the benefits of ALL my education AND experience?
That is just TOO logical.
4Correction:
Taxpayers pay an average of $700,000 plus PER YEAR.
5not fair to you- contact those military "experts" again.
6This is a problem with colleges. If they can disallow each other's credit/units within the SAME zip code...obviously they are taking advantage of people.
The military SHOULD stand up for my education.....BUT sadly veterans can put their lives on the line to defend ALL these "experts" however none of us can depend on any institution to stand up for even their own credit units much less each other's.
7Demand a Refund! I am going to build a website for that.
8http://demand-refund-college-rip-off.110mb.com
Yeah...almost completed the site. Soon people can actually contact me there.
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