Ok, so School started last week for me, so in homework, gettign to know my teachers and talking to my girlfiend, I feel like I have no time to spend on the boards , but I guess its a good thing that I can keep myself away.

But there are a loooot of knew people that I have just now been noticing, who all seem to have a lot to add to this group. And I feel like I am missing out on what they have to offer. But I think as time goes on, I will be able to get on more and more.

So if I havn't said it yet

Welcome!

-CS

Climber - school is vital in this day and age. The nice thing about a forum like this is that you can go back and catch up. I too am getting ready to start school (yes I am old). I also wanted to mention (not that I am the smartest guy here by any means) but education is something you can keep for ever, and no person can take that away from you. Become a life long learner.

Good luck in your studies.

ah school... i'm starting next week, in part time. I already have a bachelor degree, but if i want to get more promotion options in the future, i'll need a master degree. Not that i want to get promotion now, i like the level i'm working right now. But studing for a master with a wife, kids and a morgage doesn't really sound that atractive to me. Oh well maybe i will even try being a full time student again next year.

At my place of employment, we are required to maintain a personal development plan. It is supposed to enhance the chances of career advancement. I, too, am quite happy with my position and it's what I want to do until I retire (or die, whichever occurs first). So, when they come asking for the annual update to my plan, I just say that I want to become better at my current job and list a couple of minor training classes that will facilitate that goal. Climbing the career ladder isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

Climber,

epirider's correct.

You can always come back in and catch up on posts. That's one of the many things I love about this site. It's like an ever-expanding library.

School is priority number one because your education is the most important tool in your survival kit.

In my pursuit of preparedness knowledge, I'm finding myself going back and attempting to relearn much of what I've forgotten over the years (chemistry, geometry, etc). Especially when researching what I've got to do to get my home off the grid as much as possible.

As far as your girlfriend goes, maybe she would like to join in the conversations. I'm sure she has some insights that many of us haven't thought of (never having been an adolescent girl myself).

Do not know what school level you are returning to, but may I suggest a strategy to help combine your interests with some of the necessary school work, e.g. papers etc.

Find a way to use whatever subject you are studying to enhance your knowledge of survival. For example:

If you have to do a history research paper, select a topic related to survival, for example, How Shackelton and his men survived: what they did right, wrong etc.

Use math to calculate calories required vs weather vs activity to determine how much must be consumed for how long.

Use English studies to read and report on stories of survival, both real and fictional, and what realistically would work and what would not.

It may make you feel that your studies are less academic and more real world.

Good luck in school.

CS, I took time off from here for my first bout of college. Three years (the math kicked my hoop, I was going back as an adult learner), during which time this place suffered at LEAST one server failure, and loss of all the boards. People came, people went.

And you know what? It was good for me. So you will stay in school, and you will get good grades, and you will spend time with girls. Or everyone here at ETS will give you The Look Of Doom (tm)- don't think your mother has a monopoly on that. I'll even drag in EDCF and the ZS crews. *laughs*

We'll be here, your stump is not getting tossed. *finishes bolting one of those wrap around desk things to the side* It will be here when you can you be. And in the meantime, try to get your young lady friend into preparedness. Great mutual time.

Take a look at how many courses are required and what time limits apply. You may be able to break it down to a course a semester with a semester or two of cushion. For me, it worked out to ten courses in 12 semesters.

I used to look forward to the end of schooling because I thought I could "coast" from thereon out. Not so! Continuing education is not only mandatory in many professions, it actually may help you stay on the leading edge. Although I've known "coasters", they are rarely professionals who develop deep respect in their professional community.

Suck it up, bite the bullet, and STUDY! I sure wish I had worked harder when I was your age. I do pretty well when watching "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?", but I struggle sometimes. School may seem like a real drag right now, but that book learnin' will pay off in the future...

To tell you the truth I learned very little in school when contrasted with the 12-years I spent there. Many guys I know can hardly even read or do basic math like division and fractions after all those years.

What the hay were they doing all that time and why did they get diplomas with those poor skills?

Formal education is highly overrated. What really counts is what YOU put into it. Don't just aim for a rag of a diploma. Reach for REAL knowledge and understanding of the world. When you study reach for deeper meaning and not just to pass a test. In the long run you will grow into a full human being and not an expert test taker.

+10 to that. Never mistake memorization for learning. Memorization allows you to solve problems others have already solved. Understanding allows you to solve problems nobody else can.

Really, in most cases it's easier to understand a few concepts than to memorize the hundreds of facts these concepts lead to. Does that make sense?

And like Ironraven said, we'll keep your stump sitting by the fire for you. I promise not to use it as a chicken chopping block or anything like that.

-Blast

Do what I did ... spend waaay too much time in college (9 years total), get several advanced degrees in an area few tread, get a great job with a big international corporation, spend lots of days and nights in your office,and while there spend way too much time on this forum AFTER my work is done, ... and get paid to do so.

Oh, and when not in the office, get out there and camp!

Life is good.

Right there with you guys... I am in my last semester for my RN. Appearantly all life stops other then school when you go for a nursing degree. So, I will kiss my wife and son good night and tell them that I will miss them and I will see them in 4 months. Mind you I am not leaving the state or even town. I will still be living in this house, but in order to make a better life for all of us, we are all sacrificing something. But like this forum, they will be there when I am done. Then I can put forth the effort to make their sacrifice worth it. Good luck to all of you that are going forth in your education. I will probably not be around here much either so I would appreciate you saving a stump for me as well and I will bring the celebration wine to toast our accomplishments.

The only promising aspect of this semester is we are done doing care plans!!!! Congrats Night hiker and it is encouraging to know that there are others with a similar interest in preparedness as well as in the nursing field. I know that Nurse Mike is a member in here as well as us two. Sometimes I feel like a third arm is growing out of the top of my head when I talk to other nurses about proactive responces and preparation for the unknown. Good luck to you Night hiker and talk to you in December some time...

I totally agree with everyone who says to get as much school as possible. I've become extremely limited in what I can do with my career so I'm now looking to go back to school.

I've said this on another thread but the majority of people I work with are functional illiterates. They can read juuuust enough to get by and are extremely threatened by someone (like me) who read for *gasp* FUN!

samhain;

RN - 14 years.

Or, at least until you have kids and are trying to help them with their algebra homework....

Actually, I never had much use for school after the Navy, except to find another avenue for work prospects. I was always so bored with K-12 that I seldom did homework, but I managed to absorb enough to get high grades on all my tests, so I ended up with a fairly good grade in most classes. That tended to frustrate my teachers quite a bit, but I was never a trouble in class, so I got by. The last couple years in high school finally got a little interesting with higher level math and science (advanced chem, physics, and trig), and I could finally see some application in what they were teaching. It was actually a challenge, and I began to learn how to learn then, if that makes any sense. In the Navy, I finally found a place where I could push my limits, and discovered that it was possible to achieve the highest possible grade in class if I really wanted to. In college, it was more a matter of economics that drove me; having the highest grade secured me a scholarship and an internship, both of which I needed at the time. I never completed college, but for the year and a half I was there, I learned "the system", which parlays academics into job skills, and thereby secured my future career paths.

From a practical view, I would estimate that you can learn about 10% of what you need to know to do something while in school, the rest you learn OJT, which is where the vast majority of my working knowledge has been derived. That 10% is enough to get you familiar with the subject matter so that you can converse with those in your field enough to learn what you really need to know. Beyond that, school was more a social program than anything. At least that's my experience.

Now my girls are in it, and are learning how to learn, and more importantly how their world will function around them as they move from academia to career. My oldest one initially wanted to be a marine mammal vet, which was unlikely given she was not a straight A student growing up. Even had she made it, her visions of swimming in the tank with Shamu were not practical, and when told that more likely her Phd would entitle her to shoveling fish guts and whale poop for $30k a year if she was lucky, she soon lost interest. It is important for kids to have realistic goals, and understand that glamour usually only comes with fame.

It seems that 80% of school up through the first two years of college is "learning how to learn".

As I was finishing my BS in Mechanical Engineering I took some graduate classes as electives. The evening graduate level classes were full of young guys dressed in "business casual" with company ID's clipped to their pockets. I figured I might as well finish the job instead of coming back a couple of years later, so I banged out a no-thesis MSME in one busy year.

Looking back I should have either skipped it or got the MS in Electical Engineering, as I am a self-taught EE anyway but have no credentials to show for it.

Anyway, learn how to learn. Be able to take the manual home one night and come back in the morning able to do something new. Get lots of hands-on experience - I learned as much about engineering working on cars with my dad and building things as I did in a classroom. Read, read, read (non-fiction). Books, and now also the internet, are the keys to the kingdom of knowledge. Remember that smart people are not always good students and vice-versa. If you're smart, be a good student anyway because it is easy and it is a gateway to a lot of other things.