"Advanced" Education

Who is it that came up with the idea that the more college education a person had the more intelligence and knowledge that person contained? Coming to the conclusion of my first year of graduate school, I have begun to feel that my mind gets increasingly foggier as the semesters pass. At the rate I'm going, by this time next year, I will have succeeded in the completion (or near completion) of my master's degree program and I won't have a single brain cell left with which to make logical choices. Even now, I can no longer pick up a novel and read it for the sheer enjoyment that reading has always provided me in the past. Instead, my mind teems with details of literary critical theory and I find myself wondering how Marx or Freud would assess the writings of J.D. Robb or James Patterson. Education has always played an important part in my life and in the life of my family. However, being the first one of the family (out of three children & two parents) to acquire my college degree much less move on to a graduate program, I have started rethinking my position on higher education. What, you may ask does this mean? I have no clue. My heart's desire has long been to be a teacher -- but one at the collegiate level, not a K-12 instructor. This, of course, requires the earning of a doctorate as well as the specialization in a specific area of knowledge. My prayer is that, with the passage of a few more years, I will be able to find a balance between the joys that learning have always brought me and the stress of becoming "specialized" in a specific area of study. Right now, my goal is to reach the end of this semester & complete my final exams without having a meltdown -- the rest will come after I spend some time communing with God, nature, and my family while taking a break from being a "pro" -- thank GOD summer is almost here!