I graduated from Arcata High School in June of 1972. I wanted a break from school, so I took a job as an auto body repairman apprentice at a Ford dealership. That didn’t prove too interesting so eventually I moved on to work at a lumber mill. After some time, I finally figured out what I really wanted to do and that was to see the world, so I joined the Army. Late 1973 and most of 1974 were spent in training. Ft. Ord in Monterey California, Ft. Sill in Lawton Oklahoma, and Ft. Gordon Augusta Georgia.
After getting assigned to the White House, I just traveled, letting the world teach me lessons I would have never gotten via a schoolbook. That went on through 1976. Then I had the thought that I could get some college out of the way via a combination of military and Northern Virginia Community College correspondence courses.
I still remember one in particular from that time and it explained the bathtub theory of economics. Kenneth Boulding in his book The Economics of Peace explained a number of different economic phenomena simply as the incoming flow of water into a bathtub and the outgoing flow of water via leakage or the drain from the bathtub. Professor Boulding discussed the national income of any given country or economy in line with the water level in a bathtub. The water level rises with an inflow of production and creativity and the water leaks with consumption. Changes in national income can also be explained by the growth of exports, which leads to an inflow of money and growth in imports which leads to an outflow of money.
What I also remember was not having anyone I could talk to about different theories. I just took the data as important and committed it to memory for the upcoming test. Something I perfected in the coming years so that I could complete classes and argue the merits later.
Sometimes the military and civilian classes would overlap, math, history, and electronics to name a few.
What was cool was when my travels and history classes would overlap as it did during trips I made to Greece and Africa. I continued correspondence courses through the early 80s.
In the mid-80s I caught the medicine/medic bug and took night school classes at St Petersburg Junior College. Those classes included anatomy and physiology, biology, and psychology. I loved the labs and in 1985 wrote a paper on using blood as a digital storage media. The professor was intrigued, other students grossed out, ha!
Then I got offered a job for which I had zero qualifications that included seven paid computer systems courses. My first computer course was an intro course given near Penn Station in New York City. Others in Boston and Washington DC.
Then in 1988, when I was working for a defense systems integrator, I was told that I would not get any more raises or promotions until I completed my bachelors degree. I immediately went into search mode and after a few weeks found the answer right where I was working, on MacDill Air Force Base.
St Leo College (now a university) held five semesters a year and between my correspondence courses and military training I was one semester short of an AA. So, I sold my skydiving gear to pay for the first two semesters until my employer’s benefits and GI bill kicked in. To get my employer benefit I had to switch to computers, which I didn’t mind. I took off getting one C grade in philosophy and ended up graduating with a BA in Management Information Systems Cum Laude (stupid C grade).
So, the story in this story is it’s never too late. I really thought I was going to be a nurse then physician’s assistant but life has a way of putting other things in your path.
I’m pro college but if that’s not for you, trade schools are an excellent choice.
I choose to continue to push myself and learn along the way. Since 2019 it’s been the art of writing, social media, and fly fishing. Later this year, I’ll be hitting up my Rosetta Stone to learn Italian so I’m not a complete nob if we get there this year.
Are you a lifelong learner? What are your favorite subjects?
Best Steve