You and I seem to have the natural curiosity. Also, I’m turning 63 in a couple of months. The one big difference between you and me is I absolutely loathe any formal school environment. Other than high school and the ten month course and various short term “required” training, I avoid it.
The result is that I was held back. I represented myself in court against a good attorney and won. I honestly could have been a good trial attorney but school always seemed like such a waste of time to me. i.e. six months to learn what you could on your own in a few weeks is how I saw it.
I think it is the legacy of public schools and its impact on me. In my senior year, I got a B+ in civics and missed 13 days per quarter playing hooky. I was one of those kids that got straight A’s without having to do homework.
Part of me feels like it was such a waste, but becoming a Christian in 1981 gave me a different perspective on life. My needs are very light, and I’ve come to see the human life span as a single day, with re-incarnation occurring every night. And my favorite Old Testament book is Ecclesiastes. It sums up my attitude very well.
I believe the more one knows, the more one can enjoy and appreciate life. But, more importantly, put it in perspective. And that knowledge can come from a plethora of sources.
I do think I should have valued shingles more in my life, though.
I continued that policy filling the Summer after high school graduation with a microbiology and judo class. The Fall was a full 16 units and overlapped the start of UCSD in January 1974 by 3 weeks. I limited myself to 16 unit at UCSD the first quarter, but 3 weeks of overlap was challenging. The rest of my time at UCSD was 18 to 22 unit per quarter. Sometimes I had to get 4 units from the extension as the provost office would limit me to 18 units. That almost backfired on final night. I had co-scheduled a multiple choice 500 question neurophysiology final and an essay oriented developmental biology final at 7 PM. I informed both profs and agreed to do the multiple choice first, then then essay. I had a perfect score on the multiple choice test and was 15 minutes late to the essay exam. Calculated risk. Still pulled an A in both classes. I graduate from UCSD in June 1976 at age 19. I had set my sight on med school in 8th grade. By graduation day at UCSD, I was less committed. I opted for grad school in pathogen microbiolgy at SDSU. The 2nd semester I nearly died from pneumonia....something about taking 16 units of grad work and working 42 hours a week a Radio Shack.
We choose different paths for different reasons. My dad intended to retire from the Navy in September 1977. We could afford pay as you go to UCSD if I lived at home and commuted 30 miles to campus. Registration was $212/quarter. Parking was $46 annually. Books about $120/quarter...offset by selling back those I didn't have a future desire to keep. Gasoline was 33 cents/gallon. I packed a sack lunch, left for school at 6:30 AM and returned home by 8 PM. I did have some extended evenings due to being a physics or chemistry TA and working on some of the more complex biochemistry labs. In the end, the effort paid off.
I have balked at piling up certifications. I've read the books cover to cover. The skill sets are committed to memory. It's really education and skills I'm seeking, not stuff on the wall. The only motivation to sit for the exams is to help my business unit compete on proposals. To that end, I'm likely to sit for the SSCP, CEH and INCOSE systems engineer exams.