Higher Education - All its Rights, Privileges and Obligations

A couple of weeks ago, I got my hard earned pieces of paper that say I am an educated person out and hung on the walls of my new office.  While they had been hung proudly in three of our homes, I never did get them out for our last home.  Now they are home!

I earned all of my post secondary, higher education as a mom, while commuting from our small community to avoid disrupting our kids.  My schedule was arranged so that I was home in time for a home cooked meal with all of us sitting down as a family.  I learned that I could easily survive on 4 hours of sleep a night, and that despite all the odds including writing the final exams for one of my degrees with full fledged pneumonia, I was a survivor.  Over the course of four years, I earned an undergraduate degree, a diploma in Honours Standing and a graduate degree from The University of Western Ontario then went on to earn another degree from the University of Windsor.  Quite frankly, I have a string of initials after my name that is rather mind boggling.  Three of my credentials were earned in the hard core sciences and one using that scientific training.

My diplomas from Western reads "with all its rights, privileges and obligations".  An education comes with certain privileges.  It gets doors opened that would be closed if you did not have the education.  It comes with rights to alumni status, continued support, and access to university resources.  More importantly and education comes with obligations.  Knowledge is of little use if you do not share it.  As a university graduate you do have an obligation to share your knowledge ever opportunity you get.  Now, my diploma from Windsor reads "with all its rights, privileges and honour".  Honour is great but you ultimately get that by earning any type of degree to begin with.  The focus should be on the obligations you have to your generation and future generations once you have that education.  If you have been fortunate enough to get any type of an education, never, ever forget your obligations to share that knowledge!

Garden Gnome
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