Returning to College as an Adult

I recently found a list of goals that I had written 20 years ago. Most of the goals were realistic and I was able to achieve them. While I was checking the items off my list that I accomplished, there was one that I have debated about for many years—returning to school to earn a degree. Returning to school has always been achievable; however, as each year of my life sped by and I got older, I always came up with more and more excuses as to why I should not return to school. One day I received a course catalog in the mail showing online classes at the college. I decide that an online class would be the first step to my future. I am so grateful for the first day of that class. All the excuses and delays regarding returning to school were in vain. It is amazing the different prospective I know have about being a child verses an adult in school.
Attending school as a child is a requirement that most children have to follow. The exception to this rule is children that are home schooled—which I had sometimes envied. My parents enrolled me at a Catholic school that taught Kindergarten until 8th grade. The student body wore uniforms consisting of for girls white blouses, red and grey plaid skirts and patent leather shoes. The boys’ uniform was not very different—white blouses, grey pants and bright red pullover sweaters. Each year the class moved to a different classroom and received a new teacher. That teacher taught every subject for that given year. If a student fell behind in a subject, the teacher was also the tutor. If students made fun of other students—bullied—this stigma carried on with the person for the whole eight years. I was (still am) a slow reader and it was very hard for me to comprehend what I had just read. Moreover, trying to memorize facts and being tested on them was extremely frustrating. My parents both worked outside the home, so I was left to my own trying to overcome this disability. Back in the 70’s, if the student received bad