College Education Is Not For Everyone?

I just read this article about whether or not college is for everyone:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-1Acollegeforall16_CV_N.htm

Personally, I grew knowing (I was quite sure) that college was the only way to succeed in life. I spent a large chuck on my life getting an education, and I knew that I was doing the absolute right thing.

During my college years, I fell in love my husband. He had no desire to go to college-he told me that he knew it would be a waste of time and money for him. He told me that he knew kids that probably weren't cut out for college and spent large amounts of money for a degree that they never achieved. Now we own a successful plumbing business and he has a masters license and has achieved his dream.

Then there's me. I remember taking an IQ test and being told that I had the same IQ as Oprah. So, where's my talk show and my billion dollars? Actually, I really don't care about the money. The truth is, I have been bothered by my lack of accomplishment ever since I was watching Oprah the other day. She had a show about amazing people and she said, "I always felt that I would do something great." I always believe that I would, too. We have the same IQ and grew up with the same feeling about ourselves-we're also both African-American women. What happened to me? Lately, I've felt like the most successful thing I accomplish during the week is finishing the laundry.

The other day my sister brought me some stuff from my childhood. Occasionally, when my dad is cleaning out the crawl space, he randomly dumps old stuff of mine at my house that I don't want. (He's probably laughing as he reads that.) This time my sister brought a story that I wrote in 1991. I ignored it for a while, but the other day I picked it up during some down time. As I read it, I realized that I was actually a better writer at the age of 13 than I am now. My ideas for the story were definitely immature, but they were written really well. It got me thinking that maybe there is something that I can do and take care of kids at the same time. Maybe writing can help me to feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment outside of my children.

So, I'm trying to be optimistic again. I'm starting up another blog. This blog is for cathartic purposes and the other blog is more for future job purposes. I'll reveal that one as it gets closer to being finished. Best wishes as you discover what you were meant to do!

A quote I just read on USA Today:

"We must learn to honor excellence in every socially accepted human activity, however humble the activity, and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."
--John Gardner, "Excellence"