The Return to Student-dom

How long has it been since you had to hand in an assignment for a course?  A decade, perhaps?  Maybe more?  It has been just over 10 years for me.  I remember thinking, at the time, that I would never be a student again; that this was the end of higher education for me; that I had finally reached the pinnacle of my education.  I have 2 bachelor degrees and a diploma hanging on my wall. (Actually they are collecting dust in a box in the attic, but I digress).  What more could I ever need?  I am more specialized than necessary.  But now I see that I was wrong.  I was so young then, ten years ago, in my early my thirties.  How could I have known what lay ahead for me?

I know that my job as a Kindergarten teacher is wildly important and, on a daily basis, I can see the results of my efforts as students grow and become more independent.  I hear from amazed parents who can’t believe the learning that takes place in my classroom.  Yet, occasionally, I catch myself thinking that there has to be more to my career than this.  I have tried to imagine what else I could do, yet I find that I am too specialized to do anything else.  How could I transfer these skills?  Sometimes I put the nagging voices out of my mind and I simply enjoy the abundant life of endless possibilities that my job provides.  Why change anything when you have everything?

Yet I have settled onto the idea of passing on these skills to the young, new teachers who are coming up the ranks.  A faculty advisor with a department of education?  An instructor at the college or university level?  Yes, that is my path.  But in choosing this path, I determine that I will need to go back to school again.  Both SFU and UBC recommend that you have a master degree in education to take on this role.  So, here I am, having hit the ‘submit application’ button on the UBC website.  What have I done?