Education - The Central Goal

by Marlene Cummings

     As long as I can remember, I wanted to return to school and further my education.  Recently, the opportunity came, and I enrolled in CCBC - Essex.  I knew that it was going to be a struggle because I had been out of school for thirty years, but I needed the challenge.  My life had become boring.  I considered myself to be a fairly intelligent person, with good potential that needed to be put to work.  Meeting the challenges has been harder than I expected.  I needed to make a lot of sacrifices and drastic changes in order to set my priorities straight.  I decided to put my education first, and I recommend the same focus for all students. I needed to discipline myself into a different routine altogether. Putting things at home second seemed strange, but getting up early and going to school instead of work was even stranger.

     Now that it has been almost two months, things are falling into place and becoming easier. When I arrive home in the evenings, I do my chores as quickly as possible, so I can get to my studies. I have set aside three hours a night for my studies, but there are times when I am interrupted and nothing goes as planned. Some of my friends don't understand how important being in school is to me right now. My best friend Debra feels like I am ignoring her; she said "You spend too much time studying," and not enough on myself, family or friends. "You need to get out more often," she says. I have explained to her that I don't have as much time to socialize anymore, and that my first priority is school. When I do occasionally get the time to pay her a visit, Debra may not be home.

     My stepdaughter is now grown up and she helps me as much as she can, so my only family responsibilities are my two dogs. They are both puppies and need lots of attention. I work part time at night, and go to school full-time during the day.. This doesn't give me time for anything but studying. The demands in my life are not difficult, but they are time consuming. When my weekend chores are done, I try to get caught up on my assignments; having registered late for two classes, I have had to make up three weeks of work and it hasn't been easy.

     Although some of my family think I put too much pressure on myself and demand too much of myself, I don't think like that; I feel that I need to do more. My most difficult challenge has been English; my instructor gives out essay assignments, and this has been my most difficult and time consuming task thus far. Even though things may be tough now, I wouldn't change one thing about my life.

     I feel a person is never too old to learn; education is the most valuable tool in life. This is why I returned to school after all these years. At my age, it may be especially hard, but I feel anyone, no matter how old, can succeed if he or she decides that everything else in life is second to that central goal - education.