Struck Me Just Right Today

“I feel that you should probably work for a couple years and figure out what you want to do [before college]. Like, if you were to go to college when you’re in your mid‑20s, after you’ve worked and things like that, you’ll put a lot more effort into the studies and things that you’re doing, because you’ll be focused on, ‘These are the things I want to do’ not, ‘These are the things I have to do,’” he says. “And if I wasn’t good at [flying], then I’d do something else. But I knew that this was something that I wanted to pursue, so I knew that I was going to put every effort into it.”


- "Joel Smith" from 100 Interviews

Yes! Yes exactly!
 
Don't get me wrong, I loved college. I made out like a bandit socially (seriously, not to brag, but I have great friends! I mean, they put up with me, and I don't know how they do that when I can't even put up with me sometimes), and the education was great, but...my drive was not. Which is a shame, at the price it cost me (and the resources available to me, had I taken more advantage of them). I absolutely approached it as something I had to do. I was away from home, with all these other young people, drinking for the first time ever, and just having a blast! The academics had to get done, but they weren't really what I'd prefer to be doing on any given day. And maybe that's typical...but I'm not so sure. Some of my friends were very driven in college. Or at least they appeared to be.
 
I really wish I could, academically, have a college "do-over!" now. Two years out, having a better idea of what I actually want to be doing. And putting all my effort into it. All my focus. I feel like I'd learn, and take away, so much more.
 
I suppose one could argue, "Well, that's what grad school is for!" But...I don't think I am on that level yet. I want a more solid foundation and base in what I am interested in now, before going off and trying to specialize in it. It's like skipping the training wheels and going right to the big, adult bike. At any rate, I'm not comfortable with that. Not when it costs so durn much.
 
So I'll make my way to what I'd like to be doing in my own way, and in my own time.
 
But, I absolutely agree with "Joel Smith's" sentiment. College would be much more fruitful, if not for everyone than for many, if we didn't go into it right after high school. If we had some time to think, and mature, and discover.
 
I would have approached my academic subject matter so very differently.