Comments on: Q3: Morgan

By: Helen Carpenter

Helen Carpenter — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:42:00 +0000

This cartoon is perfect. My parents always like to remind me that they completed college and grad school without financial support from their parents. My mother always says that she worked two jobs and went to school full-time. Occasionally she concedes that it would not be possible to do that anymore, but older generations just don’t understand. The price of college (public or private) has gone up astronomically while the minimum wage and pay that you can achieve before you get your degree has only made incremental changes. I can’t work two jobs because I can’t afford to get a car or have my degree take longer because I have to work around difficult schedules. We are not whining, you just aren’t listening hard enough. Live it and you will understand. I think Morgan is saying that she isn’t destitute but the insecurity of her situation is almost as hard to live with emotionally.

By: Helen Carpenter

Helen Carpenter — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:32:00 +0000

If you are in education, you should know that licensure in the state of MA requires a masters. The state will not consider you as a teacher unless you incur that debt.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:33:00 +0000

Hello, all. I wanted to say farewell and that, while it’s been a fascinating and thought-inducing experience that I am very grateful for, I won’t be blogging anymore. Between full-time teaching, full-time grad school, and two professional trainings, I’m getting a bit spread thin and WBUR is very kindly letting me bow out of the project so that I can more effectively focus my energies.

That said, I did want to share a pared-down version of my already-written response to Question 4:

“I
have noticed two trends: 1) that many of the readers say they are tired of
reading us ‘whine’ and 2) that it’s been exhausting to write weekly about things that I have worked very hard to not make the focus
of my life.

If I could choose to
establish any one tone in my posts, it would convey the idea that I have a very
rich and full life, one that I have worked very hard to create and actively
enjoy.

I will never argue with
anyone who suggests that there are many ways in which I’ve lead a privileged
life. I will also never hesitate to agree with anyone who suggests that there
are just as many ways in which I’ve had my fair share of hardship.

When it comes to questions
of causality, I strongly believe in interdependence: the notion that any particular ‘thing’ (person, object, event, etc.) is mutually influenced by everything else.

I do not, then, believe
that my “current position” can be explained away by either my own decisions or external
economic factors. I do not believe that such an “either/or” semantic framework allows
for the truth of this – or any other – situation. Regardless of our focus –
whether it be on an individual, a particular society, or humanity as a whole -
there are hundreds if not thousands of circumstances and choices that influence
and give rise to any particular ‘current position’.

I do not think, then, that it
is possible to say that “I’m x-percent responsible” and “the rest of the world
is y-percent responsible” for my current position.

I also think that my
‘position’ is always changing in response to the myriad circumstances present
and choices available in any given, single moment. I think that this
transience of experience is one of the most enduring aspects of the human
condition, and that it – above all else – allows for freedom in both attitude
and action.

In this view, my attitude towards – and the actions I take in response to – my circumstances are the site
of both my greatest responsibilities and my greatest opportunities.
In
that view, I think I’m doing alright. Again, I have a very rich
and full life, one that I have worked very hard to create and actively enjoy.”
That’s all.
Thanks again to WBUR for the opportunity to participate in this project, and thanks to all of the readers for their comments and questions!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 23:36:00 +0000

I have a couple questions for you. If you are so far in debt right now why would you pursue getting you master’s at this time? I am aware that in the field of education that a master’s degree is beneficial in more ways than one (i.e pay scale, credibility, additional opportunities that often come with additional pay); however, you have a job that you say is ” a decent paying job” and in the field of education though a master’s degree will to help advance your professional growth, there generally is not a time frame in which you need to obtain such a degree. With that said, if you did want to get a jump start on obtaining your master’s, why not just take a class or two at a time, which would be more affordable. Also, I recently finished an education master’s program myself, which cost me in total about $18,000 at a private institution. Why would you enroll in such a costly program when there are certainly more affordable ones out there? I know you said you are taking two training courses that MAY be reimbursed, but should you have taken risk in the event that your university does not end up reimbursing you, seeing your current financial status?

P.S. I am curious what are those two training courses are that you are taking… I am always looking for new things to try in our field :)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:12:00 +0000

“I think that the Master’s is almost the new Bachelor’s — the new
baseline of education desired by employer’s in a very competitive job
market.” This is very true. Just 10 years ago it wasn’t this way but it is now. I’d say 90% of people my age I know have Master’s or in the process of getting it. It used be almost a rarity, but now it is basically required. It is interesting that we don’t hear much dialogue on this shift.