In 2012, I wrote a post for Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog entitled, “When Higher Education Is Neither: Why Should I Earn A Degree?” In it, I explained my lifestyle of learning, as well as the longstanding truce I’d made my my decision not to complete college:
I found myself back on staff at an evangelical college and seminary when my youngest son finished high school. There it was again, a new variation of the Question, being asked of me by various coworkers and a few students: “Why don’t you finish college, and go on for a divinity degree? You’re certainly bright enough, and you’d be in good company,” they told me. “There are lots of women your age enrolled here.”
I eventually left the job, but there is a part of me that still wonders if I should pursue my college education. Many of the people I respect most in my life possess advanced degrees. There are teaching and leadership doors I would love to enter, but many are closed to me without a degree key to open them. Those lingering regrets, along with a nagging sense that I may have shortcircuited the opportunities presented me by God, are the parts of me that squirm when people ask where I attended college.
Part of the midlife task is coming to terms with your limitations. Some doors must remain forever closed, the result of the march of time and maturation that moved your life past those possibilities. [Read more]
