Today one of the CSRs came into my office and quietly closed the door. I hate when people do this. It's my door, I'll close it when I feel the need, thank you.

 

I knew he had something *important* to talk about. What does he launch into? A schpiel about his new online Doctor's of Business through Cornell. He was so jazzed about this program. I don't know anything about it and frankly I didn't care. I don't really have the greatest amount of respect for the online degree (I guess I'm a little old fashioned). But the online Ph. D wasn't even what got to me. If he wants to pursue that, more power to him. No, he explained to me that the Ph. D was just the beginning. The guy was talking about going to law school at Cornell, too. I stopped what I was doing at this point and told him that at 46 it would be very difficult for him to accomplish this task and make it worthwhile (considering the amount of debt you would accrue). But he was undeterred. He REALLY wanted to study the law. But wait, there's more: he also wanted to be a college professor. At this point I knew the guy was just blowing hot air. My suspicions were confirmed when he began to rattle on about his 2 Associate's and 2 Bachelor's degrees. Who needs 4 degrees? In multiple disciplines? I began to see this man's time as a great waste. Imagine what he could have done if he had concentrated all that effort into one field. He'd already have the Ph. D (or the J.D.) and would presumably be further along in his career (here or elsewhere).

 

I couldn't resist and I questioned him on his teaching background. I could concede that if he had acted as a TA in the past perhaps he would have a shot at being a Prof. His reply? He was a 7th grade teacher for a year and "didn't have the patience" to deal with kids any more. I thought to myself how on the one had college could be seen as a more mature learning environment but at the same time think of your average college freshman. Aristotle they are not. At least 7 year olds you can wield power over without them coming to class high/drunk/otherwise incapacitated. But that's all moot anyway as no college (save a community/technical school) would let this guy teach a class.

 

In the end as he left I congratulated him on his achievement at getting into the online program and I thought about what my efforts were being directed towards.