Education is super important. In fact, it might be one of the most important ways we can spend our time. Growing up I always knew education was important to my parents. We talked about it quite a bit, especially as my siblings and I were in high school. There is a university in the city where I lived, so the convenience of staying at home to save money was always an option. 

I took several classes at the university, some while still in high school and then a couple of semesters of college classes after I graduated. However, I got married the second semester and soon thereafter my husband and I moved to Alaska. Well, I moved, he came home. 

We didn’t have much when we first got married and the closest university or college of any sort was 45 miles away from where we live. I worked with my husband almost every day, so “school” at that point wasn’t a priority, although I love learning and gained quite a bit of new knowledge about the building industry and how to run a small business. 

Throughout those first few years of our marriage I thought about college off and on, but, even though our residence was in Alaska, we traveled all over for work. Back and forth to Utah mostly, but also one trip to Alabama for work, which was quite an adventure for me. Looking back, I didn’t realize at the time how much I was learning, those first few years, just from the myriad of new experiences I was having on a daily basis.

I have always loved learning on my own, the classroom experience for the most part stresses me out. But, the internet has opened so many doors for education. When my kids were little I found an online tailoring course. That was the beginning of learning on my own, at my own pace. I enjoyed the course and enjoyed the ability to control my pace. It was a fun course and I still utilize the information I learned from that course.

Someone the other day commented to me that, “Wow, you do so many things!” In reference to painting, piano lessons, sewing, and different things like that. I comment back that I was a jack of all trades, a master of none. I think that’s why the classroom and attending a university don’t appeal to me, I never really could settle on just one thing to learn. 

I have never known exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Consequently, I have utilized the internet over the years to learn many different things. Some I learned about and then decided that, even though it was a great learning experience and I’m grateful for the new knowledge, it just wasn’t where I wanted to spend lots of my time.

Other things I started on a whim, because it looked fun, and have continued to enjoy for many years and continue to learn and grow my abilities and talents in those areas. Some I learned out of necessity. I wanted to sell my art so I felt like I needed a website. Consequently, I learned how to build a website. That would never have been something I would have even remotely considered learning about prior to that point. 

I do not believe that the only way to get higher education in today’s world is through a university, at least not the traditional university. There is still a place for universities, there are still degrees that require (for good reason) attendance in physical classes. But there are also many opportunities to further your knowledge besides in person classes or universities. 

For simple things, YouTube has great, free resources. There are subscription based websites for niche interests. I am subscribed to some of those. There are online courses from websites like Hub and Udemy, some of the courses are certified classes and can be used for continuing education type things. There are online universities, many of them. Even the traditional universities offer online options for certain degrees now. 

Knowledge really is power, and in today’s society, there is really no reason, not money issues, not time issues, no reason at all that we cannot increase our knowledge and understanding on a daily basis.