Okay.
Yesterday's Writer 2 Writer session at Flintridge Bookstore was amazing. I guess I really didn't know what to expect, but it turned into a kind of discussion group with some very creative people and some incredible authors who showed up to participate. So, great thanks to Catherine at Flintridge Bookstore for setting this up, as well as to the participants an the wonderful authors of LAYA who took time to join in.
You know who you are.
Now, I'm going to briefly field this comment left a couple days ago in the Suggestion Box:
Why does college get your stamp of approval? Seems like a waste of time just like other schooling.
College isn't just like other schooling. And, by "other schooling," I am assuming you mean public or private K - 12 education.
It's easy to equate schooling with time wasting when you have no choice but to be there, and in college, you can get up and go any time you want to. On the surface, that freedom might not seem like a powerful leverage device for a student; but freedom and choice encourage achievement. Only those who can discipline themselves, direct their efforts toward an attainable goal, and are motivated to succeed and realize gains, will.
Again, this is vastly different to public schooling, which emphasizes fitting in and getting by, because both of those ends can only be met in the absence of freedom and choice.
Now, college definitely can be a waste of time for some people. But, if you are wasting your time and you have the freedom to choose not to, then that's consciously-directed and self-destructive.
