And for what? What did I get from it?
Well, for me, I got was about eight years of post-secondary studies, summed down to 22 credits earned towards an Honours Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto as well as a post-graduate certificate at Centennial College, the latter of which helped me get the job I currently work today.
But the above equation only shows what I managed to achieve with that money. What it doesn't show however was the credits I paid for and didn't earn amounting to about a full year's worth of credits; all told, around five or six total between the half credits and the full ones of classes I failed.
Hence the eight years of post-secondary schooling.
Listen, I'm not about to make any excuses over the fact that I failed a lot of classes while in university. It happened, it was really stupid on my younger self's part and there really isn't much that I can do to rectify the issues after the fact. Needless to say, it's a heck of a mistake to have made and I'm certainly still paying for it well after the fact some three to four years later.
It was a huge learning experience for me as well in terms of what I did wrong and what I'll need to watch out for when it comes time for my kids to decide on post-secondary education. Heck, any kid really if they for some reason are compelled to ask me about it.
For starters, I absolutely wasn't ready to go to university. And it wasn't even a matter of my maturity or intelligence, but my mental state towards school at the time. I was absolutely disillusioned by the concept of it and in a state of serious denial as far as what university entailed for those in it. This was further complicated by the fact that I at the time hadn't a clue what I wanted to do or be in life. I spent zero time in high school really figuring out my strengths and weaknesses, my interests and my passions and how all of the above could be utilized to actually create a career for me to focus towards or build on.
Instead, as a matter of convenience, but also with some extremely heavy influence of my parents, was shoved in the direction of Life Sciences, a topic that became more and more difficult for me to wrap my head around the more advanced the topic became. And something that I quickly found myself hating to the point that I dreaded even going to class.
It was a horrifically bad fit. Still is to this day. But it wasn't something I was able to confront for years. In fact, it took my parents, the same ones that shoved me into the subject in the first place with big hopes and starry eyes, telling me to look elsewhere for me to realize how bad a fit it was for me.
The sad part is, all of this could have been so easily avoidable if I had only stopped to think even a second about how I was feeling and why. If I had only spoken to a counsellor about my concerns surrounding school and even my life.
It would have likely saved me two years of misery.
Hindsight is 20/20 and ultimately, I'm thrilled to be where I am now working a job I absolutely adore and love, even if the path really was a terrible one to have to take in order to get there. But in the end, for everything that I gained, I don't regret it.
With that said, I don't intend my potential kids to repeat my mistakes either. I want them to know what they want from their life and career before they head to any post-secondary program, which I will admit will be a tall order for some at 18. But in that case, they can take a year off and work, go for a victory lap or perhaps even take a few general education courses to see what piques their interest.
And let them know that life doesn't necessarily revolve around a degree.
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