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Education The Comeback Kids
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In partnership with The Graduate Network, this article begins a series of communications about the skills and education workforce gap in our trade area, and those individuals taking on the difficult challenge of advancing their skills during “adulthood,” past the time of “traditional education.” This article is an interview with Fred Bassett, a student at she College. Thank you, Fred, for spending time to with us to help tell this story.
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Q:
What made you go back to school and what has been the most rewarding aspects for you during this process?
A: I retired from Federal service as
an Air Traffic Controller, and decided to finish the associate’s degree that I began in 1987 fresh out of high school. By this time, my wife and I had nine children, six of whom had attended Kilgore college (now the seventh is attending dual credit courses there.) Several of these Fred Bassett children had graduated with a 4.0 Kilgore College Student average. That first semester I took twenty credit hours, including two courses that required papers formatted in APA, two in MLA, and two in Chicago style. I also was in the Chorale and took vocal lessons. I actually enjoyed the challenge of juggling all of the above while keeping a 4.0 grade (to avoid getting flak from my children,) even if it wasn’t as grueling as the training was in Air Traffic (whether giving or receiving said training.) I also found that I enjoyed the challenge of certain courses; for instance, after taking Math with Business Applications, I took Business Calculus even though neither one was required for my degree. The sense of accomplishment of finally completing the degree after all of these years was significant.
Q: Is your employer providing you any assistance? (Tuition reimbursement, flex time, College assistance, childcare, transportation, etc)
A: No employer assistance involved, but with as many children as I have in various colleges there was some federal and/or state assistance.
Q: What advice would you give to others in your situation? A: My advice would be to see what financial aid is available, and then just
jump in. It’s much easier than it was when I was eighteen. The changes prompted by COVID-19 have made the online and virtual classroom options even more flexible and available to working adults.
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Q:
How can the community (business, community organizations, or higher education institutions) better support adults wishing to complete their degree?
A:
Most instructors and administrators do a great job of treating adults as adults. Others have developed the unfortunate mindset that because they have a Master’s degree and are employed at a two-year college, they are doing us an enormous favor by condescending to pass on the fruits of their education, and act in a manner that would be demeaning to a fifth grader. Luckily these are in the minority. Other than that, some flexibility in prerequisites and other requirements based on career or other experience would go a long way.
We are grateful to Fred for spending time with us, and we look forward to seeing everything he accomplishes on this journey!
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