Two down, one to go!

So it's done. I have received my master's degree in Educational Technology. Now what the heck am I going to do with it? Well, its no surprise the nowadays having a degree doesnt necessarily guarantee a job, nor does not having one deny you a good job. It's sort of ironic that in my academic studies, one of the things we discussed was how public education fails in that when you try to measure success or "smarts" with things like End of Grade tests or Regions (or whatever you may call them in your area), educators limit the possibilities of a teacher in that, rather than attempting to expose students to things new and different, and spend time when needed to make sure students "get it," you are forced to cover only the objectives that will be assessed at the end of the period. If you don't, your school may lose funding, cutback staff - namely you for not meeting the objective and possibly closing a school altogther. That sucks. The primary thing I have found out in my studies is that education is an ART, requiring an understanding of both the subject being taught, your students or audience and the materials that will be used to teach. Everybody can't do it. On a finer note, people that can DO something well still may not be able to TEACH that subject well. I had a drawing teacher in undergrad. Great artist, but in class we would draw still lifes and when he would come by to critique, he would say something like "work on your shadows, they're not even, the light source looks all out of position." SO then you I'd ask him what he meant, and he would ask for my chalk or with his own, lean over and make a small drawing on my 18x24 tablet not saying and word until he finished, then he'd say "like that." Not explaining anything.

So anyway, what good is this degree in the real world? Well, the degree itself just says "i finished" but I realize that it seemingly automatically adds a few thousand on job offers. I had a job once at Nortel doing tech support fo their macs. All I knew was macs, and I had maybe 4 or 5 years experience at the time. I was paid $14/hour. There was another guy that I worked with, he had more experience in computers than me AND he was a Microsoft Certified System Engineer, which is a test you take prove you know MS systems (Windows NT was in its heyday back then) and a couple of other credible computer certifications. So he knew his stuff. He knew way more than me, but he didn't have a bachelor's degree. They only paid him $11/hour. I had a degree, but mine was in ART. I have seen some people but the letters on their name "Bob Jargon, MA." I think that's kinda corny except on your resume. I'll reserve the suffix for when I get my PhD.