Cinny said:

You're too old to date and go partying with your classmates, but I think at 30 you have a much clearer idea of what you want in a career path, than at 18.

I see you're trying to get hip to other kinds of music on the org. That is ONE thing you might find useful to take from your younger classmates.

High school = yes, University/College = hell naw!

GED, 2yr/4yr degree or certification...We're blessed to be offered opportunities to better our financial situation...Keep in mind a person of any Adult age can end up with a great paying job even if he gets certified in a field. Doors open all the time even if you don't have a College education...In the end it's all about how you treat people (fancier way to say it is "Networking")...People say "Respect is earned", I say you give a Man Respect as soon as he walks into the room, even if you Hate his Low-down guts you can still respect his space.....

i'm sort of thinking about having some time off from work and taking classes. i want to learn about sustainable farming

I don't see hwy now, an education is a wonderful thing. I understand a GED is like a complete high school education equivalency certificate? (I am not American so don't know). People do it in prsion or go back to night school there to get it (Watched a few old episodes of the Cosby Show where Dr. Huxtable is always advocating it - before raping girls ).

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The change of mind is because my Mum did it when she was about 25, she went to a really strict Catholic school and left on her 15th birthday (Form IV/9th grade) as she thought it was a load of dogmatic crap, but as she grew up she realised she needed the education if she wanted to get anywhere in life. So she went to a state high school when she was 25/26 got her School Certificate (Like 10th grade) and UE (12th grade) in 2 years and aced it. I remember she was an adult student who went to classes, but did not have to wear the uniform and had more rights than the teenage students (She could smoke and hangout in the staff room - apparently the teachers loved 4 year old me). I went to class with her and apparently was quite calm and watched and all the students would make a fuss over me as I was like 4 and very cute apparently.

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Anyway she aced it and got marks in the 80s and 90s for her subjects and by 10 years later she did a social work diploma at University. Inspired me to be a teacher too.

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If you are planning uni, they usually have foundation programs here for students who did not finish high school and are not ready for tertiary level study, its usually a one year programme with emphasis on English, Essay writing, Test sitting and Numeracy skills and people who graduate the programme become automatically eligible for Undergraduate study the next year. Basically it is a high school equivalency program, as there is a law here that automatically allows anyone over 25 entry to University regardless of education level (Under that age you must have UE which is like High school Graduation). This has changed since last year when Universities started restricting places in all programmes even BA and BSc, so that less qualified students are excluded more.

I truthfully think that if I go back, I would definitely appreciate and enjoy it so much more than I did during my undergrad.