Higher Education in Rural Missouri
Though the college closed at noon today because of special summer hours, I stuck around to catch up on some work. Around 2pm I heard the door to my area (which is behind the Registration Office) open and close. Thinking it was our custodian, I kept working. About 30 seconds later, a woman of about 30 came around the corner and up to my desk and asked if she could register for classes. First of all, I have to say this woman has to have some guts considering that there were no lights on in the lobby area and she went through a maze to find me (the only person in that half of the building).
I told her I would register her and she handed me an application for admission. Great, we need brand new students. I asked her if she had filled out a registration form and she said she had, that's what she had handed me. Sure enough, on her admission form she had written that she wanted to take a computer and accounting class. No times, no section numbers, and best of all this was written on the line asking for a student's academic program.
I asked her if this was her first time attending college. It was (thankfully, I would have been really concerned if she had gone before...). She wanted to just take those two classes and was not looking for a degree. I enrolled her in the computer course and then gave her some contact information for the accounting course. She hadn't attended school in 10 year, since graduating high school.
The women was satisfied with the registration of her class and the contact information, but just before leaving she asked if I had ever taken an English course before and if something like that would help her in an office environment. She told me her boss gets upset because she uses slang in her letters, but she assured me she knew of no other way to write them. No doubt there... She asked if I had taken any other college classes and I assured her I had. She seemed so amazed. She asked if I was going to college now and I told her I just take classes that interest me.
I wonder if she asked me this because I am younger than her or just to get an idea of what college is like from someone who has gone. I didn't tell her I have a Masters and didn't tell her my title. It didn't matter and I think it may have scared her away. I often wonder if most students think just the faculty is educated. I hope not, because so many staff members work hard to obtain advanced degrees. Colleges wouldn't function without faculty members, but they would fall about without a staff to support the faculty.
Whatever this woman thought, it's just another insight into what many rural Missourians seem to think about higher education. It's just the elite few who can obtain it and it's not needed for a comfortable life. Aaron can attest to this fact in his job hunting. He is OVER qualified for nearly any position available in the area.
I told her I would register her and she handed me an application for admission. Great, we need brand new students. I asked her if she had filled out a registration form and she said she had, that's what she had handed me. Sure enough, on her admission form she had written that she wanted to take a computer and accounting class. No times, no section numbers, and best of all this was written on the line asking for a student's academic program.
I asked her if this was her first time attending college. It was (thankfully, I would have been really concerned if she had gone before...). She wanted to just take those two classes and was not looking for a degree. I enrolled her in the computer course and then gave her some contact information for the accounting course. She hadn't attended school in 10 year, since graduating high school.
The women was satisfied with the registration of her class and the contact information, but just before leaving she asked if I had ever taken an English course before and if something like that would help her in an office environment. She told me her boss gets upset because she uses slang in her letters, but she assured me she knew of no other way to write them. No doubt there... She asked if I had taken any other college classes and I assured her I had. She seemed so amazed. She asked if I was going to college now and I told her I just take classes that interest me.
I wonder if she asked me this because I am younger than her or just to get an idea of what college is like from someone who has gone. I didn't tell her I have a Masters and didn't tell her my title. It didn't matter and I think it may have scared her away. I often wonder if most students think just the faculty is educated. I hope not, because so many staff members work hard to obtain advanced degrees. Colleges wouldn't function without faculty members, but they would fall about without a staff to support the faculty.
Whatever this woman thought, it's just another insight into what many rural Missourians seem to think about higher education. It's just the elite few who can obtain it and it's not needed for a comfortable life. Aaron can attest to this fact in his job hunting. He is OVER qualified for nearly any position available in the area.
posted by sejgirl at
5:51 PM
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