I should clarify my previous, hastily made reply last night. Although I personally hold no degrees, I am not opposed to higher education. Oh no, quite to the contrary, I believe in the value of a college education enough to have guided and encouraged (and funded) all 3 of my children to attain their undergraduate degrees, one of whom has returned to grad school after 2 years working successfully, and lucratively, in her chosen field to attain her masters degree as a Physician's Assistant. The third is completing his undergrad this year and has designs on returning to school some day after spending a year of service in Americorps.
My original point to the OP is that postgraduate education is
better when applied to a
specific goal in one's career rather than just taking the classes to get the sheepskin. My apprehension of a generic, undisciplined degree, especially
in midlife, is that you are now competing for those generic job positions that your degree applies to with kids coming directly out of school, who will likely have more raw energy and fewer demands of the employer. In short, they will be more desirable to a prospective employer.
Plus, assuming that you are a WASP male, you probably already know that you are at the bottom of the desirability heap for hiring businesses these days. My observations at my kids' schools show that a very large percentage of the students there are most decidedly not (WASPs).
OTOH when using your life experiences and background to get you that new job, an
applied degree can be what gets you in the door, or at least the icing on the cake.
But, maybe my blinders are on and I'm just too wrapped up in the sciences. I do not pretend to understand the way things work in higher bidness, so the whole MBA thing never made any sense with me. I see the MBAs in my company (there are a whole lot of 'em) making extremely stupid, seemingly uneducated, business decisions day-in and day-out. Most of them are just talking heads, regurgitating the latest "business speak", and constantly reorganizing themselves with the only purpose being the justification of their own existence, which in my experience is usually of limited duration. But maybe that's more of an indication of "who they are" rather than what their background is?
I just want to be clear that I am a big proponent of an
applied secondary education. And as for me, I wouldn't encourage anyone to take the path that I have chosen, or should I say, stumbled down? I guess in my case the old Mark Twain saw would apply:
"I never let schooling get in the way of my education"
