Today I am Thankful for my Education

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
-- Mark Twain



I have been to many different schools (apx 11 or so) and have experienced a plethora of educational environments. I've been to public schools and private schools. I've attended a one room school house and a 5A public school. I've been home-schooled, un-schooled, over-schooled and everything in between. On top of that, let's add community college, university, and graduate school.

However, when I say that I am thankful for my education, I don't just mean my structured schooling. I am thankful for every way in which I have been educated and, more importantly, taught to love learning.

The importance of the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge has been pervasive in my family, even though degrees are not. My grandfather (Papa), Jerome Casler, was a WWII vet and voracious reader. He loved to recite poems, tell stories, and knew the answer to just about anything, or so it seemed. When we asked him how he knew so much he usually declared he had learned it in, "The Books of Knowledge, 10 years old." The story goes that when he was ten years old the family was snowed in in the Texas Panhandle, and there was no school, nothing for an active mind to do but read an entire set of encyclopedia. ( I believe this may be to what he was referring: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knowledge_%28book_series%29.) Papa never earned a college degree, though he took many college classes and was a member of Mensa.

My mother, Tess Mallory, also engineered in us a love of learning. The way Papa had opened the universe to her, she did so for us, showing us that the world was full of incredible, beautiful, fascinating, and magical things, we only had to look as far as a book! She home schooled us off and on through the years, and both of my parents stressed that it wasn't the grades that were important, but rather that we did our best and learned. Like her father, Mama is qualified to be a Mensan.

My father, Bill Mallory, has inspired me in my education as well. He earned his bachelor's degree the day I was born, but didn't go back for his masters until he was in his 40s. He spent over five years taking classes at night to earn his masters degree and counseling license. Daddy has taught me that perseverance and hard work can really pay off. I'm sure he learned that from his own mother, Beulah, who went back to school when she was in her 40s to become an RN.

So those are my roots. I grew up reading just about anything I could get my hands on, and my mother says I started writing stories phonetically when I was four or five. As I grew older, I remember being obsessed about different topics and checking out every book the library had to offer on them. Some of my favorites were Cats, Greek and Roman mythology, Egyptology, Archaeology, and "Mysteries of the World" type books. (Not a surprise my bachelors degree is in Anthropology, huh?) My parents also educated us in other areas such as literature, classic film, religion, etc, just by engendering a general culture of knowledge in our home.

In short, my family has always supported me in my education, and still are my cheerleaders as I sit with only one course and my thesis left to complete my masters degree in Literature. However, what I think is more important is that they fostered in me a love of learning that has propelled me to continue on my path.

I need to add that my gratitude also applies to the fact that I live in the United States where there is freedom in education(private, religious, and home-schooling is allowed) and education loans are plentiful. (Although, as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow".)

So thank you, God, for my family, my teachers, and the well rounded education I have received.