Thursday, 18 October 2012

Pros and Cons of studying

I am struggling deeply. 
I have 4 subjects left to complete my degree.
But I hate every second of it.

I grab a piece of paper, and write "Pros and Cons of Completing my course" 

Pro 
* Have a degree 
* Be able to do postgraduate study (Do I even want to? What would I study?)
* Be slightly more employable - in a smug way (not in an employable way)
* Have satisfaction of 10 years of study culminating  in a useless piece of paper
* I like getting grades

Cons
* I hate it
* I won't be able to say "I have a degree, in a smug way"


And then I thought, hang on have I subconsciously made a decision, Freud would be smug.
Why didn't I title my scrap of paper...

"Pros and Cons of Quitting my course"?

So....

Pros and Cons of Quitting my course.

Pros
* Freedom
* Life's too short
* I'll always have a shitty job, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, isn't going to make me more employable
* Have no more guilt - Of watching Dexter instead of studying
* Be able to study topics I want to study - Like that time I was into Aerospace Engineering (?!)
* Have more money in my pay - instead of paying off my debt at 4.5% per pay.
* I will be able to travel 

Cons
* I won't be able to do postgrad (I can't afford to do postgrad anyway)
* I won't have Bugger All Fuck All after my name.. BA.FA. (I can have Audience Member instead)

So to be an art school drop out, (Curtin University/Open University is hardly art-school), will it change my life?
At job interviews will I be asked "Why didn't you complete your course?" Will I be able to answer confidently that "I didn't feel that it was worth completing", or "Life was increasingly becoming too short, I had no time to study topics I was interested in, I was too stressed all the time, finishing wasn't going to make me an artist, more creative or more learned", if I want to make money from my art, I just need an Etsy website and a proper blog, do it the indie way, not the academic way.

I will finish my 4th last subject (because I have paid for it).
And then QUIT.

Not quite a sigh of relief, I still have 7 weeks of term left.