Friday, April 15, 2011

Study in retirement?

I had thought retirement might have a few more moments when I could sit and relax. Just a few.

So far that's not really been the case. Twice this week we've climbed up and down stairs carrying boxes of books from a church storeroom to the car and then, at home, piling them up around the place as we sort them out for sale. The books (and sundry other items) are leftovers from the OC Books, which closed three years ago. It's one of my retirement 'hobbies/jobs' to sort through them and try and find homes for as many of them as possible. My wife is working like a Trojan at putting them on zotero, so that we have a database of the titles.

So if I had a mind, say, to do some Online University work, it's not going to be happening in the meantime. Both the papers I've done so far through Otago were primarily online, and were paid for by my former work. That's another aspect: I'll have to actually save up to do any more study, to complete my online degree programs in crime scene investigation for instance. (Doesn't that sound more interesting than a vague degree in Humanities?)

New Zealand has a wide range of online courses available, but if I wanted to go further afield, I could investigate the huge range in the States, for instance via the college navigator at this address: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. Having worked with stats for the last three years (and having always had an interest in them) the title of this Stats Centre appeals: I can look up crime and safety surveys, for example, which would help me with my course in crime scene investigation, n'est pas? (Did you know there was a blog called, Ceci n'est pas une endive?)

They also assist in finding the right college for a person to learn through, and when I put in my zip code (adding a nought onto it so that it falls in line with the US system) and ask for non-profits that will teach me a bachelor's course in two years, I find there are all sorts of places handy to where I live (in Los Angeles, as it happens, since that's what the 90010 zip code applies to). I could study through the World Mission University, the Cleveland Chiropratic College, the Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad West Coast Talmudical Seminary, the Loyola Marymount University (just in case I preferred a Catholic focus instead of a Jewish one) and the Otis College of Art and Design. To name only a few.

I'm not sure that any of them would focus well on crime scene investigation, but I'd have to get more information before dismissing them out of hand.

It could give me a third/fourth/fifth hobby to add to my retirement....

Photo of someone studying, by Aaron Concannon

2 comments:

Drew Harrison said...

Studying in retirement is really rare. There's no such thing as too old to study. retiring means you can do anything you want to your remaining years, right?

Mike Crowl said...

Yes, it does, as long as you can afford it!