To Learn or Not to Learn

I talked to my mother and father today, coaching them on the need to nag my brother into actually completing college. (He'll begin college this fall). Kind of makes me think: Was it worth it? Five years. Two degrees. I don't know, 30 or 40 classes. Hundred-something credits. Was it worth it?

Do I actually know more at 23, post-college, than I did at 18, pre-college? The answer is obviously yes. However, there's a good chance I would have picked up a thing or two over the past five years with or without the benefit of a college education.

I now have a job as a teacher. Yes, I'm still in school; I'll just be sitting in a bigger desk facing the opposite direction. I'm weighing my options in regards to more school. Part of the masters application process will be completion of a general knowledge exam. Five years of school and I'll be taking a "general knowledge exam" just to earn the right to keep going. What the hell is "general knowledge?"

Could we file how to change a tire under general knowledge? Somehow I don't see the exam featuring a jack or tire-iron. Then again, I didn't learn how to change a tire in school; no, some things can't be picked up in a classroom as easily as they can on the side of a highway in pouring rain.