Surviving in the new USA

Long ago in the Marine Corps I learned that,

“The best defense is a good offense”.

Today, and for each day forward, this phrase will be the essential ingredient to our survival in this country. In order to survive in these continually changing times we need to start making changes, changes within ourselves that give us the best chance of survival. These changes must give us the ability to meet and beat the daily challenges that we are being confronted with, and to meet and beat the challenges of the future. They must give us the ability to recognize, understand, and confront a potential situation before it becomes a situation.

The biggest, most crucial change that we must make and make now! is that we must decide to begin learning once more.

Many of us long ago gave up on trying to improve our knowledge. Often, we found that we could survive, for better or worse, just getting by in our daily lives. Many of you may have had difficulties learning in school. For many of us, someone convinced us early on that we were dumb, or stupid, or even worse – that we were not worthy of being taught.

What a terrible tragedy. I am ashamed. I am not ashamed of you,

I am ashamed of those who made you feel this way.

I became a teacher at the age of 40, after working 40 hours a week and paying for my own education. This is my third career. From my five years of teaching experience at a community college so far THERE IS ONE THING I CAN GUARANTEE YOU –

Each of you, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what education you have had, or what income level you are at – YOU ARE A SPECIAL PERSON, A UNIQUE PERSON WITH YOUR OWN TALENTS, and YOU DESERVE BETTER.

But you must be willing to grow and change.

If you give yourself this precious gift, you will not only survive but you will prosper. You will be able to see events happen, understand what is happening, and you will be able to put yourself in the right place at the right time to succeed! It all comes down to becoming a learner again. And you must keep learning because the world will not stop for you.

I have heard so many times people say about themselves that they are dumb. They even buy books whose titles agree with their feelings!

There is another thing I can guarantee you. YOU ARE NOT DUMB! YOU ARE INEXPERIENCED!

How can anyone expect you to know things that you have never seen or been able to experience??? If someone insists that you should know something or that you should know how to do something, even though you have never seen, heard, tried or practiced it enough to become good at it, then that person who is telling you this either lacks knowledge about how people learn or they have an ego problem or both.

People learn in different ways and at different speeds. Without going into all of the ways that people do learn, I just would like to tell you that

you can learn,

but you must not give up even when it gets difficult from time to time. The hard stuff will pass.

Your future success in life, and the success of your children now and in the future depends on you

to be brave and do everything in your power

to begin to learn again and keep learning.

You can then pass this on to your children and teach them how to learn.

The new jobs that are being made demand that you do this. The factory jobs of the past where a person spends all day putting a screw in a refrigerator are gone or will soon be gone in this country. If you are going to survive and continue to work in this country with the hope of bringing in a decent living wage, you need to begin educating yourself.

Reading is probably the MOST important skill you can possess.

When I say reading I mean reading and understanding what you have read. ( Sometimes it might take a couple of readings to really understand )

In order to learn to read well you need to practice.

The most enjoyable way to do this is to pick up a good novel or two or three. Pick ones that you enjoy. If you enjoy reading you will want to read more and you will become a better reader. The more you read, the better you will become.

So … to survive in this changing world you need to be willing

and you must begin learning again.

The quickest way to get started is to go to your local library and check out a few of your favorite books. While you are reading them, stop from time to time and ask yourself this, “ I am learning now and enjoying it, why shouldn’t I take a high school course or community college course and gain some benefit from my learning?” ( Many community colleges have non credit classes at night that can teach you neat stuff )

Who knows, you might be able to land a better job if you get a couple of courses under your belt!! Many community colleges will bend over backwards to help you, even if you did not finish high school. Many offer day classes, night classes, home study classes, internet classes, counseling services, and some even have day care!

WE LOVE TO TEACH. (Otherwise we would have taken a job that probably pays better) WE LOVE SEEING YOU BECOME A PERSON WHO LEARNS HOW TO LEARN ! It is our greatest joy.

If you are still shaky about this, I welcome your email. You can email me at rcrater@nwicc.edu

Until Then