Am I the only one having a dreadful time getting an MA?

  So, I was actually googling “why is it so difficult to get a master’s degree” and I couldn’t empathize with my fellow MA student bloggers I read (if not for the financial problems they had). I just can’t relate to them.  They were sad that they didn’t have enough time to socialize with friends and family, that they former classmates were already making a lot of money and progressing in their jobs while these MA students were “stuck” still studying so they didn’t have a pride-worthy topic of discussion on their dinner tables, and that their study load was too much to handle.

I’m sorry, I can’t relate. I have the socio-economical-political situation in my country (Venezuela) to thank for my held back progress in life and feel bad about it; not my master’s studies; also, I’m not that much of a social person (despite being a teacher); and very few people actually require/demand my constant attention to them. My master’s is just a reflection of the world outside of it and that is why I’m having problems.

I don’t know if you’ve heard this but I hate it when people use the “marriage” metaphor to talk about their postgraduate studies. Geez… A lot of people use it, especially in teaching! We are so emotional in the education field…. “Getting a master’s degree is like being married”-they say. Really!? Married? That bad? What if you’ve never been married? Or what if you don’t ever want to get married? I see mine more like an on-and-off teenage relationship; we love each other, we hate each other, we cheat on each other… classic. There’s always a high chance we might just dump each other…. until we get back together again and the cycle repeats once more. Oh, the emotional rollercoaster!

What’s the point of getting a master’s degree anyway? It strengthens your fears…. And if you weren’t already an addict on something, your master’s will make you addicted to certain things… (different things to everybody) such as food, cigarettes, alcohol, compulsive reading, or even the Internet. True, the master’s teaches you many things… and it takes your mind for a ride on different levels of abstraction not thought possible before…. It generates an unstoppable flow of ideas, popping at any circumstance, recalling dates and authors and work fields….(at your dinner table).

But, what for?

I want to get a Master’s degree. Wait. No. I mean, I don’t want to, but it is very important in the academic world. Yes, I know… maybe I DO want to have master’s degree, I want to finish my studies, but why is it so difficult? Four years… Four years… Teaching… Do you know what my biggest regret is? That getting a master’s degree doesn’t matter all that much because when people finally get it, they go back to their before-master’s behaviors.

It is all dead the moment reality checks in and people return to their work, find the fanciest frame to hang their diploma in their offices, sit on their chairs in front of their computers, open their emails to work, and pretend none of that ever happened. Relieved? Although I know of the existence of a very select clan whose members are not deliberately oblivient of their higher level studies and see sense in all of that. They are the producers of so much new knowledge! The only thing is that to be admitted into this exclusive group, one must possess knowledge, expertise, wit, a reputation, and a charming personality.

       One could guess the sense of all postgraduate studies lies in practicing the studied and growing a literate, independent, empowered community for the sake of…. so they say, the self and the community. Its acknowledgement doesn’t make its process any easier though. But why should it?

           I apologize to all MA students, I’m pretty sure I am the only person having these thoughts. I’m sorry I have not represented you in this statement. Sometimes we need to take a moment for catharsis in this on-and-off relationship to make some sense out of it. Sorry! I’m generalizing again…. I hope you enjoy your ride. Just call me if you ever get to the desk part.

© 2015 Grecia Albornoz