Obstacles to My Education

John Jozefick

Professor Weinberg

ENG 095

02 March 2016

Obstacles to My Education

     Definition: Obstacle: something that makes it difficult to do something: an object that you have to go around or over: something that blocks your path. (Merriam-Webster).

     At this time in my life at the age of fifty-three and a married father with three children, I have always stressed education to anyone who would listen and I realized the importance of continuing my own education. I have identified three obstacles to my education: (1) my age and dealing with student age differences, (2) family schedules, and (3) stress of juggling family, work and school.  Many times we seem to forget what we have learned and that as we get older it is difficult to maintain focus and concentrate on the task at hand.

     Dealing with age is the first obstacle I need to overcome when continuing my education. I am not as informed or tech savvy as younger students who are just reaching their prime. When I was their age, technology was not as assessable as it is now. The kids today have the luxury of using their mind with technology and electronics. My memory is not as sharp as it once was because overtime we forget how to practice our critical thought process. At times, it can be intimidating having to sit with younger students, who have recently graduated from high school. Their education and study habits are fresh, while my education is thirty years old and effective study habits are a definite need. We train our minds through practice and mine has been ineffective for a while, due to the lack of training it requires for studying.

     Training my mind in overcoming obstacles, leads me to the next obstacle of family scheduling distractions during my school assignments. Several times a week my two older sons have sporting events they need to attend, and I am the taxi. My wife and I try to split the driving between us, but at times my school overlaps their sporting events. Other times I will accompany my wife to her medical appointments. Since English is her second language, I act as translator from technical medical terms to layman’s terms. Then the preeminent occurs when returning home from a nine hour work day and another two hours of school , the youngest son yells “DAD” before I can get my shoes off, thrusting his homework in my face . Hating to neglect that little face of happiness dad moves on with this new task.