Educational Bliss....

The fact that education is empowerment, the way to success can not be denied. Education is a tool that we have, tied up with our potential and desire to learn, that can broaden our horizon. It’s an enriching experience that allows one to see the world and it’s diversity. Learning is part of human nature, weather it be at a larger scale of continuing education or weather it be learning something new daily on the job, interacting with family and friends, or just being able to Google a particular subject online. Learning is a continuous process that should be embraced and absorbed; which brings me to the subject of the types of educational institutions that I have encountered on my journey.

Let me start by filling you in a little on my background. I was a teenage parent, had my first kid at the age of 16, entering 12th grade. My son’s father was 19 and I lost all ambitions of life. When I met this guy as a child, my goals and dreams of being a Child Psychiatrist went down the drain and I dropped out of high school. 12th grade guys, I was almost done and just did not go back. I began to live my life with my son, his father and no diploma, but I thought it was no big deal because after all, my son’s father dropped out of school in the 8th grade and he was doing good, so I thought. I ended up leaving him, getting a place on my own and decided I needed something else, my G.E.D and some type of trade. My problem was that I needed to do this as fast as I could because I am getting older at this point, I am 18 years old and I thought that time was running out for me (if I could just turn back the hands of time). Isn’t it amazing how children think? To actually think that I was old at the tender age of 18 and decided to rush into getting something that I could ‘fall back on’. I went to this program in Manhattan, they promised world. We will help you get your G.E.D, a certificate in computer operations, and obtain all this in 8 months; all you have to do is sign on this dotted line. I was excited, finally getting back on track being that I wasted a whole 18 months of my life falling in love with a loser, having kids and all. I signed and had no idea what I was doing. The program ended up going out of business, and was a big fraud that left me owing $3500.00, but at least I have my G.E.D, so I thought.

Years go by with me working telemarketing jobs that I hated. I did have a great skill that was obtained in high school. I could type and at the time I was typing 35 wpm. That is what got me into the customer service field and opened up many doors for me and I felt I was getting back on track. Well, that feeling of success only lasted but so long. I began to feel as if I were settling and knew I could do better, but by this time, I really needed to escalate this process because I am now 28 years old. You have to know that I was entering into that depressed feeling of the “Oh My Goodness…I’m almost 30″ phase.

Late one night, a commercial came on for the medical field. Hmmm this sounds like something I can do. After all, I do want to help people and I have typing and customer service skills too. I can be a medical receptionist. They offered a certificate as a MAA (medical administrative assistant) in 8 months. I go in and sign on the dotted line….again. Wow, this is really it. I am on the right path now. I am on the Deans list for the duration of the course, made all A’s and ready to take my certification exam. My counselor called me to the office and informed me that The State of New York Board of Education had no record of me having a G.E.D. This has to be a mistake, I have the diploma right here. After making numerous phone calls and a little investigation, I was told that the school that I thought I received my diploma from was a fraud. How can a person go from a level 10 to 0 within a second? I am not quite sure, but that’s exactly what happened to me. I was able to graduate and get my certificate, but I was unable to get certified in this field, which is the main reason for attending. Now, not only am I not certified, but there goes another $4500 down the drain. I ended up getting a very good paying job at a very prestigious doctor’s office in Atlanta. Everything was all good until the doctor I was working for left the state and that left me without a job. Once again, I needed something because at this point, I am 34; and that my friend, is much older than 16, 18 or 28.

I ended up finding a great job working for the State of Georgia. My life is finally on point and I got it together now, but there goes that feeling again. I knew that I had to go get my diploma because I had a feeling of failure without it. I went down to the Board of Education and signed up to take the test. The receptionist asked me was I sure about not taking the classes first, I assured her that I was more then ready to get this over with. I went to take the test and was in a room filled with children. I felt so out of place, but quickly got over that. I noticed that I was the last one to finish each and every test, this can’t be good. I began to think to myself, if I fail, I will just retake the test immediately. Four weeks later, I get a package in the mail from the BOE with my results in it. I opened the package and it had my diploma; which made me scream, my transcript that indicated my scores were in the top 10 percentile. In other words, if I were graduating with that class it would have been with honors, top 10 percent in the whole state of GA. I also received a certificate for financial aid for whichever approved college I planned to attend for $500. I was happy and sad at the same time. All the time that I wasted, I could have went to an accredited college and completed this years ago. I eventually went to Saint Leo University, where I received my Associates and Bachelors degrees.

My point is, there are educational predators out here. They target that group of people that feel like they have no time for traditional education. They play their commercials in the middle of the night or mid-day, times of the day where mostly unemployed, under-educated individuals are tuning in. What is not being told is the ‘fly by night’ schools are much more costly then a junior college or 4 year university and the time wasted could have went into at least getting certified at a junior college, which is much cheaper. I was fortunately able to take my setbacks and turn them into a setup to be an entrepreneur and I am ever so grateful for the birth of my vision.

Alliance Administrative Consulting is a business that has taking the bitter and the sweet combined, trying to turn it into lemonade. Let us help you with your administrative needs. Click here to contact us. We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon. “We’ll handle your administrative needs with the spirit of excellence”.

Be Blessed,

B. Davis