Earning a degree online can help adult learners advance their education and their career without having to press pause on their lives. Online programs provide the freedom to study and complete classes anytime and from anywhere at the student’s own pace. But as mom and dad would say, with freedom comes responsibility!
It may be more convenient to plan your classes around your personal and professional life (and not vice versa), but with no set class times in a physical classroom it can require more responsibility, discipline and sharp time management skills to stay focused and on task with online coursework. And when you’re working at your own pace, there will be times when that pace can feel awfully slow—especially when being an online student has to take a back seat to being a parent or the capable professional with last quarter’s report due at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow!
Every online student needs a little inspiration to stay the course and earn that degree. The needed inspiration can come in many forms, but so often it comes in the form of wise words from wise and successful people. Here are five quotes to remind you why you started, why you should keep going and the rewards of successfully completing your online education.
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle
Being an online student is hard work! When Aristotle was tutoring Alexander the Great he probably never imagined a future where his students could be having a class with him from half a world away. This quote still stands as a reminder that the basic component of education is effort. Though it may not always be enjoyable, the rewards of having learned are worth the late nights in the process.
“Learning is not a spectator sport.” – Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann
This quote from two leading educational researchers, according to Cambridge University Press, serves as a reminder that being a student is about being engaged and involved. You’ll only get out of your online education what you put into it, so don’t just sit back behind the computer screen and relax—actively participate, and then learn by doing. This quote is also a good reminder that you are proactively taking steps, by furthering your education, to better yourself through planning for the future.
“What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.” – Henry David Thoreau
In addition to higher earning potential, career opportunities and job satisfaction, the most important part of earning your degree is that college teaches you how to think. Florida Tech’s online degree programs are grounded in a liberal arts foundation, providing a curriculum that challenges students and develops soft skills like critical thinking and problem solving.
“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.” – B. F. Skinner
Education isn’t just facts you memorize and information you process. Skinner, an acclaimed psychologist and behaviorist, recognized education is the act of learning itself, and that there is a point when everything you have learned becomes a part of you. In ten years you might not remember every concept from every course you took, but if you retain how and why you learned it in the first place, you’ll continue to seek valuable knowledge and educational processes you can apply throughout your career.
“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” – William Butler Yeats
In pursuing your online degree, you didn’t take on this commitment to merely be filled with knowledge; you want to apply that knowledge and see the results spread through your day-to-day work, your career and your future goals. That kind of motivation is contagious. Light the fire within you to never stop learning. That motivation will keep you focused and determined.