Not-Standard Back-to-School Tips

Learning to Enhance Your Career

Most readers of my work have at least one degree and if they want more education it's to enhance their career. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today proceeds on those assumptions.

Sometimes, going back to a college or university is necessary. For example, you can’t be a psychotherapist without at least a master's. And in some fields, even if not required, employers tend to prefer advanced degree holders.

But more often than you might think, you can learn more, especially more of practical value to you, at dramatically less cost and far more quickly, through one or more of the following: self-study, just-in-time help at work, tutoring, one-shot classes, longer courses, and conferences.

Of course, if you’re pursuing education to enhance your career, you’ll need to convince the employer that you’ll be at least as good an employee for having attended “You U” than State U. Later in the article, I show you how to do that, indeed that you’re a better candidate.

If you decide you do need a degree, at the end, I discuss how to maximize your chances of admission to that small percentage of schools that actually are highly selective.

"Should I Go Back for Another Degree?" An internal debate

Even some well-employed people wonder if they should go back for another degree. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers an internal debate on the subject  Perhaps it might clarify your thinking.

Addressing Your Child's School Fears

 

For adults who liked school, back-to-school week was about the excitement of buying a new book bag, Crayola 64s, new clothes, and seeing who their  teacher and classmates will be.

But for many children, such thoughts are dwarfed by fears of the teacher not liking them, being ostracized or bullied by classmates, or the work being too hard or easy.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers suggestions for reducing those fears.

"Am I Too Old To Go Back to School?"

Even some people as young as 30 worry they're too old to go back to college or graduate school. They may fear they won't fit in socially, will have forgotten too much of what they previously learned, will learn too slowly, and or forget too quickly. 

Many articles have been written on returning students but they tend toward patronizing reassurance. But their fears are often rational and shouldn't be brushed off gratuitously. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I try to give them fair attention.

Two Workovers: Should I Get a Graduate Degree? Should I Start a Business?

Here are edited transcripts of two calls to my radio show. One is deciding whether she should go back for a graduate degree. The other is thinking of starting a business making key chains. Here's what I said to them.

A Workover: Be an ADHD Coach or an Occupational Therapist?

On my KALW-FM (NPR-San Francisco) radio program (link is external), I do Workovers: People phone in with their work problem and I try to help.

The last few days, I've been posting on PsychologyToday.com  a Workover that would seem particularly instructive for PsychologyToday.com readers. Here's today's offering.

How to Choose a College or Graduate School

PsychologyToday is running a series called "Undone by Universities." 

My contribution to that is How to Choose a College or Graduate School. HERE is the link.

Should You Go Back To School?: Questions to Ask Before Returning to College or Graduate School

My PsychologyToday.com article today asks questions to help a person decide whether it's wise for to go back to college or graduate school. HERE is the link.

Video of Marty Nemko's UC Berkeley Talk, "Eight Career Truths That May Not Be So True"

I'm flattered that UC Berkeley Extension has posted both the complete video and a 3-minute highlight video of my recent talk there: Eight Career Truths That May Not Be So True. Both are below. And HERE is an augmented print transcript of the talk.

The full talk (It's an hour long.)


A 3 1/2-minute excerpt.  

Making This The Best School Year Yet

Twenty-six years ago, I wrote the cover story of Family Circle's back-to-school issue. It was called something like, "Making This the Best School Year Yet."

If I were writing such an article now, here would be its main points:

• No parental action can improve a child's school year more than ensuring s/he's in a well-suited teacher's class. If your child is unhappy with the teacher, visit the class. If you agree there's a problem you think the teacher could address, tactfully ask.  If not, visit the other classes in the same grade. If one seems a better fit for your child, ask the principal for a transfer. Don't criticize the teacher. Just say s/he's very unhappy and having visited another class, you sense s/ he'd fit better in that class. 
• Ritualize homework: It's non-negotiable, to occur at a fixed time each day, and you can be called on to help only when s/he's really stuck. 
• If your child's social life is poor, play diagnostician. Watch him on the playground and/or when you invite (good) kids to your home for play dates. Offer feedback.
• For most kids, school is boring. Your child is not wrong in asking, "Why do I need to learn (geometric theorems, the causes of the Peloponnesian Wars, etc.) The right answer is, 

"You're right to wonder about that. The question is whether, in exchange for studying less, you're willing to pay the price: a lower grade. Plenty people with not-great grades succeed in life, but it's a bit harder. I can support your decision to accept lower grades but only if you spend the time you would have spent studying on something constructive: learning something you care more about, starting a business, tutoring a child, but not watching TV, playing video games, or hanging out with your friends."

• If most of the kids at your child's school are functioning at too low (or even perhaps too high) a level, consider changing schools. Peers may have more influence on your child's development even than you. 
• A word about students in college and graduate school. My best tip here is that you usually needn't accept the education provided as-is. Adapt it to fit your interests and strengths: Choose your courses and instructors carefully: read reviews on websites such as RateMyProfessors.com or ratings published on your campus newpaper's or student government's website. Ask permission to do papers and projects of interest to you instead of the regular assignment. If there's a topic you'd love to learn about that isn't available in a course, ask a wonderful instructor if you could do an independent study with him or her on that topic. 

School and college can be so much more or less valuable depending on whether you make the most of it. Hopefully, these tips will indeed help make this the best school year yet.