If I had a dollar for every time I was told that my education was a waste of  money, I could probably pay for my education. Here I am, four years into my college career and one semester left and every time I'm told that I'm wasting my time, or my money, it is difficult to not lash out at people. The idea that the "corporate system" or the "political government" is using education as a form of control, or a way to make us all civilized human beings that can co-exist, is as offensive as it is insulting and incorrect. 

Allow me to first address the money argument: Yes, higher education is expensive. Yes, it is too expensive. Yes, it is geared towards people who have a better chance at succeeding. We all know this about college to be true. It is unfortunate, but it is possible for anybody to attend college, if they work for it. 

Lets rewind, August 2012. I was moving into the dorms along with some 15,000 other students. We all have been accepted under the same guidelines, and we were all given the same chance of succession. We have all been placed into dormitory living surrounded with people with "like" majors. In theory, the administration would like us to be around other people with the same major in hopes we study together, make friends together. Again, this is good in theory even though over half of all students change their major (guilty). We're paired with one or two random roommates, and forced to share a room with them for a year. We're then forced to share about nine showers and four toilets between a couple hundred other people, and we're forced to share kitchens, work out rooms, lounging areas and computer rooms. Sounds pretty terrible right?

Wrong. It was one of the most amazing and monumental years of my life. I lived in a building with hundreds of kids my age. Everybody was nice to each other. Nobody was judged for skin tone, for where we all came from, what kind of grades we got in high school, what gender we were or weren't. We were all here for the same goal and in on each others side to achieve it. Some days were great, some nights were terrible. Luckily for me, my roommate and I were a pretty good fit. However that didn't mean that we didn't have to listen to people's music blaring down the hallway. Or that sometimes we would have to tip tow around the room when the other person decided to drink all night and nap all day. We would either motivate each other to finish that essay on time, or convince each other to ditch school and day drink. I met people from across the country and across the world. People that lived near and far. People I would have never met unless I had went to school. I had to learn to co-exist and co-habitate with people I loved and people I couldn't stand. And I had to do it all while learning about what will hopefully help me in my future career, not just a pit stop job.

Moving on to the summer in between my freshman year and my sophomore year, I traveled to Costa Rica with a group of 11 people whom I had never met. We split two small apartments in San Jose. We learned from local people about local culture. It was nothing short of incredible. Specifically, we were studying children's welfare. Something many people are unaware of is Central and South America are highly popular for children's sex trafficking. This is probably something I wouldn't have known unless I had traveled there. Three thousand dollars bought me: an incredible education with possibly two of the most amazing professors at Northern Arizona University, several amazing fresh meals and a few too many mojitos, hikes through the most beautiful dormant volcano hidden in a rain forest, a horseback ride through the jungle and on the Caribbean beach, trips to not one but two incredible oceans, hot springs, meetings with crocodiles, and the most scenic zip lining one could ever imagine. However - what I left with that was absolutely priceless, was a couple friends that I've made for probably the rest of my life. One will be getting married in a few months and I will be a bridesmaid, and I'll be able to tell everybody that we met in Costa Rica because we both decided to study abroad in college.

Onto my sophomore year of college, I moved in with a good friend from the dorms. We split a decent sized apartment with our boyfriends. There was partying, laughs, fights, two adopted dogs, and anything else that comes with four 20-somethin' year old's that are sharing a living space. Through thick and thin, the four of us are still friends and learned more than having our first place together. We learned about the temptations of living off campus. My girlfriend and I specifically -we had to learn to say "no" to staying up late and partying and learn to say "yes" to pulling all nighters to study for that final the next day. We learned about living with our boys and whether or not we could live with these two specifically. We learned a handful about money management which is something new to us. Both my girlfriend and I got jobs at some point in our freshman year of college - but with the extra time this year we worked even more. So not only did we learn how to manage our money, but we had to learn to manage our time. To take a shift to help pay bills, or to stay in and do homework all afternoon. We had temptations with our boyfriends around to skip everything and just hang out with them - but through all of the choices that had to be made we both prevailed. We learned how to cook for ourselves, how to take care of our own living space, and plenty of other lessons that we otherwise wouldn't have learned if we hadn't gone to school and met each other - perhaps we'd still be living at home with our parents hoping our mom would've continued to do everything for us.

My third year, my junior year, wasn't too much different than my sophomore year as far as school goes; although it was just my boyfriend and I in a small apartment. It definitely took some adjusting. But goodness was it cheap. We had money for vacations, eating out, all sorts of luxuries that we didn't always have in the previous apartment; it was great. I was walking distance from school and he was gone most of the day at work so I always had the house to myself to study. I started working more and my classes began to get more difficult because I was in the upper division classes. However in my third year, I now knew how to munuvure school like a champion. Deadlines were easier to meet, my teachers were starting to recognize me. It seemed like a breeze. Until I got a huge smack in the face during mid terms. Upper division classes let me know who was still boss, and it took more effort than the rest of the year. However my classes were so enjoyable; have you ever woken up in the morning and looked forward to going to school? I did this year. In my classes, we were given small readings, and used most of our class time to discuss as a group. We shared ideas, opinions about society, we talked about race and gender and politics and how corrupt the whole system is. Our professors guided us to make assumptions; never implemented ideas that we didn't like or didn't believe in, we would talk about religion; whether or not its a hoax, and history, and what about it has shaped society's opinions and ideals. So many interesting things intertwined; so no, on the contrary I have never been trained like a state approved homogeneous drone.

My last year is similar to my junior year. However about a month before I start my last year (and extra semester) my mom passes away from cancer. So in case paying bills and getting through work and school isn't enough pressure, I now am dealing with emotions. Actual real, dark and depressing emotions that school had let me forget I had. Not a lot of tears were shed the first few years of school, but this hit me like a brick wall. I wasn't able to just be sent home like I was from work, I didn't get a leave of absence like work. I didn't get to use my mommy as an excuse why I couldn't focus in school that day or why I had to go to the bathroom several times throughout a day to get a few tears moving out of me. Nope, a month later school started and I had to grind this year just like any other year. 

 Although I dread this last semester more than I ever have, because I AM being forced to take math (not my strongest subject). However we learn things in college math classes that you wish you would've learned in high school; how to file taxes, how to calculate interest for when realtors and car salesman try to screw you for your money, things of that sort. Things that are important and argumentatively vital to living in today's world. Things that other people my age who aren't in school have to learn on their own or continue to blow off until their too old to get by without the knowledge.

So what point am I trying to prove with my babbling? That higher education has taught me, and I'm sure many others lessons and experiences that other people may not get. This does not make us better than you if you don't have a degree. However it does make us different. I have experienced the four most challenging years of my life. No, my degree is not a piece of paper. My degree is an award that I have earned. My degree is one thing that makes me more ideal for a job than you. My degree is figuratively blood, sweat, and tears that took a huge chunk of my life with it. My degree is friendship, life lessons, money troubles, travels, late nights and several arguments with boyfriends, neighbors or roommates. My degree is the difference between 50k and 100k, the difference between owning and renting. The difference between the Days Inn and the Four Seasons. And without these lessons, people who make memes like this ^ don't understand the importance, and I'm sorry for you guys. However when it comes to the political system, about being a state controlled drone, I know more than enough to go toes with you.