English degrees are not the highly sought after commodity I thought they were when contemplated continuing my scholastic career. The fact of the matter is that I am a lazy student. I have always felt just doing enough to get by was enough to satisfy my educational desires.

Obviously looking back at things my logic was clearly flawed. If I had put in the time and effort I could of done anything with my life; lawyer, doctor, accountant etc., etc. But I was torn by my immediate desire for income and my desire to be more than I was. My Father was welder fitter and it seemed obvious that I would be a welder fitter too.

The problem was that I hated the travel involved with being a welder and I drank too much on the road. I had completed the academic level courses in high-school so I though why not be a journalist. I submitted my applications to the few schools that had a University Journalism program. Remember now I was a lazy student so I didn't exactly have schools banging down my door.

I received two acceptance letters, Thunder Bay was to far away and Carleton was my first choice but they only admitted me to General Arts. What the hell I thought, Carleton here I come.

Well by the end of the First year I was a full fledged member of the Comparative Literature Department. Again I should have realized that with only six students in the program that it was doomed. But I enjoyed the close knit community that we built in that department.

However here was the problem after two years there was not a strong demand for my beloved program and Carleton unceremoniously cut all funding for it. I am disillusioned, upset and in a fit of rage I dropped out of University. I arrived home that evening and now had to explain to my wife why I dropped out of school.

"Honey I need to do something more directed, you know something career oriented."

"What about your degree Joel!"

"The only thing you can do with an English degree is to think about great literature while you're on the unemployment lines."

This conversation may very well be followed by a lot of colorful language and some door slamming. Insert as you see fit.

After all of this drama I have now obligated myself to find a career oriented educational path. Fortunately we had received the Algonquin College course Calendar, unfortunately I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

I opened that catalogue and wrote down the name of every program that was even slightly interesting. When I was done I took that paper in tore each program name out, folded them and stuck them in a baseball cap. I left that hat on the kitchen table for exactly one hour, then I stood up stuck my hand in and selected the career I would do for the rest of my life. Library Information Technician came out of that hat. I looked at that slip of paper for a moment, and I filled out the application paperwork and sent it away the next day. A couple months later I got my acceptance letter, and two years after that I was a Library Information Technician.

Knowing what I know now I would not have been as confident about that career being for the rest of my life. In the end I have decided you can make any degree or diploma work for you, rather than the other way around.