The over-inflation of college education in the 21st century

   Lately I have been feeling like graduating from high school isn't enough to get a job these days. Heck, even getting a tech school certificate or associate's degree will MAYBE get you a job that makes a few extra bucks these days.  Does everyone need a degree to survive these days? We need more solutions... not just the clichéd, "Go back to school" to help our high school and community college grads get a start in the world.


   What happened to the days when high school would get you a starter job? I thought college was supposed to be optional...right? No, apparently in the 21st century you have to have AT LEAST a four year degree to get a job that pays a low middle class wage (or salary if you're lucky) to start! In the 1970's and even the 80's you could still get a job out of high school to help pay your way through college (if you chose to go...it was still somewhat optional for many professions back then).


   And where are young people supposed to get the money for these degrees? God forbid we take out huge student loans to pay for our Bachelor's, Master's, and sometimes Doctorates! For an example of this double standard of getting a degree AND staying out of debt completely (while getting a four year degree, and maybe a Master's later) listen to the advice of my business teacher (who has her doctorate in education, by the way): "Stay out of debt." But WAIT, she also said: "Be sure to get your Master's degree and maybe even a doctorate later." And then she later said: "A lot of you won't be able to get the jobs you want with [only] a four year degree." Those three comments were her words, not mine.


   How do you justify this double standard when the price tag of a four year degree is steadily climbing every year? Also this price increase is happening in the midst of a severe recession (more akin to a depression, I think) that shows no sign of clearing up anytime soon.


   What our country needs is a lot more basic, entry level jobs that high school and 2 year college grads can get....that..wait for it... pay enough for them to live on so they don't go into debt while in school. Also, this may help people decide if college is really for them...because it isn't for everyone folks! This fact is quite shocking, I know.


  So, that is the next move for our country... Bring back entry level jobs that a high school grad can easily get AND make a living on... College is a blessing for many, many people and I don't discredit the need for it in many professions, BUT it isn't for everyone and it should not be mandatory!


  Those of you who have read this far...if you are a Christian please pray for our country! We have come to worship education in this modern era... Don't believe me? Just check out these Bible verses while you contemplate my blog post:


1 Corinthians 3:19 "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight."




1 Corinthians 1:25 "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of Godis stronger than human strength."




   Excuse me while I get off my soapbox now. I hope that I didn't hurt anyone's feelings (anyone who has/is planning on/ or is now going to college. I have felt this way for a long time and I wonder if our education system has lost a lot of it's value these days... since we live in times where a college grad sometimes has to flip burgers to make ends meet. I pray that there will be a real change in our country, not one brought by a president, but one brought by our Lord God.

Weird dreams and using them for creative writing.

Dreams and their meanings

Have you ever wondered what weird, odd, or just plain funny dreams meant? I have had a few weird ones lately myself and may use them for inspiration for a story! After all some writers do find inspiration from their dreams and may add it into a story they are writing. Sometimes inspiration for a poem or song can also come by way of a dream, and I've often had this happen as well. It pays to keep a notebook near your bed so you are able to write down an inspiring thought, or a silly dream you had, just to see what your brain is coughing up as you sleep!

Many books have been written on the subject of dream interpretation, but a lot of them are so generalized that it can be frustrating to even find anything like the dream or thought you had during the night. (On a side note: If you do know of a really, really good dream interpretation book, please list the title and author of it in your comment to me, thanks!).

Example of weird dreams and their way of inspring creativity in writing

I will give you a couple examples of weird dreams I've personally had recently to show you what I mean about finding creative ideas and meanings in dreams:

1. The dream was that I was turned into a werewolf by a mad scientist who had given me too much of a certain chemical in an injection in my arm. One other person was there and he/she also turned into a werewolf from the overdose of the chemical injection. He/she told me to escape with the cartoon baby tigers in ramen cups (that the doctor was using for his next experiment). So I escaped and found my husband (who I am married to in real life) at a dinner with some friends and he recognized me even though I was still a werewolf (I had my own voice still). And right then a bunch of mobsters from New York burst through the front door of the hotel/restaurant and suddenly I was myself again and we had escaped the mobsters.

2. The second dream I had was all in an anime style, but with real people acting in it. I was not in this dream myself though... A young teenage boy with light blond hair was apprenticed to a dark magician (think Fantasia but darker and somewhat evil) and after a short time of being with his master, the young man realized the older mage planned on eating some non magical children and teens (he was evil after all, remember?). The young apprentice was shocked and disgusted by his master and followed the older mage as he went eat some (muggle?) children and teens. The apprentice saw the old man put on his bear fur pelt (with the head still attached) and go out to where he (the older magician) had strung up a few kids/teens by their hands to a wooden frame (think of the kind of frame used for a hanging, but with people hanging by the hands, not necks). The young blond haired apprentice was really angry and burst out of his hiding place and killed his master with a stab to the chest. He then sucked the magic out of his master with a special spell and it came out of the dead man's feet in two bright blue glowing orbs. After that the young man set the children and teens free, and they gladly ran away. Then suddenly the dream flashed to a meeting of other dark magicians have a meeting and their leader stands up and says that the force of evil has been disturbed somewhere. This is where the dream ended for me though, unfortunately!

The first dream I talked about (werewolf dream) is an example of something I call "subconscious regurgitation", which is basically just your unconscious mind barfing bits of information you've collected recently (over the past few days usually). It is a bit easier to find the meanings in these dreams also, as they will usually contain pieces of things that you thought about or things that happened to you recently.

On the other hand, the second dream (young mage apprentice) might make a very good story because it seems to be something that has been created as a mental "movie" , so instead of just random pieces of story you have a complete and flowing dream that is both fun to have and may make a good short story!

Well, let me know what your input on the subject of using dreams for creative writing purposes!

Do you think that only continual "movie-like" dreams make good short stories or do you think any dream could be used as inspiration for a story? Also, what do you think of dream interpretation books and other such things? What about scary dreams/nightmares, do they have a purpose in story writing?