In a few weeks time the Postman will knock at the door one day. He will have a parcel for me; it will contain books, DVDs, CDs, a course calendar and details of the first four assignments and the dates they are due to be submitted. It will all look a bit overwhelming I’m sure. Finally, after months of waiting, I’ll be ready to start studying my second Open University course, U116 – The Environment, journeys through a changing world.
I currently have 60 points towards the 360 I need to obtain a BA (Hons) Open Degree. I’m 1/6th of the way there. At the moment I’ve opted not to take a named degree, this means I can study whatever combinations of courses I choose, providing I eventually gain at least 120 points each from level 2 and level 3 courses. However I can, if I choose to, link my courses to a more specific degree, at the moment it seems likely that this will be BA (Hons) International Studies, but my thinking may change as I progress.
By this time next year I will be able to use letters after my name, I will be Ms Vivienne Kennedy Cert HE Soc Sci (open); catchy isn’t it? It will mean that I’ll have completed the equivalent of the first year of study on a full-time degree course.
I don’t have any great career plan that I’m following, although it would be nice to one day earn more than minimum wage. I am just trying to prove something to myself. I left school at 16, my own choice, I’d had enough and wanted to get out into the big wide world and earn some money. My priorities then were clothes and clubbing, what did I need ‘A’ levels for, I needed cash not qualifications. That was a bit short-sighted of me probably. In recent years I’ve wondered what I could have achieved had I followed a different path.
I wouldn’t want to change the life I’ve had. After all you can’t rewind and lose the bad bits without losing the good bits too. I have regrets, sure, who doesn’t? There’ve been good times and bad times. The bad times have hopefully made me a stronger, wiser, person. Accepting the life I’ve had doesn’t mean I can’t aim to improve the life I’ve still to live.
The OU emphasise how important family support is during your studies. Well tough, I have to manage without that. My mother isn’t interested as she is convinced I won’t see it through. I can’t blame her, I do have some history there. When I was younger I started an Accounting Technicians course, on day release from my full-time job. I passed the first year with Distinction. By the time I took the exams at the end of the second year I was 5 months pregnant, and suffering horrendous heartburn, but again I got Distinction. However when it came to the third year I had a young baby, a full-time job, (I was working an average of 60 hours a week, trying to prove that I could do it all), and I was having to do the course on half day release plus evening classes. I dropped out way before the final exams. A few years later I enrolled for Open University for the first time. I completed my first two assignments, getting grades in the 90s for both of them. Then my husband decided that it was more important for him to visit the pub every single Monday than it was to allow me to go to a tutorial one Monday a month, (he’s now my ex by the way). Without the support of my tutor and other students I started to struggle to focus. My dad fell ill, he needed a quadruple heart bypass, his arteries were so clogged up that there was a danger he would have a stroke if they operated in that state. He had to have another operation first, then wait another 6 weeks for the bypass he so urgently needed. It was a stressful time, and by then I had 3 children to care for, plus a part-time job, something had to give, and it was my studying. So I’ve started Higher Education twice and not seen it through, I can see where Mum is coming from. However I also know that when, (note I am saying when, not if), I complete my degree she will try to take some credit, saying she was using reverse psychology to spur me on. So I don’t talk to her about it, she doesn’t know that I’ve passed the first course, she doesn’t know what subject I am taking for the second, and she won’t know when I’ve finally graduated, or not until I give her a photo from my graduation ceremony anyway. I suspect she believes that I’ve already given up.
My younger children aren’t remotely interested, unless my tutorials clash with a meal time, in which case they want to know what I’ve left for them to eat. My eldest child makes fun of me, telling me that I’m boring if I talk about my studies or any grades I’ve received, but she’s 18 and firmly believes that the world revolves around her. I guess most 18 year olds are like that.
Friends however are very supportive. One friend is herself a full-time university student, she regularly asks how I’m getting on and has lent text books from her own course when I’ve needed to find out some more information about something. Another friend always has coffee and supper waiting for me at the end of each tutorial, always very much appreciated. My boss tries to be supportive, although she doesn’t really understand what I am studying or why, but she is more than happy for me to be flexible with my hours when I have a tutorial or day school to attend and that’s the support I need from her. Other friends often ask how I am getting on and are encouraging and happy for me. At least 2 have themselves enrolled on OU courses starting this October.
So far I have enjoyed my studies and found it easy to fit in around my working hours. I am lucky not to start work until 3 o’clock each day, so have plenty of time beforehand, when the children are out for the day, in which to get my work done. I know it’s going to get harder when I move on to the higher level courses, but it will be a gradual thing and I’ll be more used to studying by then. I know that I’m going to need a lot of self-discipline though.
I am proud of myself for getting through the first year, and I can’t wait to get started on the second year. I have learned so much in this past year, and I definitely look at things in a different way. Dare I say I even have a little more confidence in myself and my abilities? This is something I’m doing for me, it’s a selfish thing, and it feels great.
Excellent post, Viv! I think it’s so easy to get distracted as a ‘mature’ student (which is what they seem to class any of us who aren’t in our teens with nothing else happening in our lives).
I think the only reason I have my BA is that I was such a geek in high school I got ahead. Even with that, it took almost 10 years to get the foreign language requirement finished. I’d started it while I was still full time, but then life got in the way — I worked, I couldn’t afford tuition, my mom got sick. By the time she died, learning a foreign language was the least of my concerns.
You’ve done really well with your course. I’ve been impressed with how you’ve gotten your work finished on time… maybe because I’m constantly behind on my university deadlines, and — as of September — will have stretched a 2-year course into a 4-year one. But I’ll finish this… eventually. I have to do it at my own pace, as we all do.
Anyway… you’re 1/6th of the way there, the kids can bugger off if they aren’t supportive, and just keep thinking of your mother’s face when you sign her birthday card ‘Love, Vivienne BA (hons)’ to tell her you’ve graduated….
Hi Viv, just to let you know we’ve posted a link to your blog on Platform. Nothing so encouraging for an OU student as to read that someone else is feeling the same way they are!
http://www.open.ac.uk/platform/blogs/blogs-we-like
Best wishes
Jane
Thank you for your comments Jen and Jane, and many thanks for posting the link Jane
When you finally get your degree, please invite your Mum to your graduation ceremony, she will be very proud of you and you will make her day. Don’t just show her a photo of the event that she missed! Just think if it was one of your children who did that to you!
Vivienne,
What an inspiring story you wrote there, an inspiration to those who say they can`t be bothered with learning.
I am at the other end of the spectrum. Retired with formal learing well behind me, I now bask in the reflected sunshine of my sons. One a Professor of Mathematics, the other a Senior Director in a Blue chip company.
To say I am proud of them is an understatement of the century.
Both have worked so hard to attain…something you seem to understand from your post…and although one is married they get together regularly.
I have lived through Wilson, Thatcher, Major, Bliar and Brown, and nothing is new.
Have experienced the bad times and the good times. I admire your tenacity, and feel sorry for your fella who couldn`t stand the heat. Me? My angel and I worked together, (How can a man be whole and successful if he cannot include his wife..the other half of himself (works in reverse for ladies).
Jointly we brought our family up, gave em what they needed, and the effort has been worth it.
I am now enjoying the fruits of raising my two, although am now alone after my angel passed away.
Good to see that someone else is prepared to learn what they can to help climb the slippery pole.
My motto: Only believe a politician if he isn`t talking.
Good luck and best wishes for your graduation. I think your Mum will be really proud!!
Thank you for your comment. I’m now almost half way through this year’s course, finding it tougher than last year but still enjoyable and I’m getting fairly good grades. I found myself applying for a full time University course a few months ago, and they accepted me, so in September I’ll be starting a BA(hons) degree in Journalism with media and cultural studies at the University of the West of England. It’s a huge step, and I am very scared, but excited too, it’s something I never would have considered before starting with the OU.
I have recently applied for an OU course,with the hope that one day ill be able to complete a BSc or BA hons degree.the reason i stumbled across ur site was that i ws searching for other mums who were studying with the ou whilst having to take care of kids,it ws so inspiring that it i cant explain. i got married in dec 2008 and left my degree at the mere end(6 months early) due to having to shift to the UK,then got pregnant with my first child,and inbetween i applied for a credit transfer which to my joy has been aproved
im again pregnant now(we just want 2 kids) and i want to get over with it nd focus better on my family and my own education as well. im not much of a career girl but desperatly feel i need to complete my degree,and with a child OU seemed the most feasible option,my husband on the other hand thinks that it would be a waste of money and effort and i could by no means manage with children and study at the same time although good in many other ways i felt so bad about the lack of faith he has in my abilities and im sure tht now he has warned me i cannot expect much support from his side. the course is supposed to start in may 11 and i was really doubting myself that what if he’s right,what if i could’nt cope it would be a huge blow to my self esteem ,but after reading ur post ive realised there are people who are in situations that i cant even imagine and yet they succeed and never stop moving forward. this has given me new faith in myself and if you could be so brave to manage 3 kids a job and studies then i would be ashamed not to manage with just one nd no job at all. Thankyou very much…..
please, go for it