Don't Cry For Me Argentina Degreed Folk...

In late spring I received and email from a professor who wanted to know if I would be interested in a write-in-residence position. The appointment would require me to run a creative writing workshop, one night a week for MFA students.

It was a dream gig. One night a week, for one semester. And the pay wasn’t too shabby.

There was a little concern that I had never taught before, but she was passionate that I would have a lot to bring to the table. And I agreed.

I sent her my CV and waited.

Towards the end of the summer she and I met over wine and cheese. We discussed the writing life, our families and our hopes and dreams for the future. We parted with smiles and hugs.

I was encouraged.

As summer moved in to autumn, she kept me up to date on the progress. My CV had to pass across a number of desks for approval, until it finally landed on the desk of the person who would have the final say. That person was the provost of the department.

Yesterday, I received news that I would not be offered the position as I lacked a degree and that made me ineligible.

I have the experience – but not the piece of paper to…validate that experience.

Hey, no prob… I get it!

Some might argue that placing a non-degree holding teacher in the classroom might give the students the wrong idea..like… maybe they don’t need an MFA to continue to grow their craft or secure a publishing deal.

Commerce, right?

Like I said…I get it.

I am a bit disappointed – but far from bitter or upset… because I am encouraged that something bigger and better is waiting for me on the opposite side of this situation.

So today instead of crying the blues for what may seem like a missed opportunity… I choose instead to celebrate the fact that I am an autodidact – and am very happy to share that label with many, many other self-taught folks who have changed the way we view and experience the world.

Here are just a few:

Maya Angelou is completely self educated, and in spite of having no college degree has received honorary degrees and teaching positions from several colleges. In fact she has a lifetime chair at Wake Forest University. She has also taught at the University of Ghana and the University of Kansas. She speaks several languages including French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian and Ghanian Fante.


John Henrik Clarke
A self-taught scholar born of a sharecropping family in Alabama, Clarke became an authority on African history, a lecturer at Hunter College, and an advocate for Black Studies.

William Faulkner
One of America's most distinguished men of letters, William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. A nice accomplishment for a high school drop out who would later attend three semesters of college where he received a D in English.

Faulkner served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville from February to June 1957.[3]

Bill Gates
If he's not the most famous college dropout in American history, he is for sure the wealthiest. Bill Gates as if you didn't know is co-founder of Microsoft and easily the richest man in the world.

OPRAH!!!


Now, let it be known, I’m not knocking higher-education, I’m just saying…higher education shouldn’t knock the autodidact…

Bernice L. McFadden