George Maley | Never Stop Learning

[#1]

My Journey to #AchieveMore

"I am in the unusual position of being an older graduate student, for at least the next three weeks, at Southern New Hampshire University. I say the next three weeks because then I will graduate with a masters in American History. At age sixty, I decided that this degree would be an interesting pursuit as I slowed down and then retired from my law practice. This was an autotelic endeavor. Quite simply, it was something I always wanted to do, and I eventually got around to doing it. Of course, like most lawyers, I never suffered from an ego deficiency and I thought that I could stroll into a learning environment unimpeded, despite the thirty-seven years layoff from organized education. It was truly a brave new world of education out there, especially distance education, and it requires the student to be a self-starter. Having been a sole practitioner in law, drive has never been an issue. Along this journey, I have been motivated by the subject of my final thesis: the impact of Jim Crow on the small river town of Maysville, Kentucky. Although sweeping studies of Jim Crow as a social and legal phenomenon are plentiful, seeing this scholarship applied to small town life has brought a new meaning to me for why we study history. To fully understand Jim Crow America, it is necessary to see it from the ground up. In addition, this study has greatly deepened my understanding of the times in which we live and the lingering effects of Jim Crow that to this day permeate the highest office in the land. I am often asked, at age sixty-three, what I am going to do with this degree. I will know, and that should be enough. "

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