Writers: Would you go back to school?

Just for fun, I wonder if the writers out there would answer: Given your experience in this industry, would you consider going back to school for, say, a master's or PhD? Let's leave age and family situation aside and make it more theoretical, as I know some of us are not at a stage of life where we'd want to go back to school, anyway.

I would be disinclined to go back to school for several reasons. One, this industry is making me jaded about higher education. I just don't think the coursework has the value that it's supposed to. If I can get "A"s on it without taking the classes, then it must not be worth much. Second, the thought of having to pay to write papers, when I'm used to getting paid, would bother me. Finally, I could probably make more money at this gig than I could with any of the gigs that further schooling would prepare me for, if any.

What do you think?

I wont go to school :) But I'll be happy to assist students with their homework.

Not even if they paid me to go back to school.

There was once a time when I did go after some masters degree certifications but I am way past that educational goal now.

After more than 30 years working in this field (first as a writer then currently, as a consultant) I would be doing the marathon around the so-called professors and teaching assistants.

I have written about more topics under the sun than I care to think about and I have no intention of helping a professor teach his students because I will certainly be able to put him in a corner when it comes to the class discussion.

I once attended a party where a priest was in attendance and got involved in a religious discussion because he learned that I was an atheist.

Needless to say, I successfully argued against the existence of God and left the priest dumbfounded.

Imagine, if I could do that to a priest, what would I end up doing to a professor who probably got his position just because the university lacked teachers.

Nope. I won't waste my time going back to school. I have learned all I need to learn, and more by simply doing research work for others in every field imaginable (and then some) over the past decades.

I believe that at a certain point in life, a professional should consider himself "aged out of school". I use the term to refer to the way that the academic writer will most likely be better informed than his professor and more learned about the topic due to the nature of his job. A writer will not enjoy going back to school to learn any basic information about a topic he has written several times for different students based on different topics for the class. A writer with such expansive experience will be bored by the regular academic world.

When I asked the same question of my writers, they mostly replied in similar terms. This has led me to believe that no seasoned academic writer will ever consider going back to school for any reason. It just isn't something that can help them improve in their trade. Why go to school when, as an academic writer, he can learn far more useful information and receive what is basically free education, without ever having to show up in any type of class nor pay any kind of fees for tuition? Exactly, academic writers get all the relevant education they need, based upon their interests, without having to spend a dime. Instead, they earn from the lessons that they learn and write about. The latter is the scenario that most writers approve of.

I'm actually fascinated with this conversation. Oftentimes, when we look at academic writing as a professional career path, we tend to forget that there are numerous great things that come with it. Like what was previously aforementioned, this career has definitely forced me to enjoy learning about various subjects. There's a sense of it being rewarding because you're being financially compensated to learn all of these new concepts. At one point, it has made me knowledgeable about certain subjects (for instance, nursing and medical courses) that I never thought I'd ever be able to learn from. Because of this reason alone, I think I've grown to be generally a lot more curious about varied careers that other people undergo. It has also made me somehow more flexible in engaging conversations with other people. I don't necessarily think that it would stop me from taking up higher studies as I would feel more capable than others, but there is surely something rewarding about the career itself.

No. There are only two reasons to go to college in the first place just to get one degree, let alone after having already been through college: (1) To pursue a specific career path or change in career that requires a degree in a new field, and (2) To compete realistically for entry-level jobs (nowadays), even ones that don't require a degree, just to avoid being at a significant disadvantage simply because there's such a glut of unemployed and underemployed college graduates applying for ordinary jobs such as a barista at Starbucks. The last thing anybody needs just to pursue knowledge in a field of personal intellectual interest is to pay to enroll in a formal educational program and obligate one's self to all of the other requirements and assignments and schedules that go along with formal studies. You can explore and learn about anything in which you might have some intellectual curiosity simply by taking (or auditing) individual courses, and even that is unnecessary, considering that you have the Internet right at your fingertips. Especially, if you already have the requisite skills to be providing academic essays for hire in the first place, you should have no problem whatsoever simply finding all of the information you need to pursue knowledge at just about any academic level and on any field of academic interest without enrolling in any formal academic program.

To an extent, I do feel as though going back to school can be justifiable for certain writers. I recognize that some academic writers do not see the career as a sustainable one, considering that others may consider it to be a passing-by job. I have personally known a few other academic writers who had gone back to school for the purpose of advancing their studies, hoping that they would be able to lift their job opportunities should they want to have a career outside of this one. While I agree that everyone, especially with the advent of the internet, has the capacity to research about knowledge that would have been unreachable before, there are still instances wherein having a more advanced degree is a paperwork that is necessary to move forward career-wise.

Freelance writers are in a continuing education line of work. That means, an independent writer is constantly in college either as an undergraduate, a masters student, or a PhD candidate. The writer is paid to go back to school, although one cannot take the grade credit in the end. Think about it, a writer needs to learn the material delivered by the student, brush up on his current information regarding specific topics, understand the material, then write about it. Exactly what a student does in school. The difference? The student gets a grade and the writer gets paid. Being in school 365 days a year as a writer is financially beneficial. So yeah, I don't think a writer realizes it because of the fun of the job but, the writer is in school for the whole calendar, not academic year. So the question doesn't really make sense. Academic writers are always back in school.