My name is Aaron McBride. Im from Joplin, Missouri.

I have finally found my calling in life and it

only took forty years. Originally, I attended college because I had earned my G.I. Bill and had nothing to
do. I hadnt enjoyed high school because the pageantry and faulty faade did not inspire me to aspire to
anything they offered. I started college thinking that business could be general enough that I wouldnt
be painting myself into a corner. I am the son of a small business owner. I figured I had a leg up on the
fundamentals of business from watching my father build his name into a trusted in demand brand. I
spent two years learning that I love learning when I choose what I study and that business was not what
I wanted to study. Studying business taught me that ethics are not an asset that attracts money. From
business into philosophy, the transition seemed logical to me, philosophy deals with the hard questions
that most disciplines base their foundations in misconstruing or avoiding. Philosophy is a part of my
approach to life and all I do, but it is not something to pursue for economic viability and if the words
that surface in ones mind tend to be inflammatory at the, let us just say that, truth is what philosophy
should be after. I decided that I didnt have enough life experience to generate honest opinions much
less answers to lifes daunting questions. I felt that I needed more experience in life to be doing
something in the realm of philosophy. This led to a ten year institutional based education hiatus. I
gained experience and learned of life on many levels. Awaiting the birth of my daughter spurred me to
try to aspire to be something and be successful at something more than construction and remodeling. I
picked my education back up with my prior minor of communication. MSSU didnt offer a philosophy
curriculum I wanted to pursue. I went with communication because it is a fundamental building block
necessary to almost all other disciplines. When I started MSSU I had hopes that the indoctrination of
education had not spread to Missouri but even here I find that business has conquered the spirit of
learning. Credits that transfer, but not as cores so the money is assured. The transfer policy should never
be dictated by the incoming school, it should be accredited or not.
Last semester I walked into my first art class since seventh grade. Art had always been a hobby
that served me well in my life fixing and making beautiful dcor. I was already dissatisfied with the
communications department based on poor communications within the program. When I saw the art
class I realized that I had been so close-minded that I had overlooked the true offerings of college all
along. Dont get me wrong the problems with-in the art department are plentiful, but the dogma is more
centralized and avoidable. The saying, love what you do and it ceases to be work, is finally becoming
manifest in my life.