University

If there's one regret that I have, it must be the lack of a university education. Now, my parents had never deprived us of a good education. On the contrary, they always emphasise on its significance. Both my brothers graduated with honours and one even completed his MBA.

What happened to me? I started off really well in primary school, usually topping the class which made my grandparents very proud. When I started having difficulties with math, I realised I wasn't as brilliant as they thought. Still I managed to get into a good secondary school and junior college.

I would like to think that my subject combinations led to my downfall. I had no interest in accounting, statistics and economics and struggled with the subjects for two years. I couldn't get a place in the popular Business Ad faculty in our local university (we only had 1 at that time) and turned down an offer to do social science because I didn't know what my prospects were after graduation.

It's funny how our visions were so myopic then. It was like with an accounting degree, you could be an accountant... one-track mind! The kids today are more well informed than we were.

I started working at a publishing firm with the intention of applying for a place in Business Ad again the following year. Mum was getting anxious and started bugging me to take courses in the meantime. She was afraid I may lose interest in studying. To appease her, I did a course on Public Relations at a commercial school which actually piqued my interest in journalism. Unfortunately we couldn't afford an overseas education.

When the time rolled around for the next enrolment, I found that I was enjoying my job and working life too much. Well, one thing led to another, and the university education simply eluded me. I went on to do a marketing diploma which suited me and I did very well. Unfortunately I was pregnant with YK and with motherhood taking precedence, my studies were disrupted.

At the back of my mind, this education thing still bugs me every now and then. I often wonder if life would be any different if I'm armed with a degree. While I had never really enjoyed school , I'm sure I would have loved the campus life. Reading about people doing their MBAs make me wish I were in their shoes. If only I were so academic...

It has always been a dream. As long as the dream never dies, I may just go back to school again some day as a matured student. Who knows? I could be that granny graduate!