If you could go back to school, what would you study?

It’s interesting, because this very question has been going through my mind lately. I have my degree in French and Anthropology and a minor in English. I have often thought about doing my masters in one of these subjects or getting my teaching certificate. If I could go back to school to study anything, I have no idea what it would be. One area of my anthro studies that I have brought with me since graduating is sustainable development. I am lucky in fact because I am applying directly what I learned through my anthro degree to my current job in a non-profit children’s charity. Sustainable development, for me, is key to breaking the cycle of poverty for anyone – in the third world or the first world. I have never given myself the time to write about the topic though, or explore it in a very singular way. I am also very interested in exploring the concept of rural bias in development and how that has impeded sustainability in a global sense. It has – and anecdotally I can write about it, provide hundreds of examples of how resisting that bias would radically change the current approach of NGO’s and charities who seek to develop communities in Africa in particular, but again – I would need to have the time to explore further through those studies that I long left behind, to actually do some practical work.

In the meantime though – I will continue to work with low income families in my community and developing strategies to help them break the cycle of poverty.