From Heavy Haul Trucker to Historian
 

I'm not sure if anyone other than Hog; Hobo; Windwalker and one or two others have ever wondered if I actually graduated.
I did, and then progressed to research degree level
Here is my ugly mush, with archetypal 'British teeth' collecting my MA(Hons) in Scottish History

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/...hall139/me.jpg

PS. Hope life is treating you well Gary. God bless you mate
Best wishes
Kev

Well done, Wot!! Tell your old friend, Dimitry Lithuania I said Hi!! :cool:

Cheers pal. I'll pass regards on ;-)

Congratulations on getting your degree, Wot. Now, you can get back to driving a truck. :cool:

Thanks GMAN, although I'd like to avoid driving trucks if I can; still, I may have to on part-time basis to pay for my PhD. Currently working for Church of Scotland

HuZZAH… to our very own Road Scholar! :D

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...10/tallyho.gif

There is nothing wrong with driving a truck. Many on this forum have degrees, some have advanced degrees. They decided to pursue trucking when their chosen profession did not work out or they had a dream to drive and took the opportunity to do so when their current career was laying off. It is a good backup plan. I am glad you are working in the Church of Scotland and pursuing your PhD. Is the Church of Scotland affiliated with the Church of England or totally separate? In any case, it will enable you to pursue your education. I hope you will continue to check in with us and keep us updated on how things are going.

Hi Hog,

Good to see you're still as crazy as ever mate :-)

Hi GMAN,

C of S is a Presbyterian church, the C of E is Episcopalian. Charles I tried to force an Episcopal structure onto the Scottish Kirk and that was partly responsible for the civil wars which followed. I actually wrote my undergraduate dissertation on an aspect of the cause of the wars of the three kingdoms; namely the Revocation Act of 1625.

I'm going to keep my HGV licence up to date, just in case I ever do need to drive trucks again; and I must admit, the thought of crossing the Alps one last time in an artic is quite pleasing....who knows, never say never.

I will pop by on the forums now and again, thank you.

Best wishes to all

Kev

GMAN may be right… my back up plan was to be a Rock Star. Of course my Masters was getting my class A CDL. :)
Now... I wish I would have been a historian, too. So much bs out there….history being rewritten the day it's made now. ;)

That's a bit dear to my heart wot! I went to college for 2 years with the plan to become a historian myself........I wanted to study history and only history......instead I had to also do general studies in math and all that other rubbish to get my degree. I quit and got a full time job in construction where I picked up my CDL and started driving too. I'd love to go back and further pursue a History degree........just can't get past the rubbish that really is unnecessary. Congrats man and have fun bringing history to life!

That is interesting about the church, Wot. I have always enjoyed history. I grew up in an area where much of the American Civil War was fought. It is interesting how that part of American history has been skewed over the years. One of my favorite classes in college was Medieval Studies. I had two semesters. My professor was like a short, chubby Indiana Jones. lol. He really made those classes interesting.

Medieval Studies GMAN? …. like whips, restraints and wooden paddles? ;)

Wot has always been a historian, and could see through the bs.
I remember Wot talking about Poland during the Brew Wars, and he pointed out to me that the German invasion of Poland in 1939 might have taken longer, if the Poles had been armed with more than just hand grenades. The courageous defenders threw them at the Germans, but the enemy simply caught them, pulled the pins, and hurled them back. :)

I always enjoyed your posts Wot, congrats on your edumacation. I went to college for about 5 years (part time) all they ever gave me was packages that needed to be delivered!

believe it or not my spell check say's edumacation is spelled correct! ????

Something like that, Roadhog. ;)

it must think yer an anchor baby. :)

But they were Hog, they had finest Ceylon tea-bags dowsed in boiling water! Had they thrown them at the Germans, then the war would have been over within minutes. You cannot beat TEA I say.

Mr Ford, I would say that maybe you ought to consider doing a distance learning history degree, possibly with our own OU in the UK Distance Learning Courses and Adult Education - The Open University. Study at your own pace and take courses you choose.
I completely sympathise with you on not wanting to undertake courses you were never interested in; I had to do exactly the same. I took courses in 'Politics of Welfare State' & 'Celtic Literature' for example.
And I do miss chatting about soccer :-( ....Do you still watch the EPL?

Did you write your dissertation on Medieval History? (did you major in it? I'm not too sure if US graduates write a dissertation or if degrees are all course work?)
I'd be very interested to know

Wot, I only took a couple of semesters of studies in Middle Age Studies. I don't remember if it was possible to get a degree in Middle Ages Studies at that time. I started out in graphic design and art. Later, I was a business major with dual degree concentrations in Marketing and Management. Under the U.S. system, at least when I was in college, we did not have to do a dissertation at the undergraduate level, but did in the MBA or masters program. In my program we did a lot of research and writing of reports. In one of my capstone classes we did do a semester long report that involved research comparable to a dissertation. I did do an analysis on one eastern European country. That was very interesting. With some majors, you will mostly hit the books and do standard coursework. You usually only do a dissertation at the graduate levels (MA or PhD) When I was in college, most in the business college were also required to do an internship prior to graduating. I must say that I really enjoyed college.

Wow! A blast from the past! I'd about given you up for dead! lol. Great to see you've only been digging around in graveyards and stuff. Curious as to why a Limey chose to study the misguided antics of those bloody Scots? Perhaps... you thought they said Scotch? lol.

Very happy for you, though. Quite an accomplishment. I often think about going back for a degree in History. I already KNOW everything about everything that has happened since I was born, so.... It's one of the few subjects that interest me. [Ha. Just kidding, of course.]

I often talk about the "American experiment" and how young our nation is. Must be fascinating to have so MUCH history to explore.

Great to see you again, and that you haven't forgotten us! Any chance that dissertation is available online somewhere? In ENGLISH perhaps? lol.

Yes I do wot, still with Man U! Sad Fergie isn't in charge, really shows just how important and great he was....Moyes has mostly the same team and stunk up Old Trafford! Don't believe he got a fair chance but the players had supposedly mutinied on him.....so now its LVG......can't believe Toon held us Saturday.

Interesting idea, I've looked at online schools over here......want too much money per class. It would take me 10 years but I would need to pay about £1200 every few months for 2 classes per semester. I'm really not a fan of taking a loan/grant to pay for it but I may have to.

A couple of my nieces have done well with distance learning. Most of their classes had a time limit on completion and they also had to participate online with others is something like a group project. They were pretty intense. I think the key is to not overload yourself. Even if you can only take one class at a time, it is worth the effort. I wish they had that sort of thing when I was still in college. Back then, you could take some of your basic courses, such as English, some of the math classes or a foreign language, but they were correspondent courses. You had a syllabus of what you had to do and sent your class assignments by mail to the university. It is much easier today with computers. I just took the classes and did it the old fashioned way. I have noticed a few drivers taking classes online. It can be a great way to earn your degree while still being able to make a living. Personally, I think any time you spend learning is time well spent.

Okay, I just learned something. I thought that The Church of England was the Anglican Church.

CWGC - Casualty Details My great grandfather, killed fighting for the Tyneside Scottish at La Boisselle, 1st day of 1st Battle of Somme. He was Scottish. A motivating force in my desire to study Scottish history. The family narrative is tiny wee thread of the diaspora story. I'm part Scottish.
And anyway, nationality is a fluidic concept, just as it was for Thomas Paine; John Paul Jones; John Witherspoon and more.

I've been considering putting my dissertation on https://www.academia.edu/...Dunno, maybe I will. I got an agreed 1st for it, so why not

Thanks for all kind comments too Hobo. I think you're genuinely one of a few that I'd actually like to share a beer with one day...God willing

Best wishes

Kev

Maybe one way to proceed then Mr Ford would be through https://www.coursera.org/
I took the University of Geneva's course in reformation history and the life of Jean Calvin. Some of the courses are really interesting, it's well worth taking a look

I second that

Another course that I really enjoyed was Art History. It was very interesting. So much history has been destroyed by invaders. The ancient libraries of Alexandria, Babylon and Rome were destroyed by invaders much like the barbarians in the Middle East are doing today. There is no telling the knowledge we have lost. I have often stated that an education does not make you smarter or more intelligent, but it does make one more learned.

I'm studying right now, how Rome was cut in half, by a pair of Caesars :)
…. and some Brutus, who says "he dint do nuffin" :roll3: …. oh and lawyer is Latin for liar.

…. upon further study, I guess if a Roman in a bar, holds up two fingers, he wants five beers. :)

you sounding a bit like your Donald trump hog ,mysterious

:cool: Kanye West is thinking of running, and so is Joe Biden. hhmmmmm… tough call which I like best. :D … maybe "Run's With Donor's" Warren.

press 1 for English Jeb
press 2 for Espanol Heb

An update. Graduated MSc by Research in November, and am now a PhD student (Scottish History again)
http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/...ll139/MScR.jpg

WOW! old buddy! you got a light saber and a cape it looks like.

We need you Wot to save us. Historians may be our only hope with so much fake news these days. :)

Congrats! I'm very envious

Fake news is nothing new mate, it's been going on for ages. 1641 Depositions

Thanks :-)

Going for your doctorate! Good luck

Congrats Wot!