To The Ninth Degree!
13 Aug 2005
Would you wait 64 years to start your academic career? That’s why Daniel Oxmen did!
When World War II began, the military draft ended Oxmen’s scholarly aspirations. He did get some schooling under his belt before military service, but he didn’t have a chance to finish. When he got out of the military, he started his career as a dentist.
It always bothered him that he never got to pursue his dream of academic accomplishment. So, in his 50s, he went back to college. He balanced work and school by shutting down his dentist’s office a couple of hours a day. He took night classes as well.
He completed his courses and earned a bachelor’s degree in history. The education bug had bit him. He kept going to college and kept earning degrees. He has degrees in Philosophy, English, History (two of them!), Renaissance Reformation, Art, and Comparative English. At 72, he began working towards a doctorate. At 85, he earned a master’s in English. Nine degrees in all!
Special educational programs for senior citizens helped him out financially. Now that he’s retired, he can study all he wants. Each course intrigues him more than the last. He yearns to learn more and he keeps taking classes.
[Photo courtesy of Renata Jun, http://www.sxc.hu]
