Qualifications

Dictionary day again.  As usual I closed my eyes and spun the dictionary this way and that, until I did not know if the book was upside down or what.  Turned out it was upside down.  My finger fell onto the word “qualification.”
As is my custom I think about that word and any relevance it has to my experience.  I guess my senior certificate is a qualification.  (I did go to uni briefly but the best part of it for me was the salmon sandwiches served at the canteen.  I loved em.  I do remember telling my neighbour across the road I was doing an Arts course.  He had run a pub for decades and declared Arts degrees worth about two bob.  Ok maybe but two bob was worth a lot more back then). 
Other of my qualifications include a “Diploma in Christian Ministries”.  Also my “Cert 4 in Project Management.”  I so wanted to give up when doing that one, but the guy in charge persuaded me to continue.  I did and I am glad I did.
My Senior certificate got me into working at the Queensland Institute of Technology. (QUT)  My first job was distributing the mail in the library.  From that my love of stamps was born.  I would collect all the world stamps for someone I knew wanted them.  He ended up selling me his collection for almost nothing as he had been collecting them for his son who unfortunately passed away in a hang gliding accident.  That was when I first appreciated how pretty British stamps were (I was used to seeing monarchs only) and my most cherished stamps are ones he obtained when he was a soldier in Germany in the second world war.
But any way what I really like about qualifications is how the University of the Third Age seems to do it.  A person is deemed qualified if they have an interest in a topic and which has often led to the being an expert in a subject.
In many cases it seems that to teach, one only needs to know more than those participating.  Naturally no one gets an official qualification from doing such a course, but it really focuses the one in charge and opens up a whole world to those participating.
I reckon both sorts of qualifications are useful but for everyday people what the uni of the third age seems to do is a great way of teaching and learning about things that interest.
I am big time in favour of that.  Everyone has personal interests and sharing with like minded people is a way for friendship and growth.