The "more is better" mantra in education is pushed by the education establishment, yet what you get in those 4 (or more) years is increasingly suspect.
My oldest son - an academic whiz in many regards - had no interest in the college experience. He understood the value society places on the sheepskin, and agreed to attend community college, bank his basics and consider a 4-year program (after scoring 5/5 on the AP stats exam, and understanding the lucrative pay stats majors command, that held some interest, but not desire)
As luck would have it, the perfect job found him. He's a self-taught computer whiz - he installs, maintains, configures, troubleshoots computer and network systems. His boss, seeing that he can work independently and deal with clients, pays this 19 year old nearly 6 figures.
Now, a year after high school graduation, he's happy, successful, learning a trade, learning about the way business actually works, and did I mention, delighted with his daily work? Oh, and has a year's worth of living expenses banked already. And has started his IRA and ROTH IRA accounts.
It's not the lock-step go to college get a job path we would have chosen a year ago. But seeing the unemployed/underemployed of 2011, and his HS classmates pursuing weak degrees with no academic challenge (and some already partying out of their first school), we couldn't be happier for him.
Like Mike Rowe says, work should matter. Dirty jobs (or kinda dirty jobs, like running cables) are what the country runs on. We should honor work. Not everyone is cut out for college, no matter how smart they are. And not every job needs a 4-year degree.
The same pattern happened in the late 70s early 80s, where college grads entered a weak economy. The difference now is that today's grads have weaker degrees and are carrying a house of debt on their back.
The "more is better" mantra in education is pushed by the education establishment, yet what you get in those 4 (or more) years is increasingly suspect.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest son - an academic whiz in many regards - had no interest in the college experience. He understood the value society places on the sheepskin, and agreed to attend community college, bank his basics and consider a 4-year program (after scoring 5/5 on the AP stats exam, and understanding the lucrative pay stats majors command, that held some interest, but not desire)
As luck would have it, the perfect job found him. He's a self-taught computer whiz - he installs, maintains, configures, troubleshoots computer and network systems. His boss, seeing that he can work independently and deal with clients, pays this 19 year old nearly 6 figures.
Now, a year after high school graduation, he's happy, successful, learning a trade, learning about the way business actually works, and did I mention, delighted with his daily work? Oh, and has a year's worth of living expenses banked already. And has started his IRA and ROTH IRA accounts.
It's not the lock-step go to college get a job path we would have chosen a year ago. But seeing the unemployed/underemployed of 2011, and his HS classmates pursuing weak degrees with no academic challenge (and some already partying out of their first school), we couldn't be happier for him.
Like Mike Rowe says, work should matter. Dirty jobs (or kinda dirty jobs, like running cables) are what the country runs on. We should honor work. Not everyone is cut out for college, no matter how smart they are. And not every job needs a 4-year degree.
The same pattern happened in the late 70s early 80s, where college grads entered a weak economy. The difference now is that today's grads have weaker degrees and are carrying a house of debt on their back.