Yes

9 of 34

by JET Carney

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"Dat boy of mine better do good. He don't, gonna snatch him bald-headed! He do good though. He's in his last year of medical school here. He's making his momma right proud."

The speaker was one of the women who cleaned the dorms at UCLA. I happened upon her returning to my room when class had dismissed early. She had seen the uniform in the closet and asked if it was mine. "Ohh, you Marine man!"

Our conversation drifted to our topic children and college education. I discovered that she worked three jobs a tad over 18 hours a day so her son could go to medical school. "Only one more year," she sighed. "Gettin' too old for this. Then he's on his own."

I was a student but not a good student. Smart and bone lazy don't go well together. It wasn't until I was in college after being booted twice that I met a professor who finally tripped the "learning trigger." My other problem was I lean toward the Socratic method: give me a task and let me find the answers. I hated being Patrick Parrot. There was no challenge. While I didn't graduate magna cum laude, I did graduate with a membership in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a published book, and a ticket to graduate school. All things are possible.

The day before yesterday, a minimum of a high school education was mandatory. Yesterday it had become the baccalaureate. Today it's a master's degree. Even farming and construction have become high-tech.

Are children learning more from the additional academic work? Put another way, does today's high schooler possess more knowledge than their parents did at the same educational level? Children are spending longer to achieve the same knowledge level elongating the academic process. Some blame it on low-level education during the grades. College freshman and sophomore years have become remedial to catch up with a basic knowledge level. Junior and senior years remain to teach the candidate's chosen major. Some fields consider that scant time and have hiked a terminal degree to a master's for minimum employment. Advancement requires a doctorate. Where do we go tomorrow? What follows a doctorate? This thinking cheapens education, not improves it. Academicians and sociologists offer a myriad of reasons in support. I disagree for it doesn't serve industry and certainly doesn't serve the child's preparation for today's workplace.

Pressure, cajole, urge, threats are word plays upon a theme and because of that they will be passed by. Counseling, pointing out the unseen alternatives, is a better option.

College is not for everyone. Graduate school is not for everyone. Accounting is not for everyone but one course should be included in the touted "well-rounded" curriculum. It's a humbling experience.

Each of us has their own "best at." It would be a perfect world if all of us could do our "best at." Unfortunately, that is not the case except for the very few and very lucky. That fact brings us to discovering a reasonable alternative.

Allowed to Fail

That statement in itself is a misnomer. More correctly, it should be "allowed to discover." To discover what isn't your thing and what is. I call this the Prodigal Son approach. What sounds good on paper may not be in the reality of forty or eighty hours a week. How often have you heard of people stuck in a job they loathed? It takes a toll on the person, their family, and life in general. I learned what appealed to me and what did not. More importantly, I could list the reasons. I was also fortunate for I had parental financial support for which I am thankful.

Government and Society

Education is a business. It doesn't necessarily exist to educate your children. It has its own CEO, the president, and lesser functionaries down to teaching assistants and janitors. It is a corporation within itself. Aside from alumnae donations, if public, it draws upon your tax dollar starting the financial round robin. Top-flight professors are pricey and the competition is keen.

College or Not?

Government has a vested interest in financial aid and tax write-offs so will always give an "Aye" vote.

Society as a whole should take a hard, deep look at our question and think outside the box. Are our children receiving quality education at the price we are paying that will allow them to compete in today's marketplace? Any vote should be guarded and based on facts. Often it is not following the concept that the blooming child is deficient without a college diploma or a graduate degree today.

Age is also a factor. A normal four-year BA/BS degree gives the candidate an exit visa about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. Some disciplines like Engineering tack on an additional year. Graduate school will usually add another two or three years. Exit age: twenty-six. A doctorate is anything from six to eight more years. Earliest exit age: thirty-two. Don't forget post-doctoral work. No thanks. I'm bone-lazy. Pre-planning research before you embark as to what is considered a terminal degree will help in making your decision. You don't want to spend a small fortune to end up being executive washroom custodian.

Long ago when I was in high school, there was the college preparatory group, the vocational group, and the home economics group. Given the times, the home economics group were future wives, college prep was headed to college, and the vocational group was seen as "also-rans," a second-class citizen who couldn't cut it. We have improved but still have a long way to go.

Some would be grossly unhappy having to endure the college environment. It's not their thing and they weren't cut out for it. Yet, they are top-flight auto mechanics, plumbers, etc. Society, because they lack the diploma, shuns them aside until the agonized call for help. When was the last time you had a college president fix your leaking pipes at three o'clock in the morning?

We all have our niche. The sooner society comes to terms with that, the better we will all be because of it. "My son (or daughter), the Doctor!" while the celebratory parental pride (and a bit of show-off), is commendable, "My son, the butcher, baker or candlestick maker!" should have equal footing. Everybody has a task to do fulfilling society's needs.

Parental Duty

Counsel your children, give them the benefit of your life experience pointing out what they don't see, support them, and allow them to fail (discover). Because of that they will be more capable of making their own decision to spend your money going to college. The only parental admonition should be, "Be the best you can be, whether tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, or beach bum."

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