Are parents justified in pressuring their teenage children to get a college education?

by Kate Flaxx

Created on: November 21, 2010

A child that is the age to attend college is old enough to accept responsibility and old enough for parents to trust to make the right decision about their own future.  As a parent, I personally think that giving solid encouragement about attending college is a good thing to do, but I don’t think that pressuring a child and making college their only choice is the right way to go.  I think the child would prefer a set of options rather than the idea of college being pressed into their minds. 

In Australia, most schools go to grade 10 although some school around the country also teach up to grade 12.  We have a very different structure compared to other places in the world.  At the end of 10th grade the child is 15 – 16 years old, there is then the option to move onto college.  College is usually completed after two years but there is the option to attend college for a longer period if needed.  After this, the kids (now adults) move onto University to gain a degree or diploma.

Going to college is an idea that was favoured at the time I left high school.  It seemed that everyone that left school the same time as I did was moving on to the nearest college.  This was mainly because we were told over and over that ‘you wont get anywhere without going to college.  We were then enrolled in the college closest to with our high school handling all the enrolments and the distribution of information.  I had one friend who didn’t go to college and I remember asking her why at the time. She replied ‘I’ve had enough of school.  I want money, I want to work’.  15 years later, she has a managerial position with no qualification from college or university. 

It is a rare occurrence to see an advertised job position for a person who has attended university and it’s even rarer to see an advertised job position that requires the applicant to have completed grade 12.  People who go through years and years of furthering their education may easily be seen as either being over qualified or not experienced.  On a personal note, I have studied for the last four years in the same area; according to all my job rejections; I lack experience.  Would I go back 15 years and change my own decision to go to college?  Absolutely, I would have never entered the building.  If I had the choice, I would have gone straight to a technical college to be trained

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