by Nick Perez

Created on: March 12, 2008

"College Is Not Meant For Everyone"

Some may not agree so, but the truth is that we live with the legacy of President Lyndon B. Johnson's 'Great Society' initiatives and mentalities to this very day. Beyond the Vietnam War, Johnson was a compassionate man who say a great disparity between the promise of American opportunities and freedoms, and the attainment of the dream. Poverty was the main source of most social problems, and Johnson, with good intentions, chose equality in education as a possible fatal blow to the grip poverty held, not just over minorities, but with everyone who struggled to earn enough money to survive. Perhaps no President has done more to make college open to everyone as much as Johnson did, but in tackling this dilemma, Johnson created an enduring, and ultimately harmful American myth; essentially, that everyone should go to college.

This belief is fostered by the stigma attached to those who do not have a bachelor's degree in our modern society: Students ill prepared to enter a four institution refuse to go to community colleges, from which they could benefit greatly, because 2 year schools are some how seen as inferior to their four year counterparts; statistics continue to show that those who do not get Bachelors and Master degrees often earn less, and therefore have less opportunities in life; politicians talk about how we needed a highly skilled work force to combat outsourcing of tech jobs; parents demand their children go to college because they themselves never did. But all these perspectives ignore some pretty obvious truths.

First, a college degree is not necessary for all employment ventures. The loss of blue-collar jobs in America may continuously be political fodder, but in truth the restaurant industry isn't going anywhere, any time soon. Neither are jobs at grocery stores or department/chain outlets, jobs as bus, taxi, or truck drivers, or custodial workers. Its true that these jobs are often not high paying, may not offer pensions or health benefits. But the fact is that we need people to do these jobs, and most of them do not require a four year degree. How many people have gone to Harvard, Stanford or Columbia, spent over $100,000.00 and four years of hard work so as to acquire employment as a bar tender or a courier? How unhappy would we be without people to fill these service oriented jobs, jobs that are important-and that's the key, recognizing that these jobs are important and not something to look down upon or be

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