College, the new standard American Dream

In the middle of winter quarter, I had a discussion with one of the students at Gary Comer Youth Center about the benefits of a college education. It prompted a long discussion and essentially I told him that I personally do not believe college is for everybody, but if you decide that a college education isn't for you, then you better be at least 5 times as smart, interesting, and determined as any college graduate to even stand a chance. In other words, if you intend on being successful, you can bypass college with the prerequisite that you are exceptional.

That said, I honestly believe that education is the answer to most of the problems a child from a troubled background faces. Education is the easiest tool to initially show a child that he/she can succeed, and that affirmation in itself is just as, if not more so, empowering than the act of acquiring knowledge.

Every success a child has in the classroom (eg. doing well on a test or answering questions correctly in class), every time a child is explicitly told that "they are right", eventually translates to self-confidence which translates to self-worth, a powerful notion that may not be readily passed on to children esp. those of troubled families and backgrounds. This self-worth helps insulate a child from social pressures and has the potential to keep a child off the streets, with school and books as a refuge. I strongly believe that success and confidence are intrinsically linked. All you need is conviction to go places.

So my obvious goal as a tutor, is to ensure that every child receives a quality education through sufficient fostering and provided resources to secure self-worth so that they can have a bright and healthy future.

But here's the twist:

I got to thinking: what would happen if every child really did get that amazing education, pursued a college degree, and landed a secure career? Would there be enough white-collar jobs to go around? What would happen to blue collar-jobs, etc. that perform an integral function of society? Even if this were achievable, would an entirely college-educated population be beneficial? Or does the natural pecking order of the world exist for a reason?

And apparently my midnight ramblings that are mildly apocalyptic, are actually a reality. Six months later, WSJ posted this article, in which  Lauren Weber poses the question "Do too many young people go to college?" and four education experts debate it.

I wonder how many years of schooling these experts went through and their current salaries...

Over the past few decades, the social standards have been steadily raising the bar. A college education is the no longer the means to an end, but the end, the new standard American Dream. And K-12 education responded accordingly. With AP classes, IB programs, and college prep schools, schools teach kids to the test for one goal alone: so they can get to college.

I believe that schools should not necessarily ask their students "How smart are you?" but rather "How are you smart?" Thus, fostering an individuaI's strengths and talents, and helping them make an informed decision about pursuing college. I accept that a college education isn't for everyone and I genuinely think one can be successful without it. But again, you have to be pretty freaking exceptional (take Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and even that fucker, Mark Zuckerberg)--not just comparable, but better than your college-educated peers. Otherwise, a college degree is a surefooted way to at least match the competition, which as the article discusses, is more and more of the competition. That said, it makes it hard not to pursue a secondary education precisely because everyone else is, making those who don't look pretty bad in comparison.

So educational costs are doomed to increase by the law of demand. And I'm sure it'll continue to go up as long as stats support that people who go to college make more money. It's impossible to tackle the problem on cost alone, because cost is a function of demand; the lower the cost, the more people would attend; parallelly, the high cost forces a student to analyze whether college is actually right for them. In which case, it makes sense to continue to increase tuition, even if it's not preferable. I would love to know the number of universities/colleges in the US over time to see if volume is in conjunction with increased demand, and if it is, if the ideal "market price" matches up with the actual going rate of a college education. It would also be interesting to see if all schools are drastically increasing tuitions, or if it's only a select few.  And lastly, the first ten years of a college grad's returns v. their student debt.

All in all, I still think it's better move to go to college but it's really up to an individual and whether they think the cost- and the risks that accompany it- is not only a viable investment but if it aligns with their career goals, or, not. For most people, intellectual fulfillment is secondary, either by principal or necessity, to making a living and being financially independent.

I want every child to be successful and definitely graduate from highschool if nothing else. But from there on, how that success is defined, should be entirely up to an individual. It is crucial for a child to have an open mind as it is for a teacher to remain objective and avoid pushing their own opinions on a child in order to foster individual thinking, which I still think is the real root of the problem. Schools shouldn't teach to a test, but help develop a child's individual talents. Maybe then college wouldn't be inundated with people who don't do well enough to stay, and innovation and entrepreneurship would be revived in America's youth. But what do I know? I'm not an expert, I don't have a PhD; this is just what I think, so take heed.