Can or Should Every American go to College?
In his address to a joint session of Congress this week, Obama called for every American to pursue some form of education beyond high school. Not only is this goal unrealistic, but it may even be counter-productive.
Let me say right off that I think it would be great if it were realistic and attainable for every American to go to college. If for no other reason, college graduates are more likely to become conservative and Republican that non-college graduates.
Putting that aside, however, some people are clearly not cut out for post-secondary education. Some people are more suited for jobs that don't really require an education beyond high school. That's not necessarily a knock on those people or their skills or abilities. We have a good family friend who started his own plumbing business right out of high school. He had worked for a plumber during his High School years and was ready to go out on his own at the age of 18. He developed a successful business and sold it when he was around 50 years old (for a substantial amount), then worked for the corporation that bought out his business as a manager on commercial construction projects.
Then there are those who aren't cut out for further education because they simply can't handle the work. If Obama wants these people to go to college, one of two things must happen. Either they are going to be set up to fail and waste a lot of time and money on an education they can't achieve. Or, colleges and/or technical and trade schools will have to be "dumbed down" in order to accommodate those who aren't capable of doing the work as it is today. That sort of accommodation helps no one and would do great harm to our nation and its education system.
Having said that, there is no question that there should be more people going to colleges, universities and technical schools than are currently going. Too many parents (often poor, uneducated, minority and single parents) do not place enough of a priority on education to make their children motivated to further their education. Others are unable to go on to higher education because they attend schools that do not adequately prepare them for furthering their education.
There is no question that America would be more productive and thus produce more wealth if more young Americans would avail themselves to the opportunities that this nation has to offer in the way of Education.
However, Obama simply saying that more kids should go to school, and even offering to pay for it, isn't likely to be a solution to the problem.
3 comments:
Good post, but two problems: 1. College graduates in fact tend to become more liberal in their thinking. 2. We already have a social order in which college has been made ludicrously necessary; since the '60s, droves and droves of youth who had no inclination for academic study and did not stand in need of such, have been more or less forced to go. This has produced a ridiculous situation in which you have people with Masters degrees who cannot write or opine clearly. Obama is simply running with the present situation: If all must go, funds must be available. We have yet to admit - due to the colleges hunger for customers - that most need not and should not attend college.
college graduates are more likely to become conservative and Republican that non-college graduates
I wonder if this is true? If so, is it possible that obama believes the opposite? It's well documented that the overwhelming majority of college proffesors are full-on Marxists.
What strikes me as odd is the fact that Uuhbama proclaims that everyone should go to college, yet all he's been talking about for the last several months are "shovel ready jobs". I have yet to hear him discuss finding ways to replace all the thousands of positions that were lost by highly educated professionals (many of whom I know very well). Of course not, because those jobs are with those big, bad evil corporations. Never mind the fact that the corporations pay taxe, as do their employees.
But hey, Uuhbhbama thinks this country will thrive if we all tell our kids to aspire to be construction workers - no offense to those that are, but I have never heard a parent say they dreamed of their kids doing that for a career. Nor have I ever heard of a country that aspired to greatness through "shovel ready jobs", rather than through more highly paid jobs that require higher education.
So, Barry, why tell the kiddies to go to college if all you have to offer them is a freaking shovel?! What a flipping idiot!!
(NJ-Woman)
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