Why go to college? Why should you? Most would answer to get a good job. Most would say companies require it to get a good job. But what is a good job? Are you looking at what the salary pays? When you graduate from high school do you even know what a good job is? Do you know if you would like it? Is it what you want to spend your life doing? How do you know?
What is a good job? What is good for one person may not be good for the next. In my granddaughter’s case working in an office, any kind of office was not her idea of a good job. After trial and error, she found her niche by way of driving a school bus for just the needed income. She now drives a 35-foot tour bus for an International tour company. And she gets to be in the outdoors and see many wonderful landmarks around the country. She gets to meet people from around the world who come for the tours, And she makes a pretty good income doing it. It wasn’t found in a college course but she did learn early on in her college studies that office-type work wasn’t for her,
Relooking at High School
Today we have children and young adults in public school for 12 years. Is that enough? Suddenly at the age of 17, 18, or 19, a young person receives a high school diploma. Their years of structure suddenly stop. What they need to do everyday changes. Parents say go out and get a job. Or go to college. But what should they study? Perhaps that is why the first two years of college or junior college or community college is mostly a review of basics that should have been learned in high school. Also some introductory classes in various occupational topics. It is a time to explore if a student uses it as such.
Why not move those two years back into the public education system. Let years thirteen and fourteen be years of exploration and maturing. Expose these young adults to everything from trades to professions to business subjects. Show them what jobs are all about. See where their likes and skills take them before they head to a college for more education directly where it is needed.
These additional two years should not be mandatory but should be encouraged. They may sound more like what is now offered in community colleges but would be under the expense of the public education system at no additional cost. Getting kids ready for the complicated world they face.
Asking the Question
Every child is asked by grown-ups, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The answer to this question invariably changes as the child grows and matures and has more exposure to the world. But maybe it doesn’t. Maybe they carry this desire into college and maybe even beyond before they know it really isn’t what they want to do for the rest of their life. For some, maybe the answer is just “I don’t know”. How can we help them find out?
Yet that is the question we are asking these high school students after their 12th year. Decide now what you want to be for the rest of your life and then go to college and learn how to do it. In my case, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. My father thought otherwise. It wasn’t really an open profession at that time for a woman, and it was a lot of years of schooling to get there. One had to be admitted into those advanced classes.
When Do You Know?
J. A. Jance, one of my favorite authors, tells the story of wanting to take a writing class when she went to college. She was told she couldn’t take that class. It wasn’t a profession for women. She is just a bit younger than I am. The woman’s movement hadn’t started yet, even though Rosie had stepped up as a Rivoter during the Second World War.
Jance did go on to become a very successful author in spite of being shut out of that class. In my case, I persisted to lean toward medicine and enrolled in college in a Medical Technology curriculum. It didn’t take me long to find out that I really didn’t like Biology and Chemistry. I didn’t like dissecting pigs or counting the genetic traits of fruit flies. I could find no interest in combining elements in a Chemistry lab just to see if they turned blue.
In my case, I found my niche in computers, which had not even been invented when I graduated from high school. Well, I guess they had, but they weren’t really yet a part of mainstream life. It was with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine that computers were really born into government and industry. That was at the end of the Second World War – 1945. In 1953 when I had to make my decision as to what I would study in college, it wasn’t on the curriculum.
Trial and Error – Why College
We all know trial and error can be costly. And isn’t that where much of the expense of college is? Take a course and hate it. Find it totally boring. Or maybe find one that is totally exciting. Can’t we move that trial and error in some way into those two extra years to be offered at the end of the 12th year? Maybe set up Internships with local companies to allow students to experience the day-to-day life of that company. Let students see how companies, government, and trades work. Let them find that niche and understand the need for more education.
Exploration of the Arts
College also offers an opportunity to learn other things besides just the basics for a “good job”. In my case, because of an assigned elective course, I learned about the different types of Greek columns – ionic, doric, and corinthian. Not something earth-shattering but something I found interesting in knowing in later years.
For a required junior college class in Ethnics, I took a course in Chinese/American Culture. As part of the course, I got a guided trip to San Francisco Chinatown and an introduction to Dim Sum. It also gave me an understanding of the immigration and exploitation of Chinese workers to build the railroad. And I also learned of the importance of the color Red in Chinese celebrations. Maybe minor things but interesting nonetheless.
Also as an additional elective, I had an introduction to Parapsychology, which I found completely fascinating. I never master telepathy or telekinesis, but sometimes I wish I could move things without getting up out of my recliner.
None of these things led me to my life’s career, but they all have added to my life experience.
Why College for the Details
Once one finds that special niche, college can teach the important need to know things about that profession. We know that doctors and dentists go through additional years of training and internships before being certified. Learning how the Economy works is important to a business person. Learning the detailed tax laws important to accountants. Those different column types may be important to future architects. Who knows what it will spark a life-time of interest.
Conclusion
There is some sort of adage about having to know where you are going before you can hope to get there. No one has yet developed a GPS system for life’s experience. We still need to do it by trial and error. Maybe by extending those two years at the end of the 12-year public school curriculum, we can help students find their way to the right or exciting path. And hopefully, it can be done in conjunction with local government, businesses, and maybe even churches to minimize the cost. Let’s help kids with the answer to that question “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
#college #goodjobs #growingup #talent
