The College Bubble; Are we the Ones Responsible?

caruiz93
Tue, 01 Jan 2013 15:32:52 +0000

It seems that the goal of every high school has become to send every kid to college. theres the cliche that “education is the key to a better life”, and it is, but i feel like we have such a narrow definition of education that has been shaped by snobbery. I graduated high school in the class of 2011, and i feel like we looked down upon anyone who wasn’t going off to college (i was guilty of this as well), and when someone drops out, we think less of them (in general). Teachers push every kid to go to college and get an education for a “better life”, but i think that this is the reason for the problems facing higher education. We talk about underemployment as if it is because of a bad economy, and in many cases it is, but i think that the primary reason for this is because now we have a ton of college educated adults who were pushed to go to college but really just wanted to be a waiter, or a plumber, or a barista. We NEED plumbers! We WANT people who know how to make us a great cup of coffee in the morning! We WANT/NEED a waiter or waitress to bring us our food. but now many of these people have massive school debt. That plumber who spent thousands of dollars on a college degree could have spent the time he spent in college learning about plumbing, becoming a better plumber and educating himself in a non-traditional way. That Barista could have avoided having that debt if only in high school his teachers had said you can be a great barista if that is what you want! devote your time and energy to learning about coffee and pursue what you want, instead of saying you have to go to college to be a doctor or lawyer,being a barista isn’t a “good job”. some jobs may not pay as well. some jobs may not be as crucial to society, BUT THATS OK! We will have plumbers, waiters, janitors, and Baristas anyway, so why pressure them to amass debt in the meantime. I could harp on this forever but it would make my argument too dense. What do you guys think about this issue?