If everyone is the brightest bulb, then who's to say we aren't all dull?

Today I have another special edition rant blog where I force you to indulge in my opinions. Today's topic is much more opinion based than my last rant on the swine flu which I was able to back up with some facts but it is a topic that I feel quite strong about.

Yesterday at work I was working the front desk and I overheard a conversation between two women in the waiting room. They were discussing their children and quickly got onto sharing names of good tutors. They continued to discuss their children's bad test scores and how they can improve them. At one point one woman said something along the lines of "When I went to school, you knew you had to pull those A's or you weren't going anywhere." I found this hard to believe because it is only recently that we have implemented such high standards for every student. I'm guessing she simply had parents who told her that she wouldn't go anywhere without all A's.

Here is my problem: Most parents and pretty much everyone have begun to tell their children this false statement that they will not go anywhere in life without a perfect GPA, perfect test scores and a college education.

I am a firm believer that not everyone has to go to college. In fact, I believe that college has become nearly useless because of this notion that everyone must attend college. This has forced college to dumb down to accommodate everyone. College was supposed to be for the elite who wanted to continue their education.
I always did well in school and I always planned on going to college. However, now that I'm there, I have realized that it is essentially high school all over again. I am forced to take classes that I don't care about just to get credits and I'm really not learning all that much. Now, I'm not talking about general education courses. I understand the purpose behind those and they have been some of my most interesting courses. However, now that my gen-eds are done, I still have to take random classes because I need so many credits to graduate. This I do not understand. When I have to write a ten page paper in German, I don't want to have to worry about these other classes that I don't really need.
Another big problem I have found is that I am once again in classes full of people who don't want to be in school. College is supposed to be for those who want to be in school so they can learn more. This doesn't just hurt those who want to be there but it ends up hurting those who don't. These people are wasting their money. They could have just gone into whatever trade they wanted to be in after high school and started making money but instead they are paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to go to more school. Many of these people do not excel in college and end up dropping out which makes them look worse now that they are labeled as "college drop-outs". Now that everyone has to go to undergrad, graduate schools are becoming a necessity for those who truly want to distinguish themselves, something they could have done years ago as an undergrad. Now these students are being forced to spend even more money to continue their education because they are essentially wasting their time for four years going to what may as well be high school again. Graduate school was supposed to be for those who needed it for a profession such as medicine or law.

Today there is this huge emphasize that only people with a college degree can get goods jobs. Sure people with college degrees do generally make more money but it will soon become obsolete since everyone is being pushed through college. Soon you will need a graduate degree to get any sort of good job. And frankly, I don't really buy this statement. From what I've seen, acquiring a job is mostly luck and knowing the right people. Most people don't even have jobs that have anything to do with their undergraduate degree. College isn't for everyone and there shouldn't be a problem with that, it's not supposed to be for everyone. Everyone wants a smart and successful child, but it just doesn't happen. Not everyone can be super smart and successful at everything.

Along these same lines, test scores aren't everything either. I took the SATs once and did alright and I was able to get into college during the early admission period because I had good grades and plenty of extra-curricular activities. I did excellent on my MCAS because I was lucky. I'm typically ok at math but I got an above-average score for my math MCAS. This doesn't mean that I'm above-average at math, it means I did well on a test. Another interesting quote I heard from one of these women in the waiting room earlier today was "It's just a test, you can learn how to do well on it." I'm not sure that's true. Some people just can't take tests. They can still be smart and they usually know the information, they just don't test well. And some kids just aren't good academically, that's the way it goes.

I keep emphasizing that some kids just don't do academics. I have a huge problem with parents who claim their child has a disorder when really they are just misbehaved or they just aren't good in school. I know people who really have ADD and autism and they have a serious condition that truly hinders their performance and there are some drugs that help these people. However, when you look at the recent numbers for these conditions, they are out of control. The majority of those kids are not sick. Those kids need discipline or they just are not talented in academia. Not every kid is a good student, get over it. When you treat these kids for medical conditions that they don't have, you're essentially just getting your kid high.

When I was in high school, I tutored a 5th grader. (I know this may sound strange to those of you who know of my child phobia, but I was doing it for community service for national honors society and he was a Yankees fan so he was fine by me) Before I started, his mother told me that he struggled with ADD and he couldn't concentrate on homework and it was always a chore. I never once had a problem with him. I would come over and we would sit down at his kitchen table and we'd go through everything he had to do and we'd do it. I had to help him a lot, but he never lost concentration or acted out. I'm guessing the problems they were having were that he was not doing things as quickly as they wanted him to and they got impatient or he would get something wrong a few times and they would get frustrated which would make him upset. I felt bad for this kid because his mother was going around telling people he had all these problems that he didn't have. I also feel bad for people who actually have these conditions because the seriousness of these conditions is being over-looked and dumbed down.

I'm not saying "Don't go to college" but I'm also not saying that you absolutely have to. Graduating seniors that don't feel they are ready to go to college shouldn't be forced to. If they want to go to community college for two years to figure out what they want to do, then there is nothing wrong with that. They end up saving tons of money but often get ridiculed by friends and family for their choice. If a kid knows what they want to do and a degree really isn't necessary, then let them do it. If they want to go to a specialized trade school because they know what skill they want to learn, then they are probably better off then most college graduates. You can always go to school later in life when you know exactly what you want to go to school for. Then you can go to these accelerated degree schools that let you skip all the crap you don't care about it. Now-a-days, you will probably still end up taking one of these other courses after you receive your traditional undergraduate degree anyway. If you truly do want to go to a regular four year college, then do that. But do not let others push you into it, it won't be worth it.


As school starts up again, be expecting more posts on how I feel about college. I have a lot to say about how the money you pay is spent.

Annnnyway . . .

Here is a recipe that will make you happy if you have ever been to P.F. Chang's.


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