Monday, December 12, 2011

Should you send your kid to college?

Dear Roger Schank,

My son is now finishing up his senior year in high school at an all boys Catholic school in Chicago. His level of interest in school is normal, which means low, although he takes some interest in his teachers especially those who teach outside the lines of traditional lecture notes format. He does very little reading on his own other than facebook or texting on his phone. With college right around the corner it seems unlikely he would be willing or able to go after a self-made degree, and even if he does there are so many general studies courses upfront that he likely would end up another discontented college dropout before getting to the self constructed part of his college experience. The local pipefitters union is at 100% employment, rare these days for any trade. I'm suggesting he bypass college and try this alternative in spite of my experience that most training in the trades resembles a primitive mix of high school lecturing and hands on hectoring that passes for training. He has extensively studied the Navy Seal training methods via Youtube and several books, Lone Survivor, Heart and Fist among others. He talks about enlisting every now and then, less now that his mom demands he go to college first, or perhaps he likes the idea of the party experiences his friends talk about. When I look over the course curriculum of the colleges and universities he might attend, it strikes me how similar they all are and how ridiculous it is to collect 120 credits like monopoly money.

I accept your assessment of college but am have trouble finding anything different or better out there on the training playing field. College, while nowhere near perfect, seems like the only game in town, the alternatives are so far not popping up and showing themselves. Do you have any suggestions what to do other than the 120 credit card game we know as college? Thanks a lot.

Mr. Miller

Dear Mr. Miller:

I can’t tell you how often I am asked about the issue of sending one’s kids to college. It really is an awful dilemma. The society in which we live has pounded the idea that one should go to college into every child’s head. Those who don’t go make excuses – no money, they’re not smart, they don’t like school. Those who do go often don’t know why they are going. They go because it was expected of them and they have been working hard towards getting admitted to the college of their choice.

Whether to go to college or not is an interesting question. What is less interesting, obvious, in fact, to anyone who has really thought about it, is that kids shouldn’t be going to college straight out of high school. My kids drank their way through their Freshman year. It was pretty expensive drinking party, given private college tuitions. They were not alone. That first year is all about growing up and being away from home and finding out who you are. Studying Chaucer at the same time is simply irrelevant to that period in one’s life.

But, in a deeper sense, the real issue is not the waste of that year, but the idea that perhaps all of college is a waste of one’s time. Now I know that this idea is heresy in today’s world. We are all sure that college will get you a good job even though there is plenty of evidence that is simply not true.

From a professor’s point of view, I can say this. Every time I had an older student in my classes, one who was in their mid-twenties say, it was clear they were there to learn, not to play. They took college seriously and they knew what they wanted to learn and why they wanted to learn. There are plenty of countries in which it is normal to take a few years off before going to college but it isn’t normal in the U.S.

Your question about what your son should do instead is the right one. The Army used to be a good answer, especially when our soldiers weren’t getting killed. The Merchant Marine used to be a good answer, but I am not sure it is today. Similarly the Peace Corps once upon a time. Bumming around Europe or the U.S. worked when odd jobs were easy to find, but in the current economy I am not so sure.

So this is my answer. It is nice to have a passion in life. Mark Twain wrote about getting a job by offering to work for free at something he wanted to learn how to do. It is still a good strategy. Your son should ask what inspires him, what work he thinks he would love and he should endeavor to somehow get employed at the lowest level in that field. He can always go to college later after he knows more about what college can potentially do for him. He should start finding out who is as soon as he can without running up big bills in the discovery process.

Roger