Ready? Set? No?
Most of us know people who “always knew” that they wanted to be teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, pilots, firefighters, nurses, veterinarians, actors. They kept their eyes focused on that goal from a young age, and they went over, around, or through obstacles to make it happen. If people like this can find the resources to get the advanced education they need right after high school, then college is where they belong.
Most of us, however, are less clear about what career we want to pursue. If we go straight to college, we may change majors three or four times or just major in what we’ve always done best in order to get it over with. It may take us five, six, or seven years to finish, as debt accumulates. We may just give up and drop out. We may try again and again and drop out again and again, each time feeling more like a failure.
We might have been better off just earning money for a few years while we got used to adulthood and the real world of work. (Notice I’m not advocating that young adults hang around freeloading.)
Some people simply can’t afford to do anything but go straight to work after high school. And some people are just not interested in spending anymore time in school.
Whatever a person’s reason for not going straight to college after high school, no one should be made to feel guilty about it. No one should be made to feel like a failure. The place for higher education in some people’s lives is when they are 24 or 27. Or 45. Or 60.
When I was teaching college, my favorite classes were the ones with students who had not come straight from high school. These were the students with interesting ideas and experiences to share. They knew why they were in college, and they were motivated. Usually, they were hungry to learn.
Yes, it is harder to go to college when you have adult responsibilities. But you will probably get a lot more out of it.
In some people’s lives, the right place for higher education—not just training, but exposure to abstract ideas and advanced cognitive skills—is immediately after high school. In my experience, though, most 18 year olds aren’t ready to benefit from that kind of education.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
So, what do you suggest? How do you help students figure out what they want to do? And then, help them get back into the groove of school should they take some time off? I always thought that college should take a more practical approach. Classes should focus on the back story, of course, but what I found lacking in education was the practical application of my classes to real world jobs. Perhaps if there was a connection between the two(i.e., class course for each department, required time spent with an advisor), there would be less students bumbling around trying to figure out what to do with themselves.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I found that the same problem exists in France, to an even greater degree. From their second year in high school, students are required to choose a “track”, which will determine what kinds of classes they will take, what kinds of colleges they will be able to go to, and ultimately, what kinds of jobs they will be able to have. The system is very inflexible, and this leads to a lot of frustration.