|
Is College the Right Choice?
By Linda B. Haas
Listen up, parents. You may not like
what you are about to hear. College may not be the best option for
your son or daughter.
Having taught for more years than many
of the readers of this magazine are old, I have knowledge of
literally thousands of students over the course of these years.
Many have attended college only to drop out, postpone higher
education, or forego it altogether. College is definitely NOT for
everyone.
While it is true, AS A RULE, that a
college education will yield a higher paycheck than a high school
diploma, much has to do with the WILL and internal motivation of
the college attendee. I have seen students who attended for all
the wrong reasons (“My parents want me to go to college.” “All my
friends are going to college.” “Everyone expects me to go to
college.”) Upon occasion, I have found students floundering, not
wanting to be at college, yet having no other goals either. Some
who do succeed are miserable, ending up in a job they hate. There
is a lot to be said for enjoying the career you will have for the
next 30-40 years! Ah, how lucky is the person who loves what
he/she does and can make money at it, too!
Let me suggest that the reader with a
college-bound son or daughter do some soul searching with this
student, exploring the following questions:
1. Does your son or daughter have a
true passion for something for which he/she is extremely talented?
(Beyond the arts, think wood-working, mechanics, fixing things.)
2. Does your son or daughter truly
have goals that HE/SHE wants to accomplish, vs. goals that may be
imposed by a well-meaning person, but still a third party?
3. Can your son/daughter handle the
stresses of school? Does he/she want it badly enough to push
himself/herself to succeed?
4. Has your son/daughter earned good
grades in high school or merely slid by?
5. Have you and your son/daughter
explored the myriad of options available to the high school
graduate besides college?
6. Who is paying for this student to
attend college?
How badly a teen WANTS something is
important. For a student to enroll in
school without the proper INTERNAL motivation is throwing good
money after bad. No matter how badly a parent may want his/her
child to succeed academically, the parent cannot do it FOR the
student. No teacher or parent is pleased when a student does not
succeed. The student must want it….enough to make sacrifices to
get it.
Some of our most successful students
at the college level have been away from school long enough to
know that they NEED what we have to offer. When they finally
return to school, they work long and hard to succeed. With the
proper preparation, realistic goals and outcomes can be designed
and met.
Please……think it through. Be realistic. Make decisions based on
the motivations and needs of each individual student.
Linda Haas, retired English teacher of 30+ years from Akron, Kent
State University, and Hillsborough Community College, is currently
the FOTG staff writer, as she still is struggling to understand
the real meaning of “retirement.”
back to top |
