I can't tell you how much it burns me up when I hear people saying this. Or when I see articles to this extent. It gets under my skin. Why?
It's not because it's not true. Yeah. College isn't for everyone. And I agree that we should invest more in highly skilled tech jobs, etc. And people should follow their hearts, etc.
What gets me is that it seems to me, by and large, that the people who are saying this are themselves college educated white-collar professionals whose own children will most certainly be attending a fine university.
What gets me is that it smacks of elitism.
The people they are referring to who aren't meant to be attending college will end up being the kids who have never had any advantages. They will be the kids from low income families. They will be the kids who never had someone help them with their homework. They'll be the kids who went to inner city public schools and didn't get to do extracurricular activities. They'll be the kids who are on the school lunch program and on food stamps. They'll be the kids who are the ones who need a college education to lift themselves into the middle class.
Sure, there will be good paying jobs for them after their vocational school training. Certainly there will be. But these jobs don't pay quite as well as a nice white-collar job do they? As much as a columnist or pundit claims that his plumber makes more than him, we all know that's bullshit. The plumber doesn't get the perks you get. And when he gets arthritis and can't work any more, well there goes his income... Too bad he doesn't have a college degree to fall back on.
People who say "College isn't for everyone". They're talking about other people's kids. They just want to make sure they have a working class under them doing all the shit they don't want their kids to do.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Catching Up
I wish I could get myself to write here regularly. Particularly because so many interesting things have happened in the year the I have not written...
As I have still not found work, the entire family is on medicaid. What sucks about that, though, is that UNLIKE insurance, your adult son cannot be on your policy. So when my oldest came back from college and promptly became very ill I had to scurry around to find a way to get him some medical help. It was difficult but not impossible, and it involved taking my sick son to the bank to open a checking account for him so that we could get their free notary to notarize a letter that said he had no income. And then spend the rest of the afternoon in the waiting area of the doctor's office only to be told that it was probably a virus.
In any case, we are all on our own medicaid plans now. And healthy, for the time being.
I briefly adhered to a very strict workout and home improvement schedule before my son took ill. And after that basically everything went downhill. My big dreams of self-improvement, home improvement, and becoming a soap maker and furniture refinisher vanished alongside last years dreams of painting a mural on the garage door. By October I was experiencing such frequent anxiety that I insisted my doctor put me on Prozac.
Also during that summer my son received an unexpected letter from the university telling him he had been suspended for a year for disciplinary reasons. We tried in vain to fight the expulsion. When we finally couldn't fight any more, Tony called the housing department to tell them he would not be attending. And then what do you know? We receive a bill for $500 because we did not cancel the housing contract in time. So there was another pointless fight. [And in my opinion, the school purposely waited until mid summer to notify my son just so they could squeeze another $500 out of us! I am encouraging him not to ever return.]
Once the school year started we had a full house again. The only thing missing was a dog -- it had been a year since we lost our beloved old Sadie. So on Black Friday when the whole world was out shopping, we used our Christmas shopping fund to rescue a beautiful pit bull boxer from the local pet shelter. While puppies are a lot of work - especially strong willed energetic dogs like Kyla -- the joy they bring more than makes up for the stress. JOY! It's a wonderful thing...
My middle child is my most ambitious. He has always been self-motivated - finding soccer teams to join and scholarships to apply for. While I push and prod my other two children to do something - ANYTHING! Adan pushes himself.
This was his Senior year -- his last year playing varsity soccer (obviously). He didn't want to play goalie anymore so he was trying out other positions (he started all last year only to be benched on the final game which for him was heartbreaking). The result was he hardly played all season. The coach instead played freshman and sophomores. It was maddening. And, I suppose, character building.
During this same time, however, Adan had sought out for a Questbridge College Match Scholarship. I had spent the entire soccer season listening to the other, more financially endowed mothers talk about what schools their children had visited and where they would apply without ever being asked about Adan's schools (we had visited exactly none, but for the one trip to Northwestern for a Questbridge conference). Now... we don't broadcast our financial woes, but I'm fairly certain that my wardrobe and lack of manicure tells them everything they need to know. Though getting a scholarship was a longshot, it truly was Adan's only chance to attend a really good school. So when he was notified in early December that he was awarded a full ride to the University of Pennsylvania it was truly like winning the lottery.
As I have still not found work, the entire family is on medicaid. What sucks about that, though, is that UNLIKE insurance, your adult son cannot be on your policy. So when my oldest came back from college and promptly became very ill I had to scurry around to find a way to get him some medical help. It was difficult but not impossible, and it involved taking my sick son to the bank to open a checking account for him so that we could get their free notary to notarize a letter that said he had no income. And then spend the rest of the afternoon in the waiting area of the doctor's office only to be told that it was probably a virus.
In any case, we are all on our own medicaid plans now. And healthy, for the time being.
I briefly adhered to a very strict workout and home improvement schedule before my son took ill. And after that basically everything went downhill. My big dreams of self-improvement, home improvement, and becoming a soap maker and furniture refinisher vanished alongside last years dreams of painting a mural on the garage door. By October I was experiencing such frequent anxiety that I insisted my doctor put me on Prozac.
Also during that summer my son received an unexpected letter from the university telling him he had been suspended for a year for disciplinary reasons. We tried in vain to fight the expulsion. When we finally couldn't fight any more, Tony called the housing department to tell them he would not be attending. And then what do you know? We receive a bill for $500 because we did not cancel the housing contract in time. So there was another pointless fight. [And in my opinion, the school purposely waited until mid summer to notify my son just so they could squeeze another $500 out of us! I am encouraging him not to ever return.]
Once the school year started we had a full house again. The only thing missing was a dog -- it had been a year since we lost our beloved old Sadie. So on Black Friday when the whole world was out shopping, we used our Christmas shopping fund to rescue a beautiful pit bull boxer from the local pet shelter. While puppies are a lot of work - especially strong willed energetic dogs like Kyla -- the joy they bring more than makes up for the stress. JOY! It's a wonderful thing...
My middle child is my most ambitious. He has always been self-motivated - finding soccer teams to join and scholarships to apply for. While I push and prod my other two children to do something - ANYTHING! Adan pushes himself.
This was his Senior year -- his last year playing varsity soccer (obviously). He didn't want to play goalie anymore so he was trying out other positions (he started all last year only to be benched on the final game which for him was heartbreaking). The result was he hardly played all season. The coach instead played freshman and sophomores. It was maddening. And, I suppose, character building.
During this same time, however, Adan had sought out for a Questbridge College Match Scholarship. I had spent the entire soccer season listening to the other, more financially endowed mothers talk about what schools their children had visited and where they would apply without ever being asked about Adan's schools (we had visited exactly none, but for the one trip to Northwestern for a Questbridge conference). Now... we don't broadcast our financial woes, but I'm fairly certain that my wardrobe and lack of manicure tells them everything they need to know. Though getting a scholarship was a longshot, it truly was Adan's only chance to attend a really good school. So when he was notified in early December that he was awarded a full ride to the University of Pennsylvania it was truly like winning the lottery.
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