The College Fix

I got into a bit of a disagreement with my high school son’s guidance counselor recently. Earlier this summer, she asked me if I’d much rather enroll my son in American Sign Language over Basic Computer Programming.

“Two years of a Language Other Than English (LOTE) is required for 4-year college admission – not graduation,” she explained to me in an email. “… As a counselor, I always encourage students to ‘keep the door open’ for 4-year college after high school. If he wants to do this then we need to add a LOTE to his schedule. I might suggest American Sign Language. It is a new class that we are now offering and the students really enjoy it (more kinesthetic rather than writing and speaking).”

I never responded. My mistake. When my son received his new class schedule recently, it had ASL on it. His groan could be heard for miles.

My son is smart, talented, athletic. But he’s not the type to enjoy and thrive in a four-year college environment, not yet.

He has expressed a strong desire to enter the military upon graduation – then maybe use the GI bill for college down the road – but more than likely will follow in his father’s footsteps. My husband never finished college, instead he pursued a tech career, climbed the ranks quickly, and watched his paycheck grow exponentially. In the tech arena, equivalent work experience tends to be just as good as a four-year degree to many employers. In fact, real world experience is often seen as a plus to those looking to hire someone in the rapidly evolving tech field.

Back to my son, still quite perturbed. So I emailed his counselor and gave her a polite “excuse me, but.” Her reply was short and to the point: “Was trying to keep 4-year college door open, but understand your wishes.”

On the first day of my son’s computer programming class, his teacher told the room full of students that “today’s world runs on computers,” and the skills they would learn in her class would parlay into well-paying jobs. As if to prove her point, our superintendent recently hired a software programmer to help update the districtwide online grade and attendance program parents use to access their child’s information, an interface plagued with problems.

I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to fight against this notion that all students must go to a four-year college to be successful at life, this nationwide obsession with squeezing square pegs into round holes. Part of this mindset stems from a leftist we-know-what’s-best-for-you ideology, coupled with the fact that they want to indoctrinate young, impressionable minds while on campus.

There’s STEM opportunities on college campuses, but they need to be expanded to middle and high schools, along with vocational electives. While we’re at it, bring back auto shop and home economics. Meanwhile, community colleges should better prioritize vocational studies and tech career training.

This world doesn’t need more people majoring in queer studies, art history and feminist theory. It needs people who are not afraid to work hard and learn new skills, people passionate about innovation, entrepreneurs willing to take risks.

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