May can usher in a busy time with High School, College and University graduations, College applications, searches for summer employment and so forth.  By the end of May, parents are exhausted, and teenagers aren’t sure what just happened as they bid farewell to many a friend they spent the past years with.  Yet, the game of continued textbook knowledge for some has not ended.  It is as though the past 13-14 years of time in the classroom (Preschool-12) has not been sufficient and a force to continue marching to the beat of the educational drum goes on.  Four more years, seven more years?   How long will it take?

The number of continued years is dependent upon whether Student has come to a solid conclusion as to what job they desire to take up for the 35 years of employment that are ahead.  What percentage of 18-year-olds have a solid idea of what job or career they would like when much of what they’ve experienced thus far consists of the four walls of a classroom?  Unless Student has a connection to a family-owned business that will become their life-long career or job, to secure employment many employers require experience in the field.  This experience is not found within a classroom.  Pump all the information available through textbooks you want, but that does not provide the basic tools for being a productive and trustworthy employee.  Not every lesson in life comes from a textbook.  Extended time in the classroom can, and in some respects has, created an entirely new set of problems – no “experience” in the work field the classroom studies were to prepare you for and you find that employers rarely hire someone without …. “EXPERIENCE”.  Not to mention having to settle for a job that pays a fraction of that salary college counselors assured you would be in abundant supply.  

Then there’s the dose of pressure applied to students by College or University counselors and scouts to select a school and a line of extended education preference all before they reach the Senior year of High School.   Going to University is what students must do.  Right?  That’s called social pressure.  Does this push for further education qualify as bullying?  The idea of not being qualified or smart enough, or good enough if you don’t attend a College or University roams through school hallways like a toxic fog.  

Without experience, it is challenging to find a job that will hire Student at the hourly rate or salary the College or University promised you would receive.  Oops!  The cost of a College or University education can be compared to the purchase of a new car these days.  Student loans are handed out like lollipops at the local carnival, but no one informs about the rollercoaster ride at the end of classroom time when jobs can be hard to come by and the loan payments become due.  Now what?  Student may have no choice but to settle for a job that has little or nothing to do with the costly classroom studies just completed.  Not only is the job that is available not what was studied and paid for, it may or may not pay a salary that now must cover living expenses and a school loan payment.  Welcome to adulthood!  Unless Student has a full scholarship or a family with deep pockets, these loan repayment situations leave young men and women bound to owing a bank prior to their ability to make a sufficient salary.  Student is now 25-27 years old, bound to a student loan and has no job in the line of work desired and often struggling to make ends meet.  Let’s not forget the number of years that are ticking away that have not had any form of contribution to a retirement savings.  Unless you are in line to receive an abundant inheritance, this could result in problems down the road of life.  Repeatedly I have learned of the exact situations just described.   

It is obvious something has gone haywire with the government-structured education, job, salary system here.  Have we forgotten about the Student who has a natural talent in wood-working, arts or crafts, gardening and so forth?  Why do they need extended hours of some class that has nothing to do with their career selection?  Would a trade school be a better option for those not desiring a professional career of doctor, lawyer, engineer and such?   With this, trade school education and skill training would need to be elevated on the qualifications ladder so those without University training, that can suffocate natural talents, have an equal opportunity for employment and salary.  In some respects, the extended education seems to be an attempt to mold a person into something the employment industry thinks is superb for their particular company.  Do those in control of the company ever consider that unique and profit building ideas may come through someone who has a natural skill or talent and not excessive classroom hours?  

Yes, education has its place.  We need professionals who have the knowledge to do their job safely and properly.  The question is, has the social importance and government pressure for advanced education gone too far?  Americans are so full of classroom education there is little room left for wisdom to shine through when challenging life situations arise.  Daily challenges should not require hiring a life-coach.  Life should not be built on social and financial pressures that many times result in sickened people.  If this happens enough times the country ends up with more Seniors on Social Security than there are young working adults to pad the Social Security coffers!  BIG PROBLEM. 

Home school, trade school or taking up the skills of the family business may prove to be a benefit when such are allowed to be considered as qualifying for a salaried position.  Whatever fits to repair the current system and set young men and women on a successful life path is what is needed.  

Congrats to those graduating out of the Educational System!