Going or not going to college is a personal decision. No one should be ashamed to choose a different path. One of our local community colleges shows a 50.5 percent dropout rate and only 21.3 percent graduate. Obviously, they tried to see if that is what they really wanted. There may be several reasons as to why they changed their minds but it was their choice. After all, most people do indeed choose not to go to college and choose other professions or occupations. Recently there have been several stories arguing that people should consider not going to college considering the almost absurd costs of attending college. The staggering debt they incurred while trying to get a college education is not worth the effort, they argue.
However, those who are determined to get a college education, should not be deterred by economic factors alone. There are sources of money to those who are truly motivated and have enjoyed and excelled during their K-12 education. Some years ago, a quadriplegic man, using his computer, aided by a stick in his mouth, found literally hundreds of sources of scholarship money.
So, why should we encourage our youth to go to college in spite of the costs involved.
We must never discourage anyone from getting as much education as they want. I am for a free education as it is in the K-12 system. However, there must be some other requirements, such as a reasonable level of maturity, a near perfect attendance with absences based on extenuating circumstances. GPAs, on an annual basis be considered.
University students often talk about the monetary value of specific degrees. There’s nothing wrong with such discussions, but it misses the point. Education is not about money. If it were, many subjects available today would be dropped. Recently the president of West Virginia university explained why some humanities courses were being dropped. He had a reasonable explanation. During the last few years, the enrollment in those courses kept declining and the university couldn’t afford to keep them. Absent help from the state or federal government, he had no other choice.
Most universities create space for small classes, called seminars, for incoming students with sterling qualifications. Many, if not most, of such seminars include an overview of the humanities. The humanities include a range of subjects, philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, literature, and more. A brief discussion of such subjects introduces the student to the richness of education, and the value of such subjects, none of which include their value in the market place.
A well-rounded education should expose students to a range of subjects that will enrich their education, promote their creativity and help them make choices they may have never considered.
Philosophy, for example, may sound too esoteric or of little value in “the real world,” a phrase often used, but seldom explained. Paradoxically, this is one of the subjects of many philosophers throughout history. Many of whom lived a few hundred years before the Christian era.
A brief example of one subject philosophy addresses, will show that all of us make use of it in our daily life. Let’s take logic for example. A subject that helps us distinguish between what a politician says and the impossibility of knowing what he means. “I know more than my generals,” a former president declared. But he never explained what it was that he knew that generals didn’t know. Or, when he said, referring to top secret documents, that he could declassify them by merely thinking about them.
Most of us know that sometimes what a person says and what it means, are not the same things. One way to clarify such statements is to ask for an explanation, or as logic teaches us, is to ask the speaker to define or clarify what he just said. That option is not often available when politicians are talking and we have to rely on third parties to tell us what it means, that is, from their political perspective.
The listener has to try and determine if the politician is addressing our rational mind or if he is trying to manipulate us by arousing our emotions, often with bad intentions, but not always. However, when characters such as Governor Wallace of Alabama shouted to his white audience “segregation now, segregation forever,” his listeners roared with approval, forgetting perhaps, the methods that had been used over the past hundred years, methods that included murder, hanging, terrorizing people and other inhumane methods to maintain the system.
However, there are other ways to influence the emotions of an audience do not include the call for terrorist acts. When a politician says, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” it’s clearly an appeal to our emotions, not a cynical way to manipulate us. When a politician announces the founding of the Peace Corps, he’s addressing our minds and hearts for a noble cause.
Another branch of philosophy that is being taught in our high schools is called the Theory of Knowledge. This subject, with careful planning, can actually be introduced in he sixth grade. The primary goal of our teachers is to share their knowledge. School districts in particular, and political groups, such as elected officials have the last word on what knowledge is appropriate to in each grade level. In our world today, a minute miscalculation can erupt in major disagreements. At what age, for example, should children be introduced to some of the sexual aspects of their life. The subjects of good, bad or evil enters the picture. These are questions that relate to the study of ethics, a major branch of philosophy.
The high level of anger (passion) often does not allow for reason to enter into the picture.
This is true in politics as well as in our daily lives.
Ternot MacRenato is a former History and Government professor and a United States Marine Corp veteran.
