So throughout my senior year I have been asking many young adults what their plans for college were. I have made sure it was not just one small group either. I have asked rich, poor, smart, stupid, black, white, yellow, and brown people a simple question of what they had planned for after high school. Not to my surprise I had many kids say they were going to do more school and continue on to college.
The problem I found was that not many kids had any idea what they were going for. A lot of kids also said a job field in which there were no jobs such as communications, liberal arts, etc. I think there was a good portion of kids out of the ones I asked who were ready for college and more education. It was those kids who I knew were committed to further education and who were smart enough to graduate, with a solid grade point average, who would make it and be our bosses one day. Some odd fantasy has all of a sudden birthed among normal kids and people of lesser intelligence that they can now attend college and do well in life automatically because of a mediocre degree they barely earned. An even deeper rooted social issue is the idea that none of these kids think they should work a blue collar job. They act as if collecting trash, putting together cars, or welding would be shameful. The truth is none of these jobs would be something to be ashamed of. I know even though I am above the “average” intelligence level set by our society if I became a welder or garbage man my father would be proud of me, and it would be enough to live a modest life on. I believe many kids need to consider the fact that they aren't made for college and read into other possibilities.