Although I spent most of my summer post high school graduation in my then boyfriend’s off campus apartment, even then I knew that I had no desire to go to go to college at the time. Holidays like Memorial Day and 4th of July were sandwiched in between summer session as he desperately tried to fulfill the requirements for a theater arts degree that he didn’t want, took him almost 5 years to get and to this day he still doesn’t use. Witnessing him drag himself to his undergrad classes was much like witnessing a toddler get dragged to a day of Hydrangea and garden shear shopping at Home Depot with mom. And although I now realize at 18 I didn’t know a damn thing about real life back then, I did know a whole lot about myself. And I knew I didn’t want to go to college because it wasn’t the best move for me at the time and that truly turned out to be a great decision.
And that’s the problem with Chicago Mayor’s Rahm Emanuel’s education plan for the city’s high school students: Among other obvious flaws, it doesn’t take into account that youth may know more about what they want for their lives than any parent, teacher, or city official might. This past Wednesday Emanuel announced a plan for a new graduation requirement for the city’s high school students that requires them to have proof of a post-grad life plan in order to receive a diploma. That proof was initially limited to a college acceptance letter from either a community college or four-year-college, a trade program or the armed services. A press release was later sent out that stated that job offers or acceptance into a gap year program would count as well.
Emanuel says the plan will hopefully raise expectations that students will adapt to:
“Just like you do with your children, college, post-high school, that is what’s expected. If you change expectations, it’s not hard for kids to adapt.”
The thing is whether they are leading by example or not, I don’t believe most parents or caregivers are sending their teens the message that the hard work is over once their grad cap gets thrown in the air. Even in my mother’s household, I went through the motions of applying to undergrad. I wrote the essays and volunteered at school events in a last minute rush to make myself appear well-rounded and act like I cared about other things besides myself and being up under my boyfriend. I even got a few college acceptance letters. Still in September I found myself helping my friends pack up the cars as they headed to Random Liberal Arts University in West Bumblefugg, PA before I finished out my fourth summer making blizzards at the Dairy Queen. Because at the end of the day no matter how many college acceptance letters a student might get, that doesn’t mean they can or will enroll.
My parents also weren’t necessarily dead set on me running off to college if all I was going to do was party and bulls**t and fail out. “You don’t have to go to school, but you do need to do something while you’re figuring it all out,” my mother reminded me. She set expectations, but also took into account how much harder things seemed to be becoming for my generation and had already had one child who had started college only to take out loans and waste time only to discover it wasn’t for her. For my older sister this also meant that there were some partially wasted tuition on my mom’s dime, student loan debt and still no damn degree. And my ex with the theater degree never made it to Broadway, in fact he spends much of his time ranting on Facebook about how his degree was a waste and he should’ve started selling weed a long time ago. On the flip side, I have friends who went to college straight after high school, had high GPA’s and still don’t know how to balance a checkbook or how the electoral college works in a democracy. The glaring point that Emanuel is clearly over-looking is that simply sending kids to college doesn’t guarantee success.
In an article posted on Slate Jordan Weissman suggested that Emanuel replace micro-managing student’s lives with addressing the real issues that are hindering them when it comes to pursuing higher education:
“Give kids access to guidance counselors. Send them on tours of local colleges. Ask them to create five-year plans in ninth grade, if you must. Offer scholarships.”
Furthermore not only is college not for everyone, but college right after high school isn’t for everyone. I’ve always been a proponent of the gap year, after taking three years off myself. Those three years were spent getting smart about life and growing up including falling in love, breaking up and making up, screwing up my credit, working and developing a work ethic, learning how much it costs to live well and how to pay bills. In those years I learned who I was, what I was made of and what I actually wanted out of life and didn’t have to do it while keeping a GPA up and making sure I was keeping enough college credits to keep my financial aid. In fact, Weissman also points us how “conveniently” this plan works for for-profit colleges:
“As some people are already noting on Twitter, a plan like this seems like an obvious marketing bonanza for predatory, for-profit colleges. It also seems like a good way to funnel under-prepared students to community colleges they may simply drop out of.”
At the end of the day it’s not fair to force all high school students to sign up for a life plan that many are beginning to question even works. My fellow millennials are chock full of innovation and creativity, many finding success by taking the off beaten path and not subscribing to Emanuel’s dated ideas of what it means to be successful. Emanuel probably has the best of intentions, and it’s great to encourage today’s youth to set the bar higher for themselves but I fear we’re killing their creativity in the process and limiting what may be the only opportunity they have to learn about life outside the classroom, which counts just as much as any core class.
Toya Sharee is a Health Resource Specialist who has a passion for helping young women build their self-esteem and make well-informed choices about their sexual health. She also advocates for women’s reproductive rights and blogs about everything from beauty to love and relationships. Follow her on Twitter @TheTrueTSharee or visit her blog, Bullets and Blessings.
The post Rahm Emanuel And Why Forcing Kids To Go To College Will Always Be A Fail appeared first on MadameNoire.