Stop Telling Students They Don't Need College

STOP TELLING STUDENTS THEY DON’T NEED COLLEGE because all they hear is THEY DON’T NEED EDUCATION. There is a direct correlation to students believing that they can only LEARN when it is in school. School, to most, means an institutionalized, militant structure that is more like a job where they are required to go, required to learn what is taught there, and must adapt to the way information is received. We MUST be careful with the WORDS THAT WE USE.

What we want to be saying is “LEARNING STARTS WHEN YOU ARE BORN AND IS A PART OF YOUR LIFE FOREVER. BE THOUGHTFUL AND AWARE IN CHOOSING YOUR EXTENDED EDUCATION”. Which comes in a number of different forms – College, Technical Schools, Personal Development, Work Experience, Internships, Trade Schools, Accelerated Programs and much more. However, lately, there has been a big push to eliminate college as a choice with the driving influencer being the high cost of student debit. Sometimes proponents encourage students to seek out Trade Schools or other avenues of potential career path that minimize the need for spending another 4 to 5 years in school. An idea that is accepted easily by those who hate the current school system learning structure and a direction pushed by industries needing hands on labor and specific skills that are gained through other means than traditional college.

I am a College Professor at a Community College. The structure of the traditional college definitely needs to change and I wish that I could tell you that a degree doesn’t matter. However, a large percentage of my students are middle aged men and women seeking a certification or degree because their employer requires it in order for them to advance in their career. So if you are going to be out there telling students they don’t need college before giving them the full picture – YOU ARE DOING AN INJUSTICE. My students will tell you that they got into construction because they could make good money fast and it required very little experience. Now their body no longer can work the long, hard hours and the years of separation from school makes it harder for them to return to the rigor of traditional school study – writing essays, using computers and software that updates every three months. So until EMPLOYERS change their evaluation of a worker’s experience as comparative to a degree, a degree will continue to represent credibility that may or may not represent the quality of that person’s abilities.

WHY do I still think College is an important step for students? A part from Employers needing to change the way that they evaluate future workforce, this generation is not from the same fabric of steel, nails and resilience of the men and women of early years. College is an opportunity for students to continue working in a structured environment (which they are used to), keeping their brain pliable while still under the protective cover of their parents while learning to live on their own entering the adult world of career and play. College also offers these students time to explore themselves with less restrictions on what and how they are allowed to think, who they are allowed to be around and often where they will find a life partner in a single rich environment. Most colleges work off of what is called “Completers” so their focus is pushing a student through a chosen path, so that student may complete the program with a degree or certification. The problem is that when a college is pushing this agenda without the student’s best interest in mind and when a student gets far enough down the “black hole” realizing this is not what they want to be doing or where they want to be going, they have already vested a significant debit into a career path that they don’t want to be in. High college debit is due to students changing their direction multiple times within their college experience and/or taking classes that don’t “count” or receive “credit” because of misguidance through the process.

I am not suggesting that students aimlessly go through college without having a plan and/or take classes that may not relate to their degree path ….. actually, I do suggest the latter – as this “play” and investigation with courses that interest you may be the window to your destination, but you should always have a plan. That plan needs to be defined and detailed, understanding it has the flexibility to change down the road, but it should always be viewed, not as Student Debit – but as the Student INVESTING in themselves. Even a “wasted class” is a class that we can learn from to get us one step closer to where we need to be in our life journey. Most of us have changed careers – one, two maybe even four or five times in our life …… the importance is setting a great foundation to transition and pivot from.

So, before telling a student they DON’T NEED COLLEGE, preface it with, “If you are living, you are learning”. There are many choices to be made when deciding on a career and so it is important to start with learning about something that you love and are interested in. Your continued education is an investment in yourself. Having a plan in place reduces the risk of financial burden and builds a blueprint to streamline your success. Find someone who has your dream job and interview them, find a mentor, shadow a boss. Learn how to understand your learning style, your life and career goals and desires and start building a Master Plan, THEN DECIDE IF COLLEGE IS RIGHT FOR YOU.

AND if your STILL having trouble deciding – then reach out to me and we will get you on the right track! constructionmanagementonline.com.