I discuss college with my students at least twice every month and a topic that naturally follows the mentioning of college is "career". Some students will say "I want to go to college so that I can be a (fill in the blank)" while others dismiss the idea of post-secondary education because their ideal career path does not require formal schooling. While I certainly understand why students immediately make the connection between college and careers, I always bring up the idea of education for the purpose of education.
I encourage students to consider a post-secondary education simply to become more knowledgeable of the word around them. I share stories with them about classes that I took out of sheer curiosity and the facts about those subjects that I still remember. I Talk about the friends that I made from all around the world. I talk about the world-renowned professors and guest speakers that I had the privilege to learn from. We watch college tours on YouTube so that they're able to see the beautiful campuses that make up the UC and CSU system. During all of this, I try to stay away from the topic of careers. When I was 14 years old, I verbally committed to not attending college. At that time in my life, I was convinced that school wasn't for me. I was destined to work in a warehouse or as a truck driver. I had heard somewhere that only 50% of high school graduates go on to college and I didn't feel as if I fit into the half that was cut out for a university. Rather than face rejection, I decided that I wouldn't try to get accepted. I wrote college off as useless; a waste of money. I feel like some of my students have also come to that conclusion. In class, we talked a lot about school's responsibility to prepare students for "the real world". Sometimes we say that we are getting students "college and career ready". I believe that we are missing out on an opportunity to share all of the other reasons why students should consider college. I believe that taking away the pressure of immediately tying a career path to college would make more students feel as if it's a viable choice for them. It's easier for them to see themselves as a college student than a doctor or lawyer.
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