There is Another Way

Argument Paper Blog

Our entire lives we have been told that college is the only path to take. We have been taught to work hard in school, get good grades, and get the education so that we can reach the goal of getting the job we have always wanted. For most teenagers, thats being a doctor, a lawyer, a business man, and so on. But what about those people who don't want a professional degree? What about those people who want to work in the car manufacturing business or run a restuarant of their own? Why do people feel that they deserve less respect than those who have the title of professional jobs? I feel that high schools should not push students so hard onto the college path for many reasons.

First of all, schools are setting too high of expectations. They tell students that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up. But what they don't tell the students is that most of them will everestimate their chances by a great deal. The actual proportion of doctors and lawyers in the labor force is a lot smaller than all the students that wish to become one. And what about the minority children from the inner city who look forward to professional careers at the same rate as affluent suburban children? Is it fair to tell all of them that they have an equal chance when maybe they can't even afford to pay their way through college? (Finding Flow)

In addition, many students have no desire to have an education further than college. And yet high schools look down upon those students that don't want to pursue their education further. They are disrespected when it comes to terms of deciding between a professional versus a blue-collar job. But can't someone be perfectly content just having a blue-collar job? I'm pretty sure that they can. For example, my best friend's brother is one of the most intelligent people that I have ever met. He can whip math problems out of his head in a split second and knows every thing there is to know about cars. He runs his own car repair shop and couldn't be more happy. When I asked him why he didn't go to college, he told me it was because he knew every single thing that there was to know about cars. And he told me that fixing cars would be the only job that would make him happy in life so there was no need to go to school to try and change that. Putting on a suit and tie and going to work would mean nothing to him, even if it means a position of respect to many people in our society today.

Finally, many students have plenty of intelligence without a professional degree. I don't understand why it is neccesary for ACT tests and IQ tests to tell us what we should know about our intelligence. In Mike Rose's Book, A Mind at Work, he discusses many different concepts on how all these workers that are in jobs that we would consider blue-collar jobs have intelligence in ways that none of us would have thought possible. He said just watching a waiter move with agility and grace is its own kind of intelligence. Some people's mind aren't made to operate to professional standards. Not everyone can be a CEO of a business or perform an open heart surgery on a terminally ill patient. But not everyone can fix cars or serve hungry patrons food. Intelligence can be fooling. It comes in many different ways.

So just because our schools are telling us that the only path is college, it doesn't mean that intelligence is going to be found there. Just take a look around you and look at all the people you know. Everyone is smart in their own ways. And many people know that without having a college degree to prove it.