Rural Routes/Margaret Ford McMillen

Rethinking College

In late August, the Biden crew came out with perhaps the most life-changing plan of their administration. For an estimated 43 million people, educational loan payments would be reduced and for 20 million, their debts would be forgiven completely. Critics immediately jumped on the plan and pointed out its many flaws, including the fact that while this is all well and good for the present indebted voters, future kids wouldn’t be able to benefit and would end up with the same, debt-ridden college graduations as in the past. Good point.

Some lawmakers grabbed the microphone to announce that the problem isn’t the debt, but the college costs, and there’s a good point there, too. In the year 2000, according to a study by Melanie Hanson posted on educationdata.org, a public college cost $3,349 and a private one cost $14,616. In 2019-2020, the costs are $9,349 and $32,769. Some of that is due to inflation, and a good bit is due to increased costs of technology absorbed by the institutions, but there are other factors, like increased laboratory constructions, fancier dormitories, services for international students and American students needing more help in classes. And, we still haven’t added in skyrocketing textbook costs.

So, reducing college costs means rebuilding entire programs, textbook industries, athletic programs, and even the makeup of college towns. That would take a national program with the intent and budget to change American culture.

Having spent most of my adult years as a college teacher, raising my children on the bread purchased with my college paycheck, and having spent many years married to a university professor, I have been proud that our work has added to the critical thinking abilities of our students, and to the national conversations around thorny problems. Sometimes, I wish all my neighbors had taken my classes, but at the same time I must admit that I’ve felt a pang of guilt every time one of my young friends mentions that they’re eaten up by college debt.

It is personal to me that a person can be out of college for, say, 20 years, and still not paid off their youthful borrowings. This is especially true, because I’ve had a first-hand look at how little some kids benefit from college. We have swallowed whole the story that all adults must have a college education to be successful. Two words: Bill Gates. Two more: Oprah Winfrey. The list goes on.

As those successes demonstrate, passion for a job has more to do with professional success than whether or not you’ve taken four years of classes.

For most young persons, no doubt, the college experience is valuable and puts them on-track for future earnings. For others, the years are a lark, full of pizza and beer. There’s an excellent argument for a gap year between high school and college when a person can take a time off, work some low-wage jobs, travel a bit, think deeply about their futures, then come back to education. Or not. I know plenty who will be forever stuck in jobs that are pathetically underpaid, with debts loaded so that the majority of payments go to interest rather than principal. Many service providers —teachers, for example — should be excused from their expenses after they’ve shown a commitment to the profession — like, say, after five years in a classroom.

But the question of how to plan for the future is much more complicated than churning out university-trained doctors, lawyers, CPAs, CEOs and so forth. It is high time we re-think higher education and include trade schools and apprenticeships in the most-respected category of life-after-high-school.

The nation has just come through a pandemic where the idea of essential work was debated by lawmakers at every level. State governors published long declarations of who was essential and could move freely in society, while others would stay home and participate via zoom. The list of “essential workers” included energy workers, child care workers, those in water and wastewater facilities, agricultural workers, workers in the trades of construction, electricians, plumbers and so forth, transportation workers and social services. You can find lists by googling your state name and “essential workers” as every state made their own.

Many on the list do not require college, and if we value these jobs, we need to encourage our young people to move into those careers. There are acute shortages in some jobs on the list. Many of the college-educated jobs can be done by computers with professionally-constructed lists of questions. That raises the question of who do you value more — your CPA or your plumber?

So, the next time you’re in the same room with a budding high school graduate, avoid the question, “where are you going to college?” Instead, replace it with, “what do you like to do?” The answers may open the way for a good conversation about a future that includes something non-academic.

And debt-free.

Margot Ford McMillen, who formerly taught English at a college in Fulton, Mo., farms and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2022

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