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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (223846)	10/12/2007 5:53:08 PM
From: mph	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793559

Here's my take on education these days, FWIW. I have a nephew in his sophomore year in a good UC college. My husband's grandson just started his freshman year at a UC college. I told both of them not to be lulled by the notion of completing their degree in 5 to 7 years like the professional students. Get the B.A. or B.S. in four years or less. Start figuring out the advanced degree right now. Everyone has a college degree. The key is to get the right post-graduate degree in order to be competitive. School is a means to an end. It's not the end. I graduated from college in 1977. I was the first in my family to attain a college degree, so there was little help there in terms of advice for the future. But I knew, even then, that a post-grad degree was the thing for me. Today, I can't help but think it's doubly important, unless a person lucks out and finds him or herself in the right training program. At the same time, if a person is not academically oriented, I don't disagree that they are better off going to a vocational school where they can learn employment skills. There is also no doubt that employable skills can often earn more than advanced degrees. It depends on the person, the professions and the choices made. I just discourage the wasting of time in holding patterns. I remember one college friend who was in his 6th year when I met him. At the time he was somewhat unusual, but not so much these days. I couldn't get over the fact that he was wasting his time partying with 19 year olds and living in a ramshackle apartment when he could have been out in the workforce building a real life. College can be a fortress for hiding out from the real world. No wonder so many profs are uber liberals. The cloistered life of academia protects them from the realities of their beliefs:-)