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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (238265)	11/20/2013 7:49:13 PM
From: koan	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 542009

I am not the elitist. I am saying most people are smart enough to go to college. If they do not want to go, that is their business. But I am sure it is better to encourage kids to go to college than to say they are not smart enough and should go into the trades. And even if I chide them for not going it is better than telling them they are not smart enough. It seems to me you are saying most kids are not smart enough to go to college, but that is OK. They can go in the trades. They are not "college material", but still just as valuable. Saying they are just as valuable does not cut it, it kills the kids, and saying it is just as good, does little for their egos or self esteem. What is worse it is usually not true. How would you feel if someone told you, you were not smart enough to go to college, but should go into the trades and that would be just as valuable. I have a hunch you would go berserk. Those kids need encouragement to try, not told they are not college material (I.e. stupid). If a kid wants to go into the trades, fine, but don't tell them they are not smart enough to go to college. Good lord. In Norway 35% of all citizens graduate from a university. Now one had to assume that those figures do not account for every single person capable of going to college. So we know over a 1/3 of the people can get through college, so how about we double that amount i.e. add another 35% that just didn't want to go for whatever reason. Well, here we are at 70% already. I said 85%. If someone doesn't want to go to college but would prefer a trade, that is fine. But don't tell them they can't make it. Few people are qualified to make that assertion anyway. Richard and I were both told we were not college material in high school. I still remember how that felt. We were both C/D students. Well, we both did just fine in college thank you very much. In fact we both excelled. College is not one bit harder than high school. When we tell kids they are not college material it crushes them, whether they want to go or not. We don't know enough to tell most kids that. I saw too many kids from my neighborhood who were poor students in high school get a new start anew in a community college and go on to be successful university students. buzzfeed.com