Rattling Around

Perhaps a third of those who do so now. Where did we get the idea that everyone who graduates from high school must go on to college? Universities are too crowded, and too expensive, and have too many requirements, and keep you out of the job market too long, and don't really prepare you for the job you will be doing. On the other hand, they do expose you to new cultures, allow you to meet new friends, have lots and lots of fun stuff to do (resulting in your taking five or six years to graduate!), and perhaps, if you're lucky, get you thinking (something you probably never bothered with in high school).

It is very disheartening to teach a college class that is filled with students who don't want to be there, are bored, sleepy, hungry and horny, never ask questions, rarely pay much attention to homework, resent tests, can't imagine why the course will ever be of value to them, and haven't even picked up the skills in high school that they need to excel in the class. Many people think that the undergraduate degree proves their value to future employers (not really... companies would much rather see practical, real-world experience on that resume; and grades are so inflated that recruiters tend to ignore them now). Students are also under the illusion that the degree guarantees a job, even with a major in a non-applied field. I've known lots of smart students with a shiny new bachelor's degree that could not find a job (at any salary) in their major, and they wind up making do, unhappily, in an industry with little relation to their college program.

So I have two plans, one for college and one alternative (I'll talk about the latter when I discuss high school in a later entry). Here's the college plan: The student, upon entering college, signs a contract for payment of four years of tuition and fees, and receives an ID card and a diploma. If the diploma is all you want from college, you can leave with it right away, and save yourself four years of heartache! But if you really want to take advantage of college, the ID card gives you access to classes, labs, advisors, sporting events, libraries, the student union, and all that college stuff. No requirements, no pre-requisites... you can take whatever courses and labs you want, in any order. You already know Calc-1? Go right into Calc-2. Not interested in Texas History? Forget it. Now, I would recommend you take full advantage of those advisors I mentioned! They'll tell you that you'll get more out of the Organic Chemistry course if you take the lab also. But they'll also tell you how to have more fun than traditional curricula allow. For example, Abstract Algebra is a wonderfully entertaining course (if taught well)... you Philosophy and Law majors were probably never told that! This plan of mine also has a wonderful advantage; namely, nobody will be in a classroom unless they want to be there. This is good for everyone; teachers, interested students, and the absent uninterested ones. And people can proceed at the pace best for them, whether that is two courses a semester or eight. If your four years runs out without your finishing the studies you want, you can pay some more to get your ID card extended for another year at a time. Another advantage (that some professors will hate)... if a course is taught poorly, students won't take it; and if nobody takes your course, you won't get paid to teach it. So, an automatic quality control for courses is built in.