[Just Kimberly]

I have to say, while I do not agree with Bill's liberal ideas on other subjects, I can tell you at least in Kentucky - he is right. High schools here differ from district to district.

My children attended a 'rich' school in the 'good' end of the county for one year, and then we moved back to our home town. My oldest son did fourth grade in the 'rich' end, fifth grade in the 'poor' end. His fifth grade year was his BEST ever, as he repeated everything he had learned the year before. In one county - the rich district was ONE FULL year ahead of the poor.

We moved on to high school, and the same kids from the poor districts are shuffled to one high school. The courses offered at his high school, at best, were teaching him to go out and get a factory job (which we all know are pretty well nonexistent at this point), and the best he could expect to make with just his regular diploma, would be a job making around $6.00 to $7.00 an hour.

Looking back, I realize alot of high school is what the child puts into it, but if you have teachers who are burned out and not teaching, and curriculum mandated by the state which is outdated, children cannot reach their full potential. We have an 'open system' in our county - I could have sent him to the 'rich' school, but due to his whining and my ex-husbands insistance, it did not happen.

Now, my son will be twenty in December, has no intentions of moving onto college, although I have given him all the stats, pointed him in the right direction, and given him options out the wazoo - but he is reading on a 10th grade level at best, and no drive.

Too bad I cannot sue the school district for failure to teach my child. I could line up child after child and prove - they did not learn nearly enough to survive in this world (I taught him how to balance a checkbook - they do not cover that in school), let alone have the self-esteem and drive to move on to higher education.

[shhrubbery!]

my son will be twenty in December, has no intentions of moving onto college, although I have given him all the stats, pointed him in the right direction, and given him options

Likely he will either
(a) discover an occupation he likes at lot, and perhaps someday become an entrepreneur in that business -- without a college degree;
(b) take a low-paying job like pizza delivery, get sick of it, and decide he wants to go to college after all;
or (c) stay stuck in the low-paying job rut.

Most young people with half a brain eventually do either (a) or (b), thank goodness.

One of FR's favorite and most-posted blogger/columnists, Mark Steyn, never attended college -- indeed he says he "barely made it out of high school."

[The Loan Arranger]

Here are some Kentucky-based jobs for your son in my field that do not require a college degree and (with training & hard work) pay better than what a physician makes:


http://careers.ameriquest.com/pljb/global_jsp/applicant/SearchAgentMgr/SearchProcess.jsp?pljbHome=/Ameriquest/external/applicant/index.jsp&searchaction=Search

http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=26916453&AVSDM=2005%2D02%2D01+18%3A52%3A14&Logo=1&pg=1&q=loan&lid=439&lid=441&lid=442&lid=28887&sort=dt&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1,1862,1863

http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=26686769&AVSDM=2005%2D02%2D02+09%3A55%3A58&Logo=1&q=loan&lid=439&lid=441&lid=442&lid=28887&sort=dt&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1,1862,1863

http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=22475983&AVSDM=2005%2D02%2D28+09%3A26%3A49&Logo=1&q=loan&lid=439&lid=441&lid=442&lid=28887&sort=dt&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1,1862,1863


http://www.jobsearch.org/seeker/jobsearch/quick?action=JobSearchViewJob&JobSearch_JobId=17209612&JobSearchType=JobSearch