Why Johnny Isn't Going To College

The Eagle Forum ^ | Jan. 11, 2006 | Phyllis Schlafly

[RosieCotton]

Unless of course, you enjoy your employees/family atty/etc mispelling every other word in a company memo.

Reading, writing and arithmetic were taught in elementary school once upon a time. Nowadays, on the other hand...well, I used to work for a college, and *faculty* could barely spell, punctuate, or use correct grammar.

By the way, you misspelled "misspelling"... ;-)

[Redbob]

Stuff like this makes me think Phyllis' heart is in the right place, but her head's where the sun doesn't shine.

[R.W.Ratikal]

The problem is that too many Johnnie's are going to college. Even the Ivy League universities search high and low for students, especially minorities, to fill their quotas.

The result is that people who should not be going to such colleges do go and inevitably fail.

The same students attending a smaller school might be able to handle it and graduate with ease.

Many others are a waste of money. They would benefit far more by attending some kind of industrial or mechanical school where a solid skill could be learned that would allow them to make a good living.

As it is too many of the "graduates" leave college with little more knowledge than when they entered.

[rbg81]

You can trot out Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but lets face it--they are the 10 sigma exceptions to the rule. Both would probably be millionaires even if they stayed around to get Ph.D.'s (well, Gates anyway).

Getting back to my earlier point, ON-AVERAGE college grads make much more than HS grads. Agree that initiative and follow-through are very important. Of course, you usually need those to graduate anyway. And yeah, there are some professors who care more about indoctrination than thinking, but going to class affords you to opportunity to look at issues from all sides. Most professors won't flunk you just because you disagree with them.

In my opinion, however, college has gotten dumbed down because there are many students going who don't really belong there. Some are immature, some are just not intelligent enough. In some way, Professors are just highly paid baby sitters.

[goodnesswins]

YOUR last paragraph says it all.

[Young Scholar]

An honest, hardworking, responsive electrician or plumber who runs his own business has a much better chance of becoming a millionaire by 40 than an MBA, attorney or doctor who probably starts his career in his mid to late twenties with a hundred thousand in student loans.

That's probably true to some extent, though anyone who goes to one of the top business, law, or medical programs will be doing quite well. It's the people who go to the sub-par programs--who pay almost as much money, but just don't have what it takes to succeed at the highest levels in those fields, who are really losing money by going to school.

[Paleo Conservative]

Most sports in which collegiate athletics are used as a "minor league" system are self-financing. In fact, it's not uncommon for many Division I schools to have their football and basketball programs provide all of the revenue they need for their entire athletic budgets.

How many women's sports generate positive revenue?

[nickcarraway]

I agree college isn't about sports, but going back to Aristotle and before physical activity was viewed as an integral part of overall development and should be something that contributes to intellectual development, not subtracts.

[packrat35]

No it is because basketball has fewer people on the team. Most baseball teams have at least 15, football 40 or more.

[CWOJackson]

How many sports of either gender have ever cured a disease?

[Alberta's Child]

How many women's sports generate positive revenue?

Few, if any. Football and men's basketball are the only real revenue-generating sports in college athletics.

[Sergio]

Good point, hadn't thought of that. I guess sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[webstersII]

"ON-AVERAGE college grads make much more than HS grads. "

But college graduates are about 5 times LESS likely to become millionaires. Having a college degree is the best indicator of the limit on someone's income.

But college grads have the ability to go work for a company at a higher salary and great bennies, right? Well, that used to be true. Now companies are dumping their pension bennies. Next comes the company medical benefits.

[Paleo Conservative]

How many sports of either gender have ever cured a disease?

Track and Field Legend

Sir Roger Bannister Date of birth: March 23, 1929

Roger Bannister was born in Harrow, Middlesex, England. He began school in a suburb of London, where he early showed a talent for running. University education had been beyond the reach of Bannnister's working class parents, and he resolved at a young age to win a place in one of England's elite universities and study medicine. At the outbreak of World War II, the family moved to historic Bath, England, where Roger Bannister had daily opportunities to practice his running on the way to and from school. At first, his studiousness made him unpopular with his less motivated classmates, but his exceptional speed on the running track soon won him the acceptance he sought, and his scholastic efforts paid off with a scholarship to Oxford University.

At Oxford, Bannister's speed in the mile and 1500 meter events drew the attention of the British sports press. To the consternation of many British track enthusiasts, the young miler declined to compete in the 1948 Olympics in London, preferring to concentrate on his training and his medical studies.

By 1951 Bannister had captured the British title in the mile and felt ready for Olympic competition. Unfortunately, last minute change in the schedule of the events at the 1952 games in Helsinki forced Bannister to compete without resting between events as he was accustomed to. He finished fourth in the 1500 meter run and endured the scorn of the British sports media, who blamed Bannister's rejection of conventional coaching and training methods.

Bannister resolved to redeem himself by breaking the world's record for the mile, the seemingly insurmountable four-minute barrier. By this time he was undertaking full-time medical studies at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, and setting aside only 45 minutes a day for training. But he had seen his time in the mile improve year after year, and was convinced that slow and steady training would enable him to break the record.

Bannister's opportunity came on May 6, 1954, in a meet at Oxford, with Bannister competing for the British Amateur Athletic Association. He had arranged for his friends Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher to set the pace for the first laps so he completed the first three quarter-mile laps in under three minutes. Finishing the last lap in less than a minute, Bannister broke the tape and collapsed as the announcer delivered his time to the cheering crowd: 3:59.4. The unbreakable record had been broken. At age 25, Roger Bannister had made history.

Within a month, the Australian runner John Landy had broken Bannister's record, but Bannister had the satisfaction of besting Landy at that summer's British Empire Games in Vancouver. In a race billed as "The Mile of the Century," both runners beat the four minute time, but Bannister came in first at 3:58.8 to landy's 3:59.6. Later that year, Roger Bannister was awarded the Silver Pears Trophy, bestowed annually for the outstanding British achievement in any field. He also secured the European title in the 1500 meter before retiring from competition. His autobiography, First Four Minutes, was published in 1955. It has since been reprinted as Four Minute Mile.

He completed his medical studies and for the next two decades combined a career in research with clinical practice as a neurologist. After recovering from a serious car accident he withdrew from private practice to devote himself to research. He maintained an interest in athletics, serving as Chairman of the Sports Council of Great Britain from 1971 to 1974, and as President of the International Council for Sport and Physical Recreation from 1976 to 1983. Dr. Bannister was knighted in 1975

Today, Sir Roger Bannister is Director of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London and a trustee-delegate of St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in Paddington. Since 1990 he has also been Chairman of the Editorial Board of the journal Clinical Autonomic Research and is the editor of Autonomic Failure, a textbook on clinical disorders of the autonomic nervous system.

[dr_lew]

You are correct, sir!

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do."

[MikefromOhio]

damn but I wish I knew which schools you were going too that cost between $100,000 and $160,000 a year that aren't PRIVATE colleges.....

[rbg81]

Companies who need intelligent people will cough up the $$ to keep them. If college grads are losing bennies, then I guarantee the picture is even worse for HS grads.

BTW, what is the rate at which HS grads become millionaires? 1 in 100? 1 in 200? 1 in 500? Just because a small percentage manage to, doesn't mean you should tout it as a viable life choice.

Here’s the life time earning comparison:

Professional Degree $4.4 million

Doctoral Degree $3.4 million

Master’s Degree $2.5 million

Bachelor’s Degree $2.1 million

Associate’s Degree $1.6 million

Some College $1.5 million

High School Graduate $1.2 million

Source: Census Bureau

Do you plan to send your kids to college?

[Paleo Conservative]

damn but I wish I knew which schools you were going too that cost between $100,000 and $160,000 a year that aren't PRIVATE colleges.....

I think exit82 meant the total cost of 4 years of college not the per year cost.

[MikefromOhio]

you're right

HOWEVER....most of the colleges out there don't cost that...

In Ohio, just FYI, the only ones that cost that amount (or more) are private institutions, i.e. not Ohio State.