Posted on 05/25/2005 3:50:28 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
One of the biggest decisions Andy Blevins ever made, and one of the few he now regrets, never seemed like much of a decision at all. It felt like the natural thing to do.
In 1995, he was moving boxes of soup cans, paper towels and dog food across the floor of a supermarket warehouse, one of the biggest buildings here in southwestern Virginia. The heat was brutal. The job had sounded impossible when he arrived, fresh from his first year of college, looking to make some summer money, still a skinny teenager.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
The poor can get grants or loans if they show they had the ability to work hard, maintain good grades and so forth.
If they get Cs and Ds, they might get through a Junior College if they apply themselves, but no chance in hell they will make it at a competitive good college IMO.
Parents working hard, not having far more children than they can afford can help their kids fail less in life IMO.
The worst culture or parents would be those that look down on education or those that succeed.
In this country today, there's no excuse for anyone who really wants one to not get the degree of their choice. It may involve a stark sacrifice of material satisfaction over 4 years, as well as a limit on the type of school (private vs. public) but it's infinitely doable, and there's proof of that graduating from schools across the country every year.
Geez the guy beat 30-30 solid ($30,000/ year by age 30) and he's worried about his future?! He could still go back to school, it's never too late.
My kid is attending classes at a community college for the last couple years, but this summer he's taking a couple courses online from the college.
First time he's tried the online setting.
I'm very impressed with how the online courses work. Prof's are in touch with students, students are in touch with other students, papers are submitted to a site called "turnitin.com" to check for plagerism, grades and progress is posted.
Seems the perfect choice for a family man who wants to continue his education, like the guy in the article.
http://www.spcollege.edu/ecampus/
Yep, distance learning/online courses are the way to go. In the near future, there'll be no reason why anyone should have to spend 4 years commuting or living in a college dorm to get a degree.
Although there are certain hands-on subjects (studio art, science, ...) not suitable for online, the vast majority of courses can be adapted/optimized for distance learning.
Good luck to your young student!
He says he's going back for that degree. He's going to be a teacher 'cause he figures he'll only have to work 180 days a year.
As he [Blevin] passed the home of Mike Nash, his neighbor, he noticed that the car was still in the driveway. For Nash, a school counselor and the only college graduate in the church singing group Blevins belonged to, this was a snow day.
Blevin talked to his sister about how he could become an elementary school teacher. The job would take up 180 days [a year]. Teachers do not usually get laid off or lose their pensions.
So the decision was made. On May 31, Blevins says, he will enroll at Virginia Highlands Community College, taking classes at night.
Then where's the trap?
Of course the reality is there is no trap, except in the media that likes to tell people these kind of choices are irrevocable so they can create a crisis. Early on when you have no money you frequently have to chose between work and school, but if you're at all successful at work it doesn't take long to be in a situation where you can do work and school. Sure school is probably part time then so it'll take you forever to get your degree, but what's the rush you've already got a decent job.
$30k/yr is nothing these days... someone making that at age 30 isn't very secure. After taxes, you're basically eating dog food on that salary, unless you live in an extraordinarily low-cost area.
You nailed it.
...but what's the rush you've already got a decent job.
As long as this man sticks to it, he'll be just fine. Unless it turns out that he hates teaching. :)
Well he's at $35k by age 29. I sure wasn't eating dog food on that salary and it was recently enough to still basically be "these days" (actually with Clinton in the White House and his DINK tax I was taking home less than this guy with that salary), of course Tucson is pretty cheap but definitely not extra-ordinarily low cost. And if you went without a 4 year degree beating 30-30 shows you're on a path that should be comfortable, you've got the drive and the smarts and can chose your direction.
Depends on what part of teaching he hates. With his other work experience and a teaching degree he could probably get involved in some sort of corporate training program, which tends to pay pretty well, excellent if the part of teaching he hates is the kids or the public school system.
I didn't have any financial resources, and I made it through college and grad school. I lived at home with my parents as an undergrad. During Christmas and spring breaks, when other people my age were doing fun things, I'd pick up a short-term labor contract and do whatever work was available. When I went off to grad school, I lived in a man's basement and payed him $175 a month in rent. I just lived frugally and worked for the future. And I look back on that time now, as the best period of my life, even though I didn't have anything (except intellectual stimulation, fun, and a lot of friends).
I worked my way through school and finished an engineering degree in 5 years. There doesn't have to be a work versus go to school. You can do both, if you're willing to work hard and skip partying.
The article reeks of class conscious snobbism.
There's nothing wrong with this guy's life -- but this writer's attempt to convince him that he's deprived and disadvantaged.
Why don't these New York Times writers understand that eveybody's goal in life is not to be like them -- gods worshiped and admired because of their delusions of superiority.
It may take him longer, and it may be harder, but so what.
A "rich are getting richer, poor are getting poorer" argument based on absolutes that do not exist. (and are they the same rich and same poor? No one ever says.)
What matters is that the person is living, learning, growing -- not whether he has a college degree, and then once he gets that, a Master's degree , then Ph.D. as though that was the only progression in life.
The writer needs to grow up -- expand his consciousness and possibilities. There is so much more happening outside the stunted world of the New York Times.
These liberal demagogues are always trying to stir discontent convincing anybody making less than $50,000 that they are poor, deprived and entitled -- and that everybody ought to be making an average salary of $100,000 a year and have a Ph.D.
That's how they spread misinformation, disinformation, ignorance, resentment and envy -- as news and information.
Next they'll be telling us every woman should look like Helen Thomas.
I got my undergrad degree at age 37 from Regents College of Albany, NY, while living in Texas. Never set foot on campus, just took GRE and CLEP tests. Then got my law degree at age 40 from an inexpensive law school in Illinois. No big deal.
The big firms didn't beat a path to my door, but a couple small firms did.
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