March certainly came in like a lion with all that cold wind, and rain. I hope it goes out like a lamb. It is also hopeful that April will be sunny because March has not been mostly cloudy this first half.
It is a little early to be thinking about graduations and things like that but this is a banner year for us. We have two granddaughters graduating this year, one from her high school and one from A&M. Many of you will have high school graduates and some may have college graduates.
The college grads have to look for jobs and in some cases begin paying off their student loans; the high school grads who choose to will have to apply for their colleges. While I was thinking about the changes in that process I, of course, am flabbergasted by the changes in the costs from my days in college. In my days the big costs were not tuition. That was indeed quite inexpensive. It is not so nowadays. I note that all the college costs have increased dramatically in the interim. They didn’t have student loans in my day. You and your family had to figure out how to pay those costs. The total student loans have reached the level of trillions of dollars. Goodness, that is government size debt!
Then I stumbled into some more startling facts. Even with all this high tuition many smaller colleges are struggling financially. In fact in recent years the rate of colleges closing down has doubled. They are usually smaller private colleges we have had five colleges disappear since 2000 in Texas.
One of the issues around colleges and the increasing costs is the question of is it really worthwhile to go to college? Well, it worked for me; I wouldn’t have had the jobs I held without the engineering degree. I am not so sure about some of the other degrees that I am aware that are available, and as near as I can, tell popular. I realize not everyone is cut out to be an engineer. In fact one could argue not all engineering graduates are cut out to be engineers. Many of them drift into other fields, as do other degree holders drift from their chosen fields.
It seems that college enrollment, especially in those smaller private schools, is dropping overall. It would be a shame if that holds true or continues. When one looks at the unemployment those most unemployable seem to be those least educated.
However, the wisdom of John Gardner’s quote applies “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
As in all things we need the balance between academic endeavors and all of the other endeavors. They are all important to our society’s well being.
