College Education in the U.S. is Completely Broken

I really despise New England winters! Dark, snowy, cold, windy, and miserable would be the way I would describe them. At least “pitchers and catchers” have reported so maybe this will end soon. With that, I bring you the “TK’s Interesting Person of the Week”:

Brian, a 28 year old who is saddled with an albatross

If you have followed anything I have written over the years, you know that college/university decisions by consumers is one of my biggest hot buttons. It is a topic that is sure to set me off on a soap box diatribe about how insane our system is. But this week, I ran into someone that stirred it all up in me and I knew I had to revisit my thoughts in this week’s writing.

At a restaurant in Manchester, NH, I struck up a conversation with the bartender who was serving me. Brian was a bearded hipster fellow who was smart, engaging and obviously well-read. As we sat and spoke about various things, the conversation steered to student debt and the fact that he had $97,000 in student debt and that his parents also took on $50,000 in debt for him to get two degrees. These two degrees created an opportunity for him to end up working two jobs and enough debt to saddle him for most of his adult life. While he wasn’t complaining in my engagement with him, it was obvious that he now recognized that getting two degrees from middling schools was never going to move his professional life forward. He also understood that the decisions he has made on his college education is going to hinder him to really pursue any of the dreams he had.

While I don’t feel sorry for Brian, I do have empathy for anyone that recognizes that his/her decisions have created an environment where they are now hamstrung. My venom is for the people that should have been advising and coaching Brian at the time he was making his decisions about education. If someone had listened to Brian and what he really wanted to accomplish in his life, they would have instantly recognized that going in debt for a nearly worthless “education” was not going to move his dreams forward. Instead, a great deal of our society has been brainwashed and lied to about the value of getting a college degree at $50K+/year from a school that probably shouldn’t even be in business any more. We need educators, mentors, and parents who have the courage and knowledge to be brave to not just use a one size fits all story. Education is a magical and wonderful thing. It is the greatest gift we can provide people. But being silly and thinking that the only way to educate our society is with sending them for a four year degree in a house-of-cards system that is the U.S.university system is not the answer.

May your weekend be filled with fast horses, lots of smiles, and a touch of bourbon.