Why a generation has lost faith in higher education!

Quite the title! The following is an opinion piece to be frank, but for those who want “facts” I can provide. I am from a generation that was taught from a child, that you “MUST” go to college. We were inculcated that our ancestors fought and died for us to go these colleges to do better for ourselves and that we must not make their sacrifice in vain. From that my generation (Millennials) went forth with our heads down thinking of our parents who may have been Baby Boomers or even GenXers and sought to step up and “pull ourselves up by the bootstraps”. To give a bit of insight on my age, as a kid I was raised watching The Cosby Show and Different World, so my motivation was high for college HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) or PWI (Predominately White Institutions).

By the time I got to college I figured it was time to make my mark, and get a degree and “get a good job!” I began at a community college as a family friend gave me some insight on saving “some money” by doing my General Education requirements at a community college. I must say I am glad she did. A year later I began at university. After a tumultuous four years (some of that was my doing) I got a degree, in 2003, and then proceeded immediately to graduate school, in another country!

At this point of the story, life interrupts me, as my mother had a sudden passing which brought me back home, and then I proceeded to continue to attempt my education at a different university. Due to circumstances of my own undoing I left that university and then attended the school where I was ultimately to get my first masters degree in 2008. The hard part of that time was it was so much going on. Being a native of Chicago, we had just seen the first Black president elected, and yet the economy was in a deep recession, and real estate was tanking at a fast rate, and I had the unfortunately luck of getting a Masters degree in Real Estate in 2008! It was at no fault of the degree itself, or even the university as the speed of economic decline was rapid. Yet the degree was for all intents and purposes, useless!

Nonetheless in my mind, I felt with a Masters degree I should be able to get “the good job”. What I have left out is during 2004–2005 I was practically homeless. (Not literally, but when you can’t get a job with a degree and you are on a friend’s couch looking for work, you are homeless). So in 2008 I felt I had achieved the ideal of getting the “new bachelor’s degree” i.e. a master’s degree, and I should be ready to jump into the work force and find that good job! At this juncture of my career I had obtained a B.A. in Architectural Studies, 12 years of experience and a Master’s degree, no record, decent credit so you would think even in such times education would help me out? Notsomuch. From August 4, 2009, to November 28 2011 I did not work a job! It wasn’t from lack of applying either! During this time President Barack Obama extended Unemployment benefits in the country to 99 weeks! That is almost 2 years, and I used it all up! I applied to a wide variety of jobs just to survive as I had ultimately lost my apartment and ended up on a friend’s air mattress for a year. Skepticism is starting to set in. My job was looking for a job, so I can get back on my feet and yet I felt with education and experience I was getting no breaks. Was it bad luck? Karma? Something on my record? I honestly couldn’t figure it out. Ultimately a friend, who “knew someone” got my resume looked at and I got hired at a job, in late 2011.

During that time period, I had traveled to Haiti to help out during the earthquake and developed a knack for consulting, on strategy and marketing. In fact, it became my passion as I left architecture. The unfortunate reality was my educational background didn’t match what I was saying I could do, so I was forced back to school. I did a 2ND Master’s degree online and learned a lot within a year. Obtaining that degree so far has been the best decision I have made as that degree has gotten more leverage than the other two.

My passion for marketing then evolved into higher education and by fate I ended up becoming an adjunct professor in 2013. I was skeptical but I was told I’d make a good teacher, and since I didn’t have the patience for kids, I figured higher education would be worth a shot. I found my calling! Like anything else though you have to pay your dues, and I did it without so much a grimace. In higher education you can’t have just enough education, you must have the most education, so even with two master’s degrees I wasn’t enough. Being a professor is a noble thing, however adjuncts, much to the surprise of many do not get paid a lot of money, and I at one point was working between three schools to try to make ends, meet, looking for jobs and consulting gigs and you guessed it, lost my place again. That’s three times for those keeping count. The year is 2014, late 2014 to be exact. I had an expansive network of friends, frat brothers, and others and yet I could not find work WITH experience AND education to sustain myself. From November 2014 to April 2016, I had no residence of my own! That is not a misprint. I stayed on multiple couches and futons, until I left my home city and moved to Miami, and the first seven weeks in Miami was in AirBnbs (That I could write a book in itself, but I digress).

During this time, I became passionate again about a career for the first time since I left architecture in 2008. Higher education was it! As someone who loved to learn, and loved to teach, I felt I could do my best for society in higher education. Remember when I said my two master’s degrees weren’t enough? It wasn’t hyperbole. I HAD to go get a PhD. Not an option if I wanted to be anything above an adjunct professor. What many do not know is I was denied admission to a PhD program 4 times from 2 other universities (In fairness, reflecting on my reasoning for going and my application process, ESPECIALLY my writing, I was NOT ready), but in 2016 I began pursuing my Doctorate of Business Administration.

All during this journey my view of education has changed. One moment stands out in particular. I remember telling my sister to not force my nephew to finish his last year of college. My sister is no pushover by a long shot if you know who she is. She has a masters, and fought to NOT be a statistic. She went from having a child at a young age to getting her Bachelors and Masters and doing some epic stuff in society. She was LIVID. Myself and a fellow colleague (who like me is a hip-hop artist and he has his PhD and is a professor) had to tell her college guarantees NOTHING! He has a niche and he can come back but his degree is not going to guarantee the story we were told at his age. The truth is between myself, my sister, and brother in law, we have 8 degrees! (3 bachelors and 5 masters). If were to combine our student debt, you would probably get well over $400k, and all together I don’t’ think we are close to make that! He has seen what we went through and has adapted, why make him suffer?

As a professor now, many of my friends, and associates have me talk to their kids as they prep for college and they want me to have “The Talk” with them. Often its not the talk they expect. I was told to go to college so I can get a good job. I tell them to know WHY they are going. Not for mom or dad, or the rep of the school but for themselves. The truth is higher education is a business. There really is no such thing as “NOT FOR PROFIT” that is just for tax purposes. Know why you are doing it and that is what will sustain you after it is done. My talk often consists of covering the following: Get your grades, NETWORK, understand who is doing what, build rapport with students and faculty, learning the brand of a university and lastly, know what you want and what are your secondary and tertiary options. You would think this convo would before the “student-athlete” but no it is not. It is for ALL students. The truth is you have a six (6) month grace period before Navient/Sallie Mae come asking for their money with interest. Many people are working to just pay bills and student loans. With jobs evaporating and a saturation of education, a degree does not have the POWER it once had. Sure you need it to get your “foot in the door” but it does just that. As I am nearing completing of my Doctorate I am reminded of my WHY every day. The truth is the degree just tells people you have completed a set number of requirements within a certain timeframe. It is not a testament to intelligence insomuch as it is to absorption of data. Schools are in the business of people attending graduating and making good alumni so people can see them and come do the same. It is business! No different than why a brand wants someone to represent them so people can engage their product or service for repeat business.

The lost of faith is telling someone who is 18 today who has looked at their parents struggle WITH a degree to barely cover bills. The struggle is convincing them that getting a degree is something that “no one can take away from them” but yet 4 years of work doesn’t guarantee them of anything in a saturated marketing, heaven forbid if they get a degree in something that is artistic. The question, any sensible person would ask is, WHY? This is across race, gender, and other spectrums in America. This is America!

How do we tell the future to go to school when going to school puts them into debt and doesn’t empower them to live their dreams and truth? Better still how do we educate when teachers themselves are not paid enough to sustain a living wage. This goes for teachers and professors. I know personally of PhDs who have had to get government assistance to get food as adjunct teaching for one or two classes barely pay bills. After 10–15 years of education, six figure debt, countless sacrifices, personally and professionally only to be told its not enough? Why should anyone care about education at this point? That is something we as a country need to come to grips with.

L David Stewart, ABD

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PhD student, completing research on design thinking and Black Architects. Background in design, economic development, community development, change management.