After hearing that President Biden is going to move forward with some sort of student loan forgiveness program, I got to thinking. Which is always a dangerous thing but still, I have come up with something that may ease that pain a little.
Before I start, let me explain how my feelings have changed about education and college in particular. I think this country has put way too much emphasis on getting a college education and not on getting skills that can translate into a satisfying career.
Let’s face it, not everyone is cut out for college and many students enroll without the determination to finish. College drop out ratios have been increasing for the last ten years and it isn’t all about money. A lot of times many 18 and 19 year olds realize they aren’t prepared for college or just don’t want to be “taught” anymore. Whatever the rational, a little over 35% of the students that enter at 17-18 don’t make it to graduation. Many of these students will carry student loans with them for years. It might be unfair and I know there is an argument to be made here for forgiveness but the reality is, they owe money and they have no degree to show for it. I am sure this number is floating out there but I am going to guess and say that almost all of those college dropouts have some sort of loan attached to their college experience. At the end of the day, I believe the US Government will bail these kids out and maybe, that might actually be a good thing. However, bailing out college graduates that took on these loans I think should be a non-starter. You received something very valuable, you are not entitled to receive that for nothing. Everything has a cost. Sorry.
Back to something I have been thinking about for years and that is mandatory service to your country after you graduate. Period. No excuses. No entitlements. Nothing. You graduate and Uncle Sam owns you. Now this can be in the form of military service or just plain service to the country. Like a Civilian Conservation Corp for the 21st Century.
Israel requires two years of military service after high school and there has never been any pushback from parents or students. They welcome the chance to serve. They are nationalistic and much more mature when they leave the service. They start college at 20 and their rates of graduation are twice that of the US. The kids go in, learn something in the military and decide to further that knowledge in college or go into the workplace with a life skill and try and make a go of it.
If something like this is in place, I think high school focus will be different and the pressure for colleges would be different as well. Instead of getting 30,000 applications for 2,500 spots, it might be reduced to 15,000 applications and those applicants, after two years of service, would be better qualified and much more mature for college.
This would not be a small undertaking for sure with over fifteen million graduating students entering this phase. I would think that a third of those graduating seniors would opt for the military and that would leave over ten million 17 and 18 year olds to be placed. This huge pool could be placed in renovation projects, Habitats for Humanity type of programs, Government paid for trade schools. The list of things could be endless.
Wait, hold on. That sounds like the seeds of communism and socialism. Government supported programs, required military service. Maybe it does but if it structured so that once your two years are up, you are no longer required or allowed to stay in the program. The only exception would be the military, where you could stay as long as you want and as long as the military will have you.
To me, giving service to your country is not Communist, it’s patriotic and with that patriotism comes respect for what we have and the feeling that you would do what is needed to protect our way of life.
As you can tell, I am just spitballing an idea here but the point is that instead of sending kids to colleges they are not prepared for and then having to foot part of that bill, let them give something to this country and at the end, if you want to still go to college, we can talk. A kid that is two years older and has experienced something other than life at home is a wiser kid, maybe not by much but still more mature, and he/she can make a better decision about his/her future.
There is a huge drawback to this idea and I really haven’t figured it out yet. These graduating students provide a huge pool of talent for minimum wage jobs around the country. If they all end up going into some sort of service, who will man the checkout lines at the supermarkets, or work at millions of restaurants around the country? It will cause a labor shortage the likes of which we have never seen, many will argue. Maybe we will need all those Biden illegal immigrants after all.
Spitballing Huh? Excellent thought out article, possibly equaling Gaylord Perry from the 50s.