A very important and lucid essay about the crippling costs of college here is based on the documentary Ivory Tower and was recently published. In the article, perhaps the best I have seen on the topic of college costs, the author and documentarian detail why expenses of the Ivory Tower have grown more exponentially that any other sector of the economy, far exceeding even Health Care. When the economy was better, students and parent wagered that college costs would be offset by employment opportunities. More of an investment versus a weekend bender to Las Vegas. Government money, itself borrowed from the Chinese, have fed the beast. Today, college costs have increased, and job prospects have decreased. A bad combo…a very bad one, two.
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There is a term making the rounds of the high school recently. I have heard it used in several different contexts and conversations. It is not a common phrase typically bandied about in a high school like OMG, TMI, PDA, and LOL . It is “Existential Crisis.” EC for short.
I am not sure where it originated, and where it is going, like the wind–yet the convergent usage is causing me to consider that perhaps our students are grappling with large issues not typically discussed. Maybe it is the devitalized economy, high college costs and post-grad crippling debt, bleak job market, and/or the vapidity of culture with hundreds of channels but nothing being on. Perhaps it’s the consequence standardized testing in all of its quantitative denaturing of knowledge. An assessment wall that fragments the soul. Life is an essay, not multiple choice. Open-ended and infinite. Not easily measured and graded with those miniscule circles and sharpened number two pencils.
The French writer Albert Camus captured much of the existential spirit in the quote above. Typically Commencement speeches are on the up and up like a helium balloon. Soon losing altitude. Yet, in a world of heaviness, maybe some elucidation of why we all feel this burden would ultimately be more meaningful.
“No, … it is not humiliating to be unhappy. Physical suffering is sometimes humiliating, but the suffering of being cannot be, it is life. … What you must do now is nothing more than live like everybody else. You deserve, by what you are, a happiness, a fullness that few people know. Yet today this fullness is not dead, it is a part of life and, to its credit, it reigns over you whether you want it to or not. But in the coming days you must live alone, with this hole, this painful memory. This lifelessness that we all carry inside of us — by us, I mean to say those who are not taken to the height of happiness, and who painfully remember another kind of happiness that goes beyond the memory.” Albert Camus, Notebooks
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Back in college I began to seriously reading. I was searching for answers like a starving man for bread. Above is my Book Hall of Fame. These books inspired me to persevere, to not lose hope, to imagine better things. Our inward convictions become to some degree our external realities.
These books were good friends when I had difficulties in relating to people. I could put them down and pick them up without them judging me
More than ever students come to me with existential “why” questions. I am not sure what is afoot. Maybe it is because our world is more adrift than ever and the turbulence is bringing concerns to the surface like seas that churn and expectorate into the air what is in the deep.
I am convinced that if this generation is able to escape the horrible trap of reading for some standardized test where may know much but understand little, then books may make a return from the graveyard.
I am getting some good reviews from my students at school about my book. I beg them to tell me the truth about what they think. I am sure some of them won’t tell me their internal thoughts regardless of my invocations for them to do so, I trust that most of them will be forthright.
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Pleased to announce that the book is finally out of the oven and ready to be consumed like Christmas chocolate chip cookies. It took quite some time for the dough to bake.
Even though I have read the book too many times to count, I still find the message inspiring and it tasty to my literary tongue. Here is why: It is not about me. I did a lot of work to find others who have achieved great things to be part of the book. It only made sense because people who achieve legitimate success often have a credibility that is hard to contest. Like Steve Jobs or J.K. Rowling.
I think my contribution was locating these voices and their specific observations. We are in an age of “Information Overload” and it takes a lot of prospecting to find the gold amongst so much chattering dross. I did a lot of work to identify key insights from others as well as incorporate my own observations about a topic at hand. I am very pleased that the book is finished. Very difficult experience of many different levels. It was really discouraging at times. But, I would have even been more discouraged to not bring the book to fruition.
In life, I have learned, disappointment is a given. Success is perhaps choosing the manner of disappointment one is willing to endure to achieve a greater goal, rather being to being subjected to the vagaries of low-achievement. In other words, you get to pick your pain if you step-up, rather than pain being a force that imposes itself on you regardless of ultimate purpose. I find mere suffering to be suicidal, whereas intentional embracing of the difficult for a greater good, to be ultimately spiritually uplifting.
I had a brief Facebook conversation with a former student on Facebook Sunday night. She wants to publish a book, so another former student directed her my way. I am finding more of my former students are looking me up on Facebook. I consider it an honor that they are letting me into their world. She paid me a tremendous compliment to the effect that I was a “great guidance counselor.” It was unsolicited–no fishing on my part. I really appreciated that.
I concluded our back-and-forth that “sacrifice is spiritual.” Difficulties can be an indication that a work is necessary. Imperative. God save us from the easy road, for it can be more dangerous and treacherous than any other route. The road to destruction is often just a descent slowly into a rut that step-by-step strangulates hope slowly. Die on the high road. It a great place to take off to heaven from.
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I had pretty much given up hope that an influential person was going to review my book and had decided to close the door and open the book up for distribution. Then, he emailed me 16 pages of notes on suggestions single-spaced of how to make the book better. From “very good” (his words) to even better. I would have been a fool to not incorporate his thoughts. They were right on. That explains the last two months.
Then, I gave my Dad a draft copy of the book. He is well-read and has a well-honed bullshit detector. His feedback has been different that the two others, but also right on. Too many commas for one, and second, conduct an official grammar check through Word. There is a comprehensive tool in Word the identifies suspicious grammar issues that looks at more than just that line under the words or words. That was a helpful process.
Has publishing the book been harder that I expected? Yes, very much so. Maybe it is the male equivalent of having a baby. I have cried out more than once “how long?” in trying to deliver this book. I think the last ten percent of the book process is the hardest. I am weary. I want to move on. I am tempted to compromise. But, then I think that the difference between good and great is a question of degrees and that I have come too far and sacrificed too much to give up now and being content with where the book stands. So, I march on.
Here is hoping, with faith, that the journey will help others, those college-bound students who need a hand and a hope. Amen.
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Swearing, for sure. Just when I think the book is ready to go, I have another wave of revisions. I feel like the Boy that cried Wolf. The Boy who cried Book. Tsunami editing…
This last wave was the result of a book store owner graciously taking the time to read the book and provide his thoughts. His assessment? A very good book with a lot of minor problems. That really become major when taken in their totality. 16 pages of typewritten suggestions from the astute book proprietor who is very well-known in bookstore circles. He is a Brahmin of Books and it would not have been a good idea to disregard his thoughts. He was delayed in his ability to send me his suggestions by a tragic event, which made his efforts even more admirable and appreciated. Yet, the practical side of all of it was that I was in a holding pattern for nearly three weeks awaiting his feedback.
I am three-quarters through the revision process and I have to hope that this is it. The book is leaner and meaner in a good way. Like a choice cut of meat, I have trimmed the fat. The bookstore owner’s suggestions centered on two major themes. Avoiding the stating of the obvious or quoting someone else where I could just say and write it better myself. In review and retrospect, sometimes things are obvious when someone more informed and objective has the opportunity to weigh in. I have him permission to go at it with full force and asked for him to tell me what he thought with no need to couch his suggestions with kid gloves.
It hurt to hear but it has helped. I am able to complete about two chapters each Saturday in the revision process. After that, I get punch-drunk and loses my writing jab and ring legs. I need to be fresh when revising because it does little good to change the text and put something else in that lacks firepower. It tends to become a case of diminishing returns. Lame and lamer.
If you have come to this page as a result of listening to the Lancast podcast about the book, I will announce on this CTG site when the book is ready to roll. I am hoping next Saturday. But, I have been wrong before. And wrong before that. And wrong before that. So, stay tuned.
All in all, I think the interview went well. Some of my answers were far too wordy and lengthy. I have to get better in presenting my ideas in succinct manner. And, also avoid saying “You Know” a trillion times in 40 minutes. Thanks to The Lancast for interviewing me. I love Lancaster. This is a cool and vibrant community where outsiders think we are all inbred six-fingered Amish. Not so, there are a ton of cool and talented people here who have five fingers on each hand and enormous talent.
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I came from a family where my parents were college-educated. I went to a high school where 90% of the students attended four year colleges. In other words, I had two highly influential variables in my favor for completing college. Studies like this pretty much state the obvious. I guess it takes an official research project to confirm the obvious. The real question is what is to be done about the problem.
Here are a few thoughts:
– We need to eliminate race-based and ethnically-skewed admission practices. I don’t minimize the particularly difficult college adjustment issues that Black and Latino students face, but I think we are on much safer ground to create avenues for all economically poor students to attend college-equally, without any further qualification. If a higher education institution makes an adjustment for its college admits, it should be on the programming side, not on the admissions side. For instance, Black students may need specific interventions that acknowledge that the cookie-cooker approach does not work for them. Or Native American kids. There are huge cultural variables that cannot be avoided and must be addressed. Or poor white kids from trailer parks.
– Tie financial aid to high school GPA. Humans, being at least somewhat rational, respond to incentives. For too long, the high school years academic performance has not been tied to government financial aid. The logic instead has been get into college and we give you aid based on income and assets. Some states are increasing aid based on academic performance, as well they should. High Schools that inflate GPA will become apparent within four years or sooner of its graduates–based on college retention and graduation rates–and there needs to be corrections for institutional rigor of those secondary schools. If one high school’s “A” is shown to be inflated, it is only fair that college learn those patterns and apply a formula to adjust for it. And disburse aid appropriately.
– Many critics of college admissions have pointed this out before but each applicant needs to go to the appropriate college for their academic profile. Too often, there is a serious lack of goodness of fit between students and colleges and the elimination of all variables except for academic performance will do much to align the student with the institution where they have the highest probability of success. I mean, the best variable for a shoe is how it fits the foot. It is stupid to elevate other factors if the shoe is the wrong size. Only if the shoe fits, does fashion and other variables come into play. We have a lot of kids who may have a higher academic profile than their demographic group but they must be compared to all college-bound, not their sub-group.
– My book (above) is serious attempt for me to address the “big ideas” of college transition. As adults, we often view our experiences as a standard for viewing the norm when in fact, our experiences may be more unique for us than we realize. Time Management for example. Very high schools teach this well. It is assumed that students learn this in the course of their studies. Not so. I could go on and on how we make assumptions about what kids do and do not know, with little true evaluation of where their skill set stands on some critical competencies. I think the inequalities can be lessened but decision-makers must listen to people like me who work in the field and have done the hard work to find interventions and solutions.
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It actually was a lot easier than I thought. Just do it yourself. Says I, until I see what I screwed up. I hope not. The draft hard copy is to arrive in a couple of days.
My computer skills are probably better than some with publishing but I am far from proficient. I can get by. I have always loved the idea of publishing. And for someone who grew up with mimeograph purple sheets, this current era is like being in a Digital Disneyworld instead of the rusty swing era on the publishing playground of my youth.
These days we have incredible access to means to be heard and seen. But, do we deserve to be heard or seen? Do I? Some people take the easy way to notoriety by doing something bizarre or lewd. Like a freak show. The quality can go up or down considering the artistic and technical merit. People get out of it what they put into it. That will never change.
The ebook on Kindle is still my preferred selling medium. For the month of June, it is priced at $ 2.99.
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One of the equations in education that students in schools are taught is more education = more money. More Benjamins. Statistically, that has been shown to be a fact. Climb the ladder of education, more dollars bills await as a rule. That has been true in the past; it might not be so in the future. One of the truly scary reversals of our present time is more education may create a debt that the ladder of success will be subsumed by. Simply, that college degree will cost a young person more than its eventual financial payout justifies. There are certain majors that still are safer bets that others but be assured that it is a bet these days to go to Ben Franklin University. Anyone who dismisses this a passing concern doesn’t really care about kids and this society. Or already has theirs.
But, is money really the final arbiter of a good life versus bad? Let us expand why a student should go to college. Is it to have fun, make good friends, cheer at footballs games, and barely get a degree. Or, worse yet. To flunk out? No. Is it to addle one’s brains in binge drinking, hooking up, cutting class, and thinking that somehow the system has been gamed by that ruination? Hardly. No, the purpose of college is to discover one’s purpose: How best can I serve a world in need with the talents and gifts that God has given me? My gift to God and humanity is what I do with what has been given. What is your return on the investment? Maybe college is not the best way to discover your destiny…maybe it is. But, be careful in framing your future monetarily.
Much of the lack of clarity about this purpose has been clouded by the mesmerizing allure of money and the the cha-ching. One of the benefits of growing up in one of the wealthiest enclaves in the U.S., the Mainline of Philadelphia, was seeing that money often brings more misery. My neighborhood alone had enough tragedy and sad stories to create a series rivaling Stephen King’s collective writings of horror. Seriously, it was frightening. Alcoholism, cancer, adultery, divorce, drugs, child abuse, bullies, suicides, arson, heart attacks. General weirdness. But, nice lawns!
How about Arnold Schwarzenegger? He turned his Austrian muscle into American cash…movies, Hummers, the governorship of California, and married into the Kennedy clan…an American aristocracy. His wife, Maria Shriver, by all accounts, a good and godly woman, despite the creepiness in the back story of how the Kennedy’s came to power and then have been quite cursed by the Faustian bargain of the patriarch three generations past.
This power couple had enough money to have a maid…Arnold and her had illicit sex at least once. An adulterous affair. And now Arnie is deflated, his wife humiliated, and their children bewildered and betrayed. True, the Arn man might decide to ride off into the sunset with a new and fresh hottie…he has enough money to pay for another act on the stage of the rich and famous. But, his conscience will hag him and his kids will probably at least be badly hurt by his driving away, if not hate him. Maria will most likely just pity him in the end. Let us hope for repentance and reconciliation, yet tell me, did the money accelerate the ability of Arnie to be destructive and damaging? You betcha. Wreckage, plain and simple.
Money is one of those things that it is important to have enough to live reasonably….food, shelter, clothing, health care, a car that works. In the end, one can drive a Mercedes to point B or a Honda Civic. Based on the specs, the Honda will get you there cheaper and more reliably. True about the scale of luxury….there is point crossed fairly soon that what one is buying with the gold is prestige and only prestige…that engenders pride and envy temporarily (this life). The Rolex tells the same time as the Timex. And both are winding down. You can wear at watch to the grave if you want, but what does it matter? Impress people at your funeral. Oooh, look a Rolex!
It is interesting that Ben Franklin’s visage on the $ 100 bill portrays him as ambivalent. He doesn’t look real happy. Nor sad. He has the look of a man who has seen much of what the world has to offer and been fortunate to have much of what his eyes has seen. And, he seems to be expressing, so what?
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I have a lot of students at school who struggle with perfectionism…I also have a good deal of students who are far too OK with imperfectionism. They actually seem to revel in non-achievement, thinking that somehow it is good to be a slacker, unmotivated, and uneducated. I worry that life is going to kick them around a lot…so I take no joy in their intrepid ignorance. I just read this blog post this morning that has something to say about the instructive value of losing.
I am posting this–in defiance of my own CTG blog moratorium–because that blog posting inspired me. Plus, I had several students this week who tend to see success as totally everything going to plan (or nearly) or nothing. The resultant effect is a good deal of stress, anxiety, and downright pain. The darkside of everyone having to get a trophy is that kids don’t get used to losing once in a while, so their immunity to adversity never gets built up. Every set-back is seen as a disaster rather than a learning experience.
I have exactly two trophies. One for the completion of the “Mississippi Mile” (a mile a day swim for ten days, excluding Sat/Sun) when a kid at my swim club and the other for winning the “Greater Philadelphia Basketball League Championship” as an assistant basketball coach at Glen Mills Schools. That is it. The college experience will have its share of failure. OR should. If it doesn’t, you are probably not learning much.
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