I agree with nearly all of your sentiment here, other than “people with C’s shouldn’t go to college”.
I like Scott Galloway’s take: colleges and universities are the opportunity to take the unremarkable and give them a chance at being remarkable.
Of course there needs to be a cut off here, but I’d say curriculum is a better indicator than average letter grade. Often, I’d rather work with someone who has really struggled to earn mediocre grades, but knuckled down and made it through because they wanted it that badly. Because that’s most of life after school. Most of my friends that struggled after school were the ones that never had to try when we were in school. Then they graduated and life hit them in the face for the first time.
My undergrad degree is in Computer Science and I really struggled because I didn’t have a quality maths foundation. That said, I worked my ass off and graduated with a 3.8 in my major, and now am the Sr. Solutions Architect at my city’s largest employer, soon to clinch a director position. College enabled me to do that and fostered a life long curiosity of all things.
My partner is another good example. She barely earned C’s in high school, worked at a grocery store, and decided she wanted something better. She went to community college when she was ready, and now owns two extremely successful businesses. She would have not done well in trades.
Having access to higher education at the “right” time for people is critical. And as you said, also having options for those who aren’t motivated to continue in higher education but still want to make a fair wage, like trade school.
I agree with nearly all of your sentiment here, other than “people with C’s shouldn’t go to college”.
I like Scott Galloway’s take: colleges and universities are the opportunity to take the unremarkable and give them a chance at being remarkable.
Of course there needs to be a cut off here, but I’d say curriculum is a better indicator than average letter grade. Often, I’d rather work with someone who has really struggled to earn mediocre grades, but knuckled down and made it through because they wanted it that badly. Because that’s most of life after school. Most of my friends that struggled after school were the ones that never had to try when we were in school. Then they graduated and life hit them in the face for the first time.
My undergrad degree is in Computer Science and I really struggled because I didn’t have a quality maths foundation. That said, I worked my ass off and graduated with a 3.8 in my major, and now am the Sr. Solutions Architect at my city’s largest employer, soon to clinch a director position. College enabled me to do that and fostered a life long curiosity of all things.
My partner is another good example. She barely earned C’s in high school, worked at a grocery store, and decided she wanted something better. She went to community college when she was ready, and now owns two extremely successful businesses. She would have not done well in trades.
Having access to higher education at the “right” time for people is critical. And as you said, also having options for those who aren’t motivated to continue in higher education but still want to make a fair wage, like trade school.