Earlier this week, the old "not everyone needs college" meme resumed its fairly regular rounds among the chattering class. Here are my random thoughts about that.
This particular meme is a corollary to the article of faith among conservatives that not every child in America deserves the opportunity for a free, world-class public education. The segregationists seize upon every innocuous sounding slogan and reasonable sounding rationale to push forward their basic belief that there are "real Americans" and there are those other people among us who are not deserving of opportunity.
In reality, every child should have the opportunity, and that starts with well-funded, excellent public schools, with well-paid, professional educators teaching our children. Whether that child wants to be a microbiologist or simply hold a microphone in a garage band, every child needs to have a foundation that results in the minimum of a high school diploma, based on established national standards for a diploma. Certainly children have different levels of academic skill or potential, and there should be different levels of instruction. But that differentiation should not be based on race, gender, economic status, or zip code.
In my view, the opportunity for job training (which many people conflate with education) starts when the ink is dry on that high school diploma. We should invest heavily in community college, apprenticeships, military enlistment, and other "vocational" training at that level - AFTER the high school diploma.
Again, that assumes that the high school diploma represents a level of academic achievement that is recognized universally. A high school graduate from South Dakota and the high school graduate from South Carolina should be recognized to have a very similar level of basic achievement in math, literature/composition/grammar/vocabulary, history, civics, and science.
Finally, let me be clear. Not everyone needs college. But let's not allow that basic truth to become a smokescreen for denying opportunity to every child to get a free, world-class public education. You can bet that the wealthy, educated elite who spout the "not everyone needs college" line are telling their kids that.
