These Articles Are REALLY Pissing Me Off!
The following is a snippet article that was posted on the KINY Juneau Daily News Latest Edition:
Alaska scores low in number of students headed to college
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A new state study shows that one out of every 20 children entering ninth grade in Alaska will go on to graduate from college.
That gives Alaska one of the worst post-secondary education rates in the nation.
The study shows Alaska's efforts to improve the dropout rate have also failed.
These articles are aggravating for several reasons, first of which is that these articles ASSUME that the end-all-be-all of life is a college education. And yet, here in Juneau, and in Alaska in general, the overwhelming preponderance of jobs do not require a college education. In fact, our state and local governments are constantly pushing the industries that do not require this type of education (mining, timber, fishing, natural resource extraction, tourism). With these jobs as the only real jobs awaiting high school graduates, why in the HELL would they need to go to college? Many of these jobs are very high paying jobs, a lot of which pay even higher than many jobs requiring college degrees.
Next, if the high school dropout rate (and the low college enrollment percentages) are really that worrisome to the state (and the city), why aren't they trying to develop industries that would supply the types of jobs that a person with a college degree would pursue? Why aren't we (as a community and a state) trying to develop non-blue collar industries? We have the technology to support software development, financial services, and all other sorts of businesses. The idea has even been floated that we should become involved in offshore-type banking (much like Switzerland and most of the Caribbean). There are a wide variety of choices we could (and should) be entertaining.
But no, instead, we sit here promoting jobs that require little to no education and then wonder why our kids aren't interested in graduating from High School or going on to college.
Wake up, folks. You can't teach someone to crave carrots by feeding them rocks.
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