Advanced degrees are becoming oversaturated, especially in this bad economy. I applied for a job with a high school diploma requirement, and was told I didn’t have a chance because people with Masters were applying for the same job. This was a part-time job paying $14/hr.

In high school, I was told “Go to college, get a job”. I wish I had been told that jobs don’t merely flow from college educations. Disappointment is an understatement for how I felt when I learned this wasn’t the case.

My wife and I are reading The Element, by Ken Robinson.

I say my wife and I, because I ordered the book but when it arrived, the next thing I knew was she was half way through it. I’m up next. I guess it’s a one more case of ladies first.

Acccording to the book, standardized testing brings in $100,000,000 to testing companies. This doesn’t seem exactly like educational funding well spent. The good news is that Robinson sees the huge benefit of drama in schools. In at least one school ( I’ll know the details when I get to read the book) the children learn lessons like history and geography in the morning. In the afternoon, they act out what they’ve learned. How about that for bringing learning to life!

I did some theatrical improvisation here in the Bay Area years ago. It was such a great way to connect with other people. And it helps you think on your feet.

Keep up the good work on the blog.

C

My education was not only free but I was paid living expenses. I did have to take exams to qualify, and have a portfolio to be accepted. I came out of the British art school system in the 1970’s. One way to describe it is creative anarchy. Students found tutors that would help them become more differentiated as individuals rather than conform and compete. It was a life-affirming experience that fostered my curiosity to learn.

I left home at age 16 without much of an education. I roamed about in my native England and across Europe and North Africa before starting college at 24. I had many jobs (all of them menial) but I gained another sort of education. I have always been a voracious reader and I was promiscuous in my literary tastes. I came across Ivan Illich’s book, Deschooling Society when I was just 17. It certainly made an impact on how I saw education.

Sadly, much of what passes for education in America today exploits young people and their parents. Instead of encouraging a love of learning so we can become autodidacts, it fosters dependency on a financially draining system. High school children want to go to college. College students want to get into graduate school, and so it goes. All this cost money. Couple this with a middle-class snobbish attitude toward good-paying skilled trades whose jobs will not be exported and the self-imposed misery is complete.

There are people choosing different paths. There is a refreshing personal website at unconventionalideas.com about a family who march to a different drum.

Whenever you make a decision to take one path or the other, there is always a cost. You always lose the opportunity cost of not taking the other path. What would you get for you time and money if you didn’t go to college? I think you can invest more wisely than prop up institutions whose first loyalty is to themselves. We can buy skills on the open market. There are alternatives. And for a wonderful and funny view of all this, check out Ken Robinson’s talk on ted.com on how schools kill creativity.