Uncertain Steps

It appears that maybe I’ve been proven wrong!

Shortly after posting my opinion here that money is unlikely to be the primary cause of college dropouts, Public Agenda releases the findings of their survey, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of more than 600 young adults with SOME college credits.  According to the results of that survey released in a report called “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them,” one of the most common reasons given for dropping out of college was the need to maintain a job to afford college and the stress associated with juggling both their studies and work.

This seems to poke a hole in my theory that finances is not a good excuse.

Considering this was a pretty reputable source of information, even I was beginning to question what I said earlier.  No doubt times have changed.  The cost of education is all over the news.  Certainly college tuition has increased at a rate far above that of wages. Maybe I was wrong and I’ll be the first to admit it when I am.

This morning I was reading the book “On Writing,” bestselling author Stephen King’s memoir. He recounted his years of education and described that period of time as:

“…up at seven, off to school at seven-thirty, last bell at two o’clock, punch in on the third floor of Worumbo at 2:58, bag loose fabric for eight hours, punch out at 11:02, get home around quarter of twelve, eat a bowl of cereal, fall into bed, get up the next morning, do it all again.”

This was around 1968 or 1969.  More than 30 years ago!  Some things haven’t changed.

He certainly isn’t unique in having a difficult road to get to where he is. Nor does he claim to be. It’s just his story and was only a coincidence that I read it at a time where I was thinking about these survey results. Many of us can probably recall our own similar stories including me. Living in a run down 500 square foot apartment shared with 2 others that I had never met before.  Furniture?  Found a couch by the dumpsters.  Afternoons spent cleaning rat crap out of the bottom of cages in the research labs to help supplement the thousands in student loans that were accruing.

Was it a big sacrifice?  Not hardly.  It was just part of the deal.

I’m sure there are many that read this and say “Yeah, but…”  and follow with their own particular special circumstance that makes them (or their son or daughter) different than the rest.  And without a doubt some are different.  There certainly are some situations that make financing a college education more difficult.

But for most, it’s about a lack of PURPOSE. Not “purpose” as in a lifelong, bigger-than-self, reason for being on this earth.  “Purpose” as in a reason WHY we do something.  And if the only purpose to a college education is because it just seemed like the right thing to do because everyone else was, there is a pretty good chance that the “stress” of making it happen can get to be too much.