For the first time in 1,086 posts, we have a continuation of the same topic. With the thought-provoking responses from Saturday’s entry, and a lively conversation with Lars about it on the back porch last evening, I figured it was worth another beatdown.

The cost of college in the past 30 years has gone up tenfold. Health care has only gone up sixfold, and inflation has only gone up threefold. Not only is it a scam, but the college presidents know it. That’s why they keep raising tuition. – James Altucher, New York–based venture capitalist and finance writer

So, we have the third bubble in recent years. First the dot-com disaster, then the housing/mortgage market — and now this. The college bubble. Indeed, according to an informative article in New York magazine, record numbers of high school students are entering college, but over half leave without graduating, taking mountains of debt along for the ride. Still, people keep enrolling like there’s no tomorrow. Someday, it has to end. And I predict it will end badly. Hmmm…university bailouts, mayhap?

Honestly, could it have something to do with forcing 17-year-old kids to make enormous life and career decisions while they’re still living with their parents and have never once ventured out into the real world? I know there are exceptions — lots of them, even. There always are. But we’re talking percentages here that should really shock and awe. This is not to say that grownups can’t entertain career changes; it happens all the time. But to pledge two hundred grand for a four-year experiment? Insanity.

I had an incomplete undergrad experience back in the 70s, and paid for the privilege for the next 10 years, while I learned what I really wanted to be and do and hold dear. If only I’d reversed that order. But, everyone was going to college, and I wanted to sing on Broadway, and no way could I ever be a successful performer without a college education, right? [Insert names of countless artists who did just that.]

Who knows what would have happened if I’d just dropped everything after high school, moved to NYC, and started chasing the dream. Maybe nothing. Maybe something big. No matter, because what ended up happening to me (Seamus and Lars) was hands-down the biggest blessing and greatest “achievement” of my life. I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.

Thing is, you see…it took me a good 30 years to evolve to this point, and the collegiate experience was absolutely nothing more than, as BoomR alluded to yesterday, a means to an end. Truly, it has no more import than a blip on the radar screen. Have you thought about how many of your college courses were absolute jokes, taught by well-meaning profs who probably hadn’t stepped off campus in years? Music ed. majors know exactly what I’m talking about, and I’m sure people from other disciplines can relate as well. Irrelevance ran unabated throughout my undergraduate AND graduate experiences — especially at the doctoral level, shoo-eee. And I still paid top dollar to listen to it all. Am I mental?

I believe the crystal castle of tenure, the war for enrollment numbers, corporate greed, inequitable endowments and the inability for small schools to compete are all swirling around in an oversized Osterizer right now, and the cocktail is bitter and dangerous. When will American families put their collective feet down and give up the Howard Beale rebel yell? It’s like we’re sheep, led about on a leash and forced to eat whatever nasty gruel the farmer puts in front of us. How do I know this? Baaaa.

It’s too bad the Thiel Fellowship targets only 24 people. There are millions of young minds out there with great ideas. If they hone their skills at university and feel good about it, and end up with gainful employment because of it, then I’m the first to congratulate. It’s getting out of the system without facing immediate financial asphyxiation that worries me. How long are we going to stand for it? Can we learn something from countries that subsidize post-secondary education? Of course, the entrance guidelines are much more stringent. And my oh my, doesn’t that bring on a whole ‘nother kettle of discussion fish…

Happy Monday – and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOOMR! Does it feel any different than 51?

…and it isn’t getting up.

Lately, I’ve been reading more and more (from smart people) about how the university system in America is broken, citing ridiculous cost and pervasive irrelevance. They also say that in many cases, college is unnecessary. By-and-large, with the exception of the requirements of highly technical fields like medicine, engineering, and other areas which involve protecting the public health, I agree with that sentiment.

Those of you who went to college, look back on your courses of study. Truly, honestly ask yourself: could you have learned what you learned in college on your own somehow? I know I could have. In fact, when I went to undergrad school at age 31, I tested out of all required English courses (via the CLEP). But more importantly, I also tested out of both years of aural training classes, and both years of conducting. Not because I was fabulous, but because I learned the stuff through experience. Watching and doing.

I’m not saying that Piagetian theory, content area reading, geology, psychology, golf, communications, the history of Christianity in America, and classroom technology (which, in my day, was filmstrip and movie projectors, opaque projectors, Ellison machines, etc.) are useless. I’m saying that I regret going into debt for the rest of my life for the privilege of learning about that which I could learn and do on my own.

For many, college is like adult kindergarten, with entry-level coursework and lots of play time — but with an enormous price tag. If you add in graduate degrees, a student can easily rack up six-figure debt (ask me how I know this), and never hope to make enough to pay it off early.

For those families who worked and saved to pay for their child’s entire education in cash, I salute you. I personally know no one who is doing that right now — even those parents who have significant savings put back. It’s outrageous; college is just too expensive for normal folks. And as is the case with a college near me, untold millions spent on development, renovation and landscaping alone have only one outlet in order for the uni to recoup its tremendous costs: passing the “savings” on to the students. They have to, in order to remain competitive in a corporatized education market.

<snark>Wait…market? Competition? You mean that colleges are a business? </snark>

Going to college is one of the biggest areas of stress for young people, and the madness is starting earlier and earlier as universities try to romance students at increasingly younger ages through sports and arts programs, workshops, seminars and “camps” for kids, the post-secondary option in high schools, and “college nights” held in community centers and school cafeterias for the sole purpose of recruitment. It’s insane; circling sharks in a sea of meat. I could write all day about it (but no worries, I won’t).

So, to restate my thesis: I submit that nearly everything I learned in college for my particular major, I could have learned just as well on my own, and I have the hard evidence to prove it. BoomR and Lori remember me from my pre-degree days. Was I any less of a musician and choral director then, in your opinion? I look back on my experience vocal directing college shows, and even directing my alma mater’s vocal jazz ensemble — all before I even had an undergrad degree.

Why was I able to test out of aural training? Because I was in a band for over a decade before undergrad, transcribing stuff from records and writing harmony parts and singing with a partner. Why was I able to test out of conducting classes? Because I’d spent years watching and learning the technique (truthfully, my ex-husband taught me an awful lot about conducting style), then applying it to my own groups. I remember everything about those learning years — but virtually nothing about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. BUT — if I needed to, I could look it up in a book.

All right, if you’re still with me, I apologize. The fingers was flyin’ this morning! I have to get going — appointment in Akron today, then on to a graduation party for Country Mouse’s son, who is off to college this fall. Heh heh.

FO

Thanks for the affirmation, Norman Bates. (In an age of computer generated images enabling filmmakers to present a realistic show of ripping off people’s heads or running them over with trains, this scene is a refreshing reminder of the emotions real acting — no FX involved — can generate. If you are not at least a little creeped out by the pure psychosis Anthony Perkins exuded with just his facial expressions, you are not human.)

OK. I sense madness in the coming weeks. Too many uncertainties. One good thing, though — I’ve made some snail’s pace progress on the Backyard Reclamation Project. To clarify: we are reclaiming our back yard from the overgrowth, weeds, critters, and scary green things. Behold the initial evidence (sorry about the “after” shot lighting — I took it at dawn):

I hated that half dead wild rose bush anyway. It was like the Thing That Eats Worlds. But a few dianthus, petunias and marigolds, along with a Minuteman hosta plant on the far end spruced things up nicely. Oh, and don’t forget the garage paintover. I couldn’t move my arms for two days.

So what’s in store for you this weekend, my lovely fiends? Anything fun planned?