In a country where a high school diploma used to be an acceptable level of education for entering the workforce, America has rapidly catapulted into a norm where now even a bachelor’s degree is scarcely enough to secure a job that will support the cost of living. The idea of not attending a four-year university seems absurd and downright crazy. Entry level positions that once required only a high school education now ask for a bachelor’s at least.
As someone who wanted to forgo the traditional college route and attend makeup school instead, I am unsure what my future would have held had I chosen not to attend a college. When I told my parents I didn’t want to go to a four-year school, my mom immediately rejected the idea and scheduled an appointment with my high school advisor almost instantaneously. I was then convinced to start applying to colleges and universities, to get a degree first, and to put something that I was genuinely passionate about on the backburner. I feel as though this is the case for a lot of high school seniors when looking to the future. As early as sophomore year, college readiness is thrown at the students and visible from every angle. It’s unavoidable, and college begins to seem as though it is the only option. However, there is no instruction on how to apply for loans, fill out the FAFSA or even the best route to paying off college debt.
Instead of being encouraged to follow their passions, more often than not kids are told to look at jobs that will provide them with financial stability. I have a number of friends in college that were forced into majors by their parents, not allowed to pick something they might actually want to pursue a career in. Young people are threatened with the thought of a life of “failure” and financial hardship if they do not pursue a college degree. Entering the workforce immediately after high school graduation is still an option, but often looked down upon and promised a life of poor-paying jobs and difficulty of professional advancement. As an 18-year-old, I felt backed into a corner, like there was no other choice but for me to go to college, get a degree, get a job and then work with hopes of eventually retiring. Now, I feel that pressure reinvigorated with a dilemma in regards to attending graduate school or not, even though the cost of college steadily increases at an almost unmanageable pace.
As the professional world advances, the qualifications required for young people to get even a base-level job increase as well. Where our generations predecessors had a bit more freedom in deciding where their futures lay, the young people of today are sadly not awarded that same affordance. The privilege of greater opportunities, it would seem, come with a price tag that forfeits real choice.
