Oh, so now Rick “Dog-Botherer” Santorum is saying President Obama is an elitist snob for wanting people to go to college. As the article explains, Obama never actually said what Santorum is accusing him of saying, but it figures that Santorum would be opposed to education. I mean, that’s the only way he can get anyone to vote for him, I’m sure. College graduates might be more likely to know that gay marriage doesn’t mean a man can marry a dog. I was wondering if Santorum was being hypocritical here, like all the Republican Ivy League graduates who insist the Ivy League is made up of left-wing snobs, but it looks like he went to public school all the way. And his highest degree is an MBA, which I understand carries slightly less clout than a nursery school diploma.
Hey, as an alumnus of the confusingly-named Indiana University of Pennsylvania, I’m not knocking Pennsylvania’s state schools. Well, except for Penn State, which is actually slightly more prestigious than IUP, but also really freaking creepy with their Cult of Joe Paterno. Anyway, Santorum aside, this does lead into something I’ve been meaning to address for a little while, which is how so many politicians push college as some kind of magic employment program. I’ve had lots of education, and I’m working part-time in retail. So why do we hear so many speeches from political leaders suggesting that a mere Associate’s degree is the key to well-paying work?
Look, I enjoyed college, and it is a necessary step to employment in many fields. That said, it’s not the ONLY step, and educated people are facing hard times as well. It almost seems preferable not to go to college, because you’ll still be unemployed, but at least you won’t have the student loan debts.
(I was fortunate enough to have my family give me money for college, so I didn’t need to take out loans, but I’d still have more money now if I hadn’t gone.) While I understand the logic behind saying your kid should either go to school or get a job, I feel I should also point out that sitting on the couch playing video games all day is a LOT cheaper than tuition. I think what the politicians are counting on people not realizing is that college isn’t intended to be a job training program. Sure, it depends on your major, but do you really expect someone straight out of high school to know what they’re going to do for a career, let alone whether that career would be at all practical? I certainly didn’t, and I really still don’t. So should college adjust to the times and start focusing more on job training? I’d say no. I think SOMEONE should focus on that, but I don’t know that it should be the responsibility of the academic world. To me, the halls of academia are largely isolated from the working world, and I feel a lot of people need that. Not that college isn’t a lot of work, but it’s a different kind of work. I used to say I went to college to put off getting a job, and while it wasn’t really that simple, there was a certain amount of truth to that. I do feel there needs to be career counseling that actually works, instead of just the “here’s a sample résumé, here are some interview tips, and now you’re on your own” sort that seems to be prominent now, but I also feel it should probably be separate from college.
VoVatia 
Or that there should be less dicotomy between “go to college” and “get job immediately”– more opportunities for more kinds of job training. Less tracking of high school kids into “smart kids all must take college prep classes, VoTech is for kids who aren’t good at school,” etc, etc. MAN, sometimes I really wish I’d done VoTech. It was just the SMART thing to do, future-planning-wise, and every kid who was any good in school was discouraged from it. I know, I am exactly the sort of person college was REALLY GOOD for, and even if the education system– never mind the HIGHER education system, I’m talking high school– was revamped to allow more practical options, I probably would have still done college, and grad school. Never mind that, higher education BEING the proper training ground for librarians has nothing to do with librarians making MONEY comparable to that amount of higher education in other careers….
Yeah, high schools tend to give the impression that VoTech is for the stupid kids who aren’t going to college, which is ridiculous, as it teaches skills that are always going to be in demand. Not that I could have done them, as I’m pretty much inept at anything practical, but I think people who do have an aptitude for that kind of thing should be encouraged.