Colleges exist to educate, not to entertain us

My two children graduated the Ohio K-12 system and participated in what used to be known as the “Post-secondary Enrollment Option” by taking college classes in high school. The older child decided not to pursue a college degree but a career in aircraft maintenance over 25 years ago at a technical school in another county. She seems happy with her decision and a good paying job in that field. Her husband pursued a similar path in the Ohio county where he grew up. They have both moved into management or administrative positions in that field.

My younger child used the college program fulltime instead of taking high school classes — except for a summer physical education class required for credit. He got an associate degree before his high school diploma, and his bachelor’s degree from OSU about a week after graduating high school almost 20 years ago. He also seems to be happy and doing very well in his career, a dual citizen still working on his educational credits in his host country, and serving in a financial management position in a construction firm. He says he is still happy he pursued his education that way.

Critics of such academic programs are slow to accept that students and the community can benefit through various options and paths to achieve education and career goals. Criticism used to point out the flow of the state portion of tax dollars from the local school district to the colleges. I say: TOUGH!

It also means it is less expensive for taxpayers and parents to educate their children that way by diverting a small percentage of state funds attached per student to the colleges instead (see Ohio Revised Code 3365.07). College programs allow increased opportunities in various fields, including foreign languages that two students

(as noted in an Oct. 9, Dayton Daily News article) pursued along with their technical classes. If local K-12 systems do not invest in these types of opportunities more directly, so be it.

I am not a fan of the current college system, either. Years ago, I got an aerospace engineering degree and a master’s in systems management. Today’s escalating costs and student loan debt have no rational justification. For example, an NBC News article in March 2020 noted “students are paying a rising cost, sometimes thousands of dollars, to support athletic programs — fees that don’t always appear on their tuition bills.”

So, who is dropping the ball? From my take, it is public officials and politicians from the federal government on down to the local school boards, overly influential alumni who think alma maters are there to entertain us, and donors who receive tax deductions the rest of us have to compensate for through our tax code and in student fees. Many taxpayers, including parents and students, approach these tax-exempt, nonprofit institutions for handouts secondary to the primary academic purpose and mission that is supposed to be beneficial to and necessary for the common good.

Schools and colleges are not there to entertain us. They are there to educate.

We need to all be aware of what is going on and demand better accountability of purpose when we vote and participate in our educational systems. As a parent and a citizen, I needed the educational systems to support my own children’s education as well as that of other children — not their entertainment.