The best essays in my opinion are the ones which challenge people to reconsider the more's and folkways of our culture. People are bound to cherry pick the statements made in any essay which seem to question whether they might have kinda, sorta, drifted into a certain path following the herd. But maybe that is not such a bad thing. After all, it is never too late to change course. When we become someone whose life reflects what is most dear to our hearts we are bound to be happy. For such a person no justification for the life he or she has made is required.
There are so many external expectations and peer pressures that too often we tend to forget our roots as a nation of explorers. Ours. like most cultures was built on conquest, but our forefathers did something greater, they proved hard work and determination, along with the constitutional freedom to pursue our dreams could raise the quality of life for everyone. We are a people of conscience, The USA is the only country in the history of the world to have fought a war to end the slavery of a minority of our citizens! No matter what anyone says, it is undeniable that we shape our own futures or else die trying.
Now here we are sharing the information age. Isn't it time we reflect a bit about how we think about the institution of education as a whole? I think how we do that needs to change.
Taking a path of debt, simply to get a pat on the back from our family or our friends does not always make it the best path for us. And some of us flatly cannot afford the tuition. If there is no door opening to where we wish to go it might be possible to carve out our own opening. Whoever you really want to be, you can be that and there is no reason to let anyone tell you otherwise.
In fact, the best path is the path that works for you. At the core it is much better to be truly happy where we are and what we are doing in our lives. This is not alwayssomething that can be bought or sold (like a degree from an expensive school) it is about making the right choice, in a series of hard choices! And comparing the options in the right way. Sometimes one path is not lessor, equal, nor better.Education no matter how or where it is obtained is still education. It will bring opportunities if it is used wisely. When comparing any two options it is important to realize that they hold individual value which cannot be quantified. A SWOT analysis sometimes provides no clear advantage to taking one opportunity path over the other. It is up to the individual to decide which choice will hold more meaning for her. That can be quite different for everyone.
That said, there is also more than one way to maturity and self actualization, Maslow's pinnacle of achievement. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that the industrial nature of men (paraphrasing from what I can remember of his essay "Self Reliance") is his capacity for attributes of effort and diligence that ultimately leads to competency. It is just narrow minded to think that institutionalized education is right for everyone. It is also a grave injustice to marginalize human beings based on paper merit alone.
An example of this phenomenon which I have seen all too often in the workplace is as follows: I knew a matriarch named Ann of fine qualities who was working as a lowly line worker at a popular retail store for decades without due promotion. Meanwhile scores of young twenty something degree holders became Ann's supervisor, causing this loyal and long standing (minority) woman to train those book smart, yet utterly unprepared young people on how to do their jobs! The "paper educated" move onto other opportunities for the knowledge and experience they gain in a entry level "leadership position". Their efforts more often than not were recognized, but Ann only sees management through a glass ceiling.
I think this happens so much partly because we have collectively subscribed to a load of crap about what education really means. To be absolutely clear I don't think this unfairness is always intentional but I do think that as a matter of procedure, we can do better than that. We can learn to reward competency whenever, in whoever and wherever it may occur. We can assign a numerical equivalent for key performance indicators and have a scorecard which adds up equal paper merit.
In many occupations this kind of recognition for on the job experience is already the practice. I am not claiming that we must reinvent the wheel. We all know the numbers, the cost of a college education today has fundamentally changed the playing field. What is perplexing is that this occurred at the same time that it became possible for one to acquire the knowledge necessary to design an architectural skyscraper by studying a free non credited online course!.
It is time to take a good look around and a perform a bit of revision with the more outdated SOP's to which we are clinging so tightly. Performance assessments should hold a higher value than they do at most organizations. Jack Welch has lectured tirelessly on the topic of Human Resources needing to be on par with finance and there is at least some merit to his arguments.
A few years ago when I started off working I recognized that the only way to be adequately rewarded for my workaholic study habits would be by pursuing ownership. This was liberating in the respect that I could concentrate on what really mattered to me. For career people unfortunately reward and chance for advancement is often limited by biased unwritten policy. What is perhaps worse is that this backwards "do as we always have done it" mentality. That stubborn attitude impedes the organization from getting the best people into leadership positions.This isn't a social action call per say, it is a business minded call to action. Companies which have provided in house training and advancement opportunities for all employees has been proven to propel growth. Look at Goodwill. I expect this commentary to be cherry picked, and disputed but that is great, when there is "conflict" there is thought happening.
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