Parents of kids!

[stickemhard3]

I have an 18 year old that cannot get into college (except Junior College) because he refused to apply himself and was satisfied with "Just Passing". I've explained to him, these are poor decisions coming home to roost. We have given him the option.. Junior College, Trade/Tech School, Military, or being accepted into a Trade Apprenticeship program.

I'm not here to tell you it is going to be OK and alright. I'm here as his father to move him to being a productive member of society, taxpayer, husband, father, etc. We are headed to Waco next week to tour TSTI for him to look at entering one of their programs.

Your son will really appreciate your support once he gets a little older. College isn't a good atmosphere for everyone to succeed. Most people just don't have the desire. My brother failed miserably in college. Went on to join the Marines after dropping out and does really well for him and his family. He is a Sales Manager at the age of 29 now. Once he became motivated, the results everyone knew he was capable of, started to happen. Effort and attitude can carry a person a long way.

[RR 314]

Man, I hope said principal's first language is Mandarin as that was terribly written in English. :-)

I agree with the sentiments expressed about hard work vs. education and my BS meter is questioning whether this letter is genuine. I think it was photoshopped!

[Phillip Fields]

It's not always about hard work vs education. It is very easy to combine the 2. A hard worker with an education is almost always going to have a leg up over a hard worker without an education.

[RiverRat1]

Singapore doesn't tolerate screwups, everything works itself out. One of the lowest crime rates in the world, if not the lowest. In Singapore there are consequences for people's actions.

So just like here where if you don't work you don't eat? If you're a politician and you lie you get booted out? The kids who get in college are the ones with the best grades in HS? And no one in either place has more than 2 or 3 criminal convictions because they're dealt with?

[Buckley99]

Life is results driven. Life is also about learning from failure and overcoming/mitigating your inefficiencies. Allowing my kid to strive for a grade of 65 in any class just because that subject isn't his/hers best subject, isn't going to happen. As parents it is our job to push our children and help them succeed. I will not beat my child for a bad grade but I will dang sure use that failure as teaching point. I hope to be involved with my children's life to a degree that will allow me to know when they are slacking in a class and when they are honestly struggling. You can't take the easy route as a parent. A little common sense and understanding why your child is struggling needs to be applied.

This ^^^^

[LiftAndShoot]

From an American perspective, I couldn't possibly disagree with the sentiment more. I think it's extremely important not to overreact or mistreat your children based on a test score, but - "hey don't worry about it, you're an artist," is laughably terrible as an excuse for anything (except the artistic pursuit in question). I will hold my son and daughters accountable to their capability because it's their initiative, dedication, and ability to demonstrate their capability that's going to carry them in life. This letter, effectively, is asking parents to accept sub-par performance from their children because maybe they aren't quite so good in math. I just...don't think that's acceptable. If there's such a huge reactionary problem to poor exams - get better teachers, expect more out of students, and/or don't give the exam. But this...this is just bad.

[Codie]

I am not a college graduate...I wish I was, but here we are... I have recently taken over the family business and I'm super fortunate to have the "previous owners" to talk with anytime I want. Some times it seems like I'm now trying to learn 40 years of their experience with general business stuff that they learned the hard way when forced to. Not to minimize their knowledge or under value it, but it seems like this is where I'm most lacking in my "education" such as it is.

I'm, trying to look forward to my son reaching college age, and trying to think about how to help steer him along toward a career, and also work my way through this new learning phase at the same time. It seems to me that a 2 year general business, or business management type degree would be the most useful to any young person who is not wanting to specialize and focus on a specific part of a specific field. I know a lot of people who go to college pick a degree and never use it specifically because they just have to take "A" job to get going, and end up staying in that field.

I guess what I'm asking is...short of a Dr, Lawyer, or some other very specialized field...is a 4 yr degree worth it anymore?

No sir I don't believe it is in a lot of cases - I spent 4 yrs in college (the first person in my entire family tree to go to college, better yet graduate from college) and it took me 12 yrs post college degree to start making what I would consider "good" money ($75k + annually) (keep in mind I was not willing to live/work in the city so that limited my options substantially). My younger brother went to Wyotech in Laramie Wyoming for 18 months out of high school and was hired by Sewell automotive companies in Dallas after getting his associates degree from Wyotech and was making $75k+ right from the very start of his career with them. He is now the service manager of Sewell Cadillac in Dallas and makes "stupid" money at the age of 32. Just one of MANY examples out there today of not needing a 4yr degree to get to where you want to go.

[Dale Moser]

It's obvious many of you did not get "high marks" in reading comprehension…


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[BitBackShot]

Problem with the logic of that letter is in America for every kid that's getting bad grades because they're some brilliant entrepreneur that's bored, there are like 200 that are getting bad grades because they're lazy and/or have parents that don't care.

[Bill]

You need to realize Singapore is near the top of the list of the best educational systems. The academic pressure on the children to perform, largely Asian professional parents is insane. Nice letter, though.




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[curtintex]

It's not always about hard work vs education. It is very easy to combine the 2. A hard worker with an education is almost always going to have a leg up over a hard worker without an education.

I agree, but you're going to have to define education more clearly. An education in everything from English to Astrophysics can be obtained at your local library, not to mention with the click of a mouse. Knowledge that one seeks out is much more affective than knowledge "forced" upon them.....as Plato said, "Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

Certainly, there are careers where a formal education is necessary, but there aren't many. The American formal education system is a scam of debt and ineptitude. My daughter shouldn't have needed to sit in a Geology class to get her business degree. Furthermore, I'd argue she'd have gotten a helluva lot better education on business by following me around for those 3.5 years...some good, some bad, but all related to actual business. As Mark Twain put it, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

I know this is an age-old argument, but I believe a system that has been under fire from some the greatest minds of the last millennium, has only gotten worse with time.

But they sure have great football teams.

[jer_james]

I think the World went wrong when folks tried to take the individual out of the problem, and make one solution for everyone.

We have spoken about it here before. I have a wide array to deal with when it comes to my 4. It would absolutely do no good whatsoever to correct them the same, or praise them the same even.

Personalities and hard work should be taken into consideration when doing anything. I know when my kids have tried. My Girls and Son work their butts off, and their work determines the level of my correction, and praise.

And if you fall short, you fall short and you have to accept that. Deal with it.

[Atfulldraw]

For most, college will be a huge waste of time and money.

My kid is under the spell of her mother, who spent time and money getting an undergraduate, three masters degrees, and 90% of a doctorate degree to end up teaching piano, so she thinks she needs to go to college.

Her mother's parents thought the arts college was the place to send their artist children and waste money, but you can now pile three of them together and not get a six figure salary.

The world has changed.
I've got a doctorate degree but make a living climbing a ladder - mostly I see those seven years as years of income I missed out on.


I wish that someone would put seven years of my current salary into an account for me and backdate the interest to twenty years ago.

I'd be on an island staring at a tiny umbrella.

[Buckley99]

No sir I don't believe it is in a lot of cases - I spent 4 yrs in college (the first person in my entire family tree to go to college, better yet graduate from college) and it took me 12 yrs post college degree to start making what I would consider "good" money ($75k + annually) (keep in mind I was not willing to live/work in the city so that limited my options substantially). My younger brother went to Wyotech in Laramie Wyoming for 18 months out of high school and was hired by Sewell automotive companies in Dallas after getting his associates degree from Wyotech and was making $75k+ right from the very start of his career with them. He is now the service manager of Sewell Cadillac in Dallas and makes "stupid" money at the age of 32. Just one of MANY examples out there today of not needing a 4yr degree to get to where you want to go.

His name isn't Kirkland, is it?

[Codie]

His name isn't Kirkland, is it?

no sir -