Deeply devoted Christians may feel they are not fully accepted citizens of their country. This is not an unusual orientation for any person related to a movement, a group, or some other entity that is not treated with full acceptance by the majority and controllers of a nation advancing secular norms. Some alternatives to gain better treatment and attitude for minority groups or ideas are unrealistic, given the context of the human psyche and methods of thinking and management – and the sheer size of the world’s population. Sometimes the leading issue is competition, good and ill, that inevitably visits energetic people and nations. Not all negatives are sinister in nature. Competition inevitably follows with a cluster of related problems and benefits. Competition, for and against, is inevitable and sometimes complicated and unwanted.
At this writing public education faces difficult choices what with economic tension, casual (perhaps carnal) society, with contending or absent values, and other factors challenging peace and order. In some instances, educators are blaming the country for picking on them. It appears standard that nearly all public persons are being attacked in the media. Budgets are being cut, and there is outcry. Studies show that public education has suffered some decline in quality, and Americans have, with notable exceptions, fallen behind some other nations on the undergraduate level. Colleges are being criticized for escalation of cost, and for various other factors related to motivation, to unfulfilled expectations, but especially for cost of production. The Minneapolis newspaper responded to objection with a column entitled: College Degree, Still Worth The Cost, Despite the Risk. The columnist, Chris Farrell, wrote that almost daily he receives questions about whether or not a college education is worth the cost – in these times. His response has been: My simple answer is: Yes. A college education pays off over a lifetime in job and career prospects. That before taking into account the intangible values that come with a degree, such as deductive reasoning and the history of ideas (Liberal Arts). Farrell proceeded, with documentation, that though the education was expensive the graduate averaged about 70% more in income than the non-college person. That may increase what with the expanding need for better educated personnel in modern industry.
The Farrell statement quoted above is a rather good one. But, I would have shifted it a bit, making the occupational and lucrative ideal secondary, and the personal ideal primary. Both can and ought to ride together for a college education, but materialism is strong in the minds of many parents, passed to the children, that the ideal of education, known as liberal arts, is now a bit more subdued than it ought to be. One seeks an education first for life, not for occupation, but for natural life that is sustained by effective occupation. There is considerable difference in the orientation. Education should make better students of all, even those, like engineers, who have a tight schedule of courses. As a teaching assistant, given teaching assignment in an eminent university where I was completing a doctoral degree, I was told by one of the engineer personnel that I was one of the persons some of the students wanted for class so that they would broaden life experience in outside learnings. At that time, fifty plus years ago, engineers there were permitted five academic hours/credits taken outside of well over a hundred in the parent department. My recommendations to prospective collegians are: 1) choose that institution that aids personal aspirations for life, both personal and occupational life; 2) find the context for the best values and morality in all matters for life; 3) take some courses in school that are not identified with any occupational choice; 4) find courses that will advance specific (planned) objectives and creativity in professional life, but with the understanding that in the marketplace one is going to feel as if he or she must learn more; and, 5) make a plan that includes an approach to life when other matters are on hold. Successes are often tested in disappointments and delays. Education is for life worth and personal problem solving. It needs to make room for faith. In such a context everything goes together better, and is remembered more easily. The cost tensions related to education might be lightened with industry taking more responsibility for training many of its workers for the special disciplines they request, and some additional source be found to help support the research arm of institutions related to the human education context and professional advancement. Persons who can’t speak and/or write well are not fully educated, nor as prepared to lead. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020