Sandra Brown

<snip>Sandra, I have to disagree here. The point, for me, about HE is
choice.
The choice whether to go to college, or train as an apprentice, or do
nothing, or get pregnant at sixteen (I hope not, but it's a choice!) Some
people's God-given gifts will not serve them in coolege. Mine would have,
but I chose not to go.

The world would be a better place without the pursuit of money, but that's
how it is. The world would be a better place without forcing people into
boxes that don't fit them. The world would be a better place if people knew
what they were, and stopped trying to be what they aren't. That's my
soapbox time over, I'll hand over to someone else!<snip>

I completely agree with you, Tracy. My point is that there should be that
opportunity for all who desire it, not just those who can afford it. I went
to college for two years and couldn't learn what I wanted to learn there. I
spent several years midwifing, several years unschooling young children, and
in the middle of all that I am a volunteer administrator for an organization
that I srongly believe in and a permaculture activist working together to
build a sustainable community in my area. It is very hard for people to
live by their true values and principles in our society where we are judged
by money and acheivement. My point about Higher Ed was that if there isn't
free choice and the option, it is exclusive and elitist.

A lot of people had dreams of what they wanted to do, just ask your parents
and your grandparents. My father wanted to be an architect, but became a
pharmacist beacuse the corner drug store where he worked through high school
paid his way through college. My father-in-law wanted to be a veterinarian,
but could not get in to college because of poor grades and lack of money.
He ended up working in factories his whole life. My mother wanted to be a
doctor, and well, she just saw no other option than to have six kids and be
home with them, but we won't go there.

Here in Michigan, the governor and the State Board of Education are
constantly trying to figure out how to get the kids in high school to
prepare for the jobs that are available, namely factory work. Most of these
jobs don't require a college education, and just a month or so our local
paper the governor was touting this as wonderful for the economy, that there
are all of these *great* jobs that don't require a college ed. This sickens
me!!!!! No mention of what kind of society we want to live in, what gifts
and skills all of these young people have, what kind of important work they
want to do with their lives.

There should be the option to go to school or not, to learn by doing and
apprenticeship instead of only by books and tests, to raise a family or make
a million. I guess that instead of saying we should be working for
universal higher education, what I really meant to say was the goal is the
*option* for *everyone* to have a higher education if they so choose. Would
you agree here?

Instead, we have "compulsory education" for pre-schoolers, and a job market
that is exclusive and elitist. Is there any wonder that drug use,
depression, and suicide is rampant among teenagers?

Sandra Brown
Ann Arbor, MI where I'll be making sauce, salsa, and pickles all week long