Page 31 - Considering College

The combination of thinking and doing should be valued in higher education. In many
universities, programs combining craft, emotive power and technical expertise, such as art,

design, music and dance, are held in high regard. WT’s Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts
and Humanities is an example. However, these skill-based capabilities are different from the

application-driven pursuits that we typically call trades. Any separation of thinking and doing
serves no one well.

In 2016, seventy percent of high school graduates enrolled in post-secondary educational
experiences. Couple this understanding with the fact that nationally 34% of college graduates with

average indebtedness near $30,000 are underemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Board of
New York. They are working in jobs that require no college degree.

Hindsight creates in many diploma and promissory note holders envy for jobs that require

certification of skill with nearly guaranteed employment and low or no debt. Please don’t deem
these observations regarding gainful employment to be “thick-skulled,” or represent a lack of

appreciation for critical thinking skills often, but not always, accompanying a rigorous
undergraduate education. Rather, the recognition is that both can be accomplished without
negative impact on either.

Hindsight creates in many diploma and promissory note holders envy for

jobs that require certification of skill with nearly guaranteed

employment and low or no debt. Please don’t deem these observations
regarding gainful employment to be “thick-skulled,” or represent a lack of

appreciation for critical thinking skills often, but not always, accompanying a
rigorous undergraduate education. Rather, the recognition is that both

can be accomplished without negative impact on either.

This is South Plains/Panhandle pragmatism at work.

If, when considering colleges, you sense on a campus dismissiveness regarding trades, vocations

and knowledge applied to some necessary and useful task, leave. They are not as smart as they
want you to think. If you believe that Rabbi Judah’s observation would not be appreciated or seen

as a diminishment of being an educated human being, get in your car (hopefully pronounced safe
by someone who holds Automotive Service Excellence Credentials) and drive to another campus—

one where the hand meets the mind.