Stop asking my kid what college they are going to



Here’s a crazy stat — almost 52% of all college students leave college without actually obtaining a degree. They are the dreaded “College Dropouts!”And those that don’t go to college are often considered “less than”.The other day I had to take my newly 16 year old son to urgent care, he had a small injury to his foot. While there, the Doctor, who I’m sure was just attempting to make conversation, asked him what college he was hoping to attend.I could see my son squirm in his seat, already struggling with feelings of not being enough in a world that puts an enormement amount of pressure on kids to navigate the mess we adults created for them.Einstein is said to have stated “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that create it”Remember how our parents didn’t grok rock n’roll? Yea…when you ask a kid that question, you sound like that. Even if they are planning on attending a 4-year university, they hate it. Trust me. And in case you didn’t know it. Gen X and Boomers and those before that are the mind that created this mess and we’re expecting our kids to clean it up and that’s pressure enough.Gen Z and Alpha kids have grown up with the climate clock ticking since the day they were born. Imagine hearing your whole life that the planet is dying. You, like a good little five-year-old take on the task of educating your grown-ups to refuse, reuse and recycle, you make it to middle school, live through a worldwide pandemic, where you are basically stuck in your house for almost 2 years, with the only thing to do is to live in a virtual reality with your friends, you emerge, the world is even more of a mess and your told, if you don’t go to college, your life is worthless, oh and by the way you need to fix this mess. I’m not being dramatic here. Having navigated two kids through high school, this is not an exaggeration.