Not everyone succeeds in the realm of higher education. This is not necessarily a bad thing because our society still needs people whose occupations do not require any college education. Some people stumble in the race to success due to a lack of effort, whereas other individuals seem to have the odds perpetually stacked against them.
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Everyone is capable of academic success, but some people arrive at the table better prepared than others.
The controversial truth is that not all people will succeed in school, no matter how badly some individuals may want it. And, in my opinion, this is perfectly okay. For instance, if everyone in our society becomes a surgeon, then the prestige and excellent pay that characterize this occupation would drop. It's the same story with nursing: if all 200 million+ adults in the United States had chosen to become nurses, then the status and solid middle-income pay associated with nursing would plummet.
We actually need ditch diggers, convenience store clerks, janitors, sanitation workers and other types of employees whose positions do not require education and training at the collegiate level. These workers are absolutely vital to our economy and I don't know what we'd do without them.
In addition, many young adults are being stirred toward college with a lack of direction when they would thrive better in a focused apprenticeship or trade school environment. Most of us have used the services of plumbers, mechanics, electricians and HVAC technicians. Workers in these fields earn decent money, too.
Moreover, parental stimulation and social class can be major influences in a person's success or failure in the realm of higher education. For example, a 12-year-old boy named Ernie wants to be a doctor someday. Ernie is being brought up in a poor household where his parents live from paycheck to paycheck. His mother is a seamstress who barely graduated from high school, reads at a 6th grade level, and does not know how to do math beyond basic arithmetic. His father is an illiterate short order cook who knows basic arithmetic and dropped out of school in the 9th grade.
Even though Ernie has four younger siblings, there are no books anywhere in their cramped apartment, and his parents are unable to assist with their children's homework assignments because they do not always understand the work their kids bring home. Financial stress exists in the household, and sometimes the electricity is disconnected for weeks at a time due to non-payment.
Ernie's parents have experienced nothing but personal failures with the educational system, and they do not discuss school with any of their kids. The parents are present-oriented, live in survival mode, remain totally focused on the 'here and now,' and do not ever discuss occasions that might dot their children's futures such as career planning and possible college attendance.
Most of us are cognizant that a future doctor must have a remarkably solid background in science and math, combined with exceptional reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Ernie's parents were not able to inculcate any of these things into him at home. Moreover, even the best teachers in the public school system can do only so much with unprepared students. No matter how passionately Ernie wants to be a doctor, the cumulative effects of his disadvantaged background are helping to obstruct his ambitious dreams. If he fails to become a doctor, too many people would be quick to blame his personal failings when greater forces were working against him since birth.
People need to be oriented toward education well before they reach those formative preschool years. A disadvantaged child enters the school system with a diminished vocabulary, academic skills that are not up to par, and more distractions in the household than their more advantaged classmates. In other words, some individuals start horribly behind in the trek to success.
