Kindergarten and College: why the rush?

Maybe it was last night's Keyes Ave wine night conversation around kindergarten and how fast it is coming to our four-year-old babies that led me to post these comments after an interview with Katharine Brooks who wrote You Majored in What? Mapping your path from chaos to career. She was interviewed on Marketplace today and drew attention to the unfortunate fact that in a prolonged recession with deep job losses, college students are looking towards degrees that can land them a job asap. Here was my response:

If what is required for an economic jobs recovery is an entirely new industry, as mentioned in the weekly wrap, then we cannot afford to exchange creativity and ingenuity in higher education for practicality and efficiency. Sure, an engineering or computer science degree may seem the fast track to such a new industry. But why not as post-graduate study? Why not, instead of seeing liberal arts and science as either/or choices, encourage young people to pursue a liberal arts degree followed by graduate work that uses the foundation of reading, writing, and working diverse ideas into a coherent narrative that may then lead towards innovative industry? Or grant more time in liberal arts colleges to pursue more science? Why are we in such a rush to get our 22-year-olds into the job market? (end of comments to Marketplace)

The cynical side of me answers, "because then they will also be consumers, which our economy relies on!" but the parent in me knows that having a job gives young people a sense of security -- who wouldn't want that for their child? I was in no hurry to enter the job market after college. For one, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I also wanted to "give something back" after four years of indulging myself in ideas, writing, and friends to talk to about it all. And I sought adventure. Thailand was just the place for me those first years after college. I was saddened to learn that the abroad program that spurred my interest in southeast Asia is no longer being offered at St. Olaf. The trend for students is to study in China (emerging market) and South America (learning Spanish). Learning to speak Thai was hardly practical. But Thailand was entirely different than any place I had ever seen before. It shook me out of my idyllic college on the hill so that I could see beyond myself. I learned that as much as we differ from each other, we have as much to share. And, quite honestly, it was a lot of fun.

Has it led me to start the new, great industry that will yield 8 million jobs tomorrow so people can send their kids to college again? Probably not. Will it even be mentioned in my next job interview (well, seeing that there are none on the horizon...maybe?). Was I stone broke when I returned and worked at gruelling jobs (substitute teaching, need I say more?) to make the ends meet? Yes. But was it entirely worth it? A resounding yes. No rush kids -- 4 and 24 and 84 year olds alike!