Recently in What About College? Category

I've had several comments lately from people thinking they can't be successful because they don't have any degrees. Here's an excerpt from a terrific article by my friend Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit...thank you, Chellie, for this timely article!

People tend to make too much out of credentials. It's all very well to get go to school, get a degree, and set up a professional practice. It means that you have accomplished a certain amount of study and discipline, and that's great.

But there are a great many career paths that don't depend on having a credential. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Steven Spielberg, for example. They were born to talents, skills, and creativity and went off on their own without getting a college degree or any certification. They just went to work and started doing it.

Once at a networking meeting I attended, each person took their turn giving their 30-second commercial about their business. All three of the people who gave their presentations right before me put emphasis on their credentials and certifications - one had a Masters Degree in Business, one had an MFCC, one had a Ph.D.

Then it was my turn. "I acknowledge these wonderful people who have such distinguished degrees," I began, then turned to the audience and smiled. "I on the other hand, have no credentials whatsoever. I'm a graduate of MSU - make stuff up. I'm a Financial Stress Reducer and I certified myself!"

In the end, it's the results that count. When you buy a painting, do you care what degrees the artist had? No. You just care that you think the painting is so beautiful that you want to own it and hang it in your house.

See the complete article here...

http://chellie.com/blog/?p=953

Here's a great article that is all about what we've been saying for years: the education system needs to offer career-driven alternatives to a four-year college!

The article quotes a Harvard University study that concluded: The current U.S. education system is failing to prepare millions of young adults for successful careers by providing a one-size-fits-all approach, and it should take a cue from its European counterparts by offering greater emphasis on occupational instruction.

The study notes that while much emphasis is placed in high school on going on to a four-year college, only 30% of young adults in the U.S. successfully complete a bachelor's degree.

AND, the study notes that only one-third of the jobs created in the coming years are expected to need a bachelor's degree or higher!

The report states that school reform should include more emphasis on career-driven alternatives to the present system.

High school students can start on this path now. Our students are stress-free, happy, confident, and successful. Check out our high school program at www.solimaracademy.com

See the complete article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41391078/ns/us_news-life/

Those of you who are familiar with our learning styles work know that we believe learning disabilities are basically non-existent. Everyone has different learning styles but schools are set up for just one! That's a set-up for failure, or at least mediocrity ("you're just average") for the majority of students.

 

Most often the students who are labeled with a learning disability have the same styles as people like Einstein and other well-known inventors, scientists, musicians, artists, actors, athletes, and entrepreneurs.

 

In many cases, college can get in the way of success for these students. In other cases, they find that college can be very different from high school and they take off. Again, the most important thing is to show these students evidence of their intelligence, their talents, and their skills, so that they will be confident about their abilities and make choices that are right for them.

 

We hope that these thoughts we've shared with you in this series of articles give you a different perspective about college and encourage you to leave the decision about whether to go or not to go up to your children, while providing a "safe" and open forum for discussion, answering their questions, and guiding them to research their options.

 

copyright 2010 by Willis & Hodson, Reflective Educational Perspectives LLC

Financial success in the work world is not correlated to good grades and/or graduating from particular colleges. Countless students graduate from college not having a clue what they will do next, or ending up with a job that is not even remotely related to their interests and/or talents and, often, one that they greatly dislike. On the other hand, the wealthiest in our country did not graduate from college and many didn't even finish high school.

We are not saying, forget college. What we are saying is the people who are the most successful are those who know what they are good at, believe in themselves, are motivated by their talents and what they are passionate about--and go from there. If college is for them, they'll go, and if it's not, it's not. Going to college is not in itself the key to success.

copyright 2010 Willis & Hodson, Reflective Educational Perspectives LLC

 

What about them? Some people are good at taking tests, some aren't. If your child isn't there are options. One is to take classes to learn test-taking skills. Another is to attend community college first. This option has a lot going for it: no entrance exam, ease into college, try things out while deciding on a major, etc., etc.

 

This is not "taking the easy way out" because you're "too lazy to go to a real college." Whatever helps a particular student be successful is right for that student.

 

Most community colleges are excellent and provide a wonderful education.

 

But what about getting the best jobs? Will opportunities be missed by taking this route? Stay tuned...

 

copyright 2010 by Willis & Hodson, Reflective Educational Perspectives LLC

If my children decide to go to college, will they be prepared?

 

We have found that children who are encouraged to pursue their talents and interests and to make their own decisions about careers and goals, will do what they need to do when they need to do it.

 

But will they get into the college of their choice, you ask?

 

Well, that depends. For example, those who are home schooling will find that there are some colleges that will not accept home schooled students. Our answer to that is, so what? There are thousands of colleges across the country! Chances are, if a college doesn't want you, for whatever reason, then you don't want to go there--it wouldn't be a good fit anyway!

 

The best thing is to seek out the college that best fits the particular student. We need to teach our children to find what works best for them, instead of agonizing over what they "should" be doing, and trying to fit the mold of what "everyone" else is doing.

copyright 2010 by Willis & Hodson, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC

In the United States we have a completely unexamined, knee-jerk belief that college is the most desirable path for all young people after high school graduation. In actual fact, this is not true. A recent article in the Los Angles Times points out although six out of ten high school students get into a college and attend college, more than 50% of them drop out. Only two out of every ten high school students completes college!

 

Of the students who don't go to college or drop out, there are some who don't have the skills to maintain the necessary grades to successfully complete their course work. However, we have seen that many students go to college because they think they are "supposed to", and when they don't have their own reasons for going, they don't have an anchor to hold them in place when the inevitable storms of daily student life hit.

 

It seems to us that your job as a parent is to help your children know what their strengths, talents, interests, and goals are--to help them find out what contribution is uniquely theirs to make. If, in the pursuit of their own interests, goals, and the development of their gifts they decide to go to college, they will have their own reasons for being there and will be among the two out of ten high school students who weather the academic storms and graduate from college.

 

Maybe your children, as many we have known, will want to take another route, such as developing their mechanical reasoning skills and pursuing auto mechanics. Or, perhaps you have a child who loves to invent and wants to become a chef. Some of our students have gone on to successful, fulfilling careers in cosmetology, body work, photography, and dance. Still others have started businesses of their own training horses, grooming dogs, teaching yoga, selling real estate, creating websites.

 

By believing in your children's unique gifts and encouraging them to pursue them, you make sure that whatever your children do after high school will have meaning to them, that they will be passionate about it and will stick with it when it gets difficult, and they will have a 99.9% chance of success. Isn't that a great deal better than having less than a 50% chance of succeeding in college?

copyright 2010 by Willis & Hodson, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC