Higher Education

I guess this was a timely subject considering a new Student Aid bill was signed into law today.

For the record, I went to a university for one year and a business college for almost five more years. In my defense, the year at university kind of put me on the right track with what I wanted to specialize in and only four of the five years at business college were considered full time. In the end, I did earn a Bachelor Degree.

I hope the changes made in today's bill make things more affordable. Cost scares far too many people away from furthering their education. I know it can't be free, but it seems like the cost of college goes up every year. It did for me when I was in school. My first year at a university ran me around $7,500 and that was after my scholarships and financial aid. My first year at business college was almost totally covered by financial aid, and the following three and a half years I barely received any.

As far as the employment value is concerned, I think higher education has taken quite a hit in the past few decades. When my parents were college aged, a degree was a guarantee that you'd earn an upper middle class salary or higher. You'd never have to worry about needing a job. Things have surely changed. A degree today doesn't guarantee you much of anything. It looks good on a resume, but experience can look equally good.

I think a degree does still show potential employers that you're willing to voluntarily commit to something that betters yourself. It shows that you've put in two to four years of determination and effort.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that a lack of a degree should keep people from being hired for professional work. I've worked with many talented people over the years that never set foot in a college classroom.

I do, however, find great value in a college education despite it's lack of guarantees. What I find of such great value was at first a stumbling block for me. I majored in Graphic Communications, heavy on art and creativity. When my college demanded that I take tons of seemingly unrelated classes, I initially felt that I was wasting my money. It seemed to me that they were simply padding the degree to collect extra funds. By the time I earned my Bachelor degree, I felt very different.

I now see that all of those group dynamics, psychology, and social science classes helped teach me about people's motivations, a handy set of insights to have when designing advertising. Learning the basics of micro and macro economics, statistical methods, creative writing, not to mention the myriad variety of people I had worked, learned, and studied with, it all makes me much more well rounded. My focus isn't so small that I miss bigger concepts.

Okay, in statistics class the more I understood the more my head hurt, and every writing teacher I had tried to talk me into a different career path. In hind-sight, it was all worth it, and I highly recommend it.

I also learned to love learning. I loved discussing literature with fellow students, especially when the instructor was challenging us every week. I loved picking topics for papers and learning everything I could get my hands on about that subject. I miss a lot of these things about college. I think I understand the professional student more clearly now.

I hope we can turn things around a bit. I hope a college education brings more guarantees in the future. I hope things get more affordable. I hope these things because I believe that you emerge a better person on the other end of your educational experience. I think it makes you a more open minded, eager learning, well rounded individual. Our world can surely use more people like that.

Weekend Randomness: March 29th

• My wife and I are both currently uninsured and sick. I guess this will be our benchmark to see how well we (or should I say our immune systems) can handle this set up.
• I've been scouring the internet for home remedies to sinus infections. Drinking apple cider vinegar isn't fun, but it does seem to give some relief.
• Tons of praise for Restaurant.com. If you're in any way on a budget but crave that sit down restaurant experience, they can save you a ton of money. If you're lucky enough to have the 80% discount code, even more so.
• We ate out at a Mexican restaurant Friday night for $14 including tip. Without the coupon we purchased from Restaurant.com the bill would have been about $39. A $25 gift certificate was only $2, we had to spend $35 at the restaurant.
• On a related note: Ground beef, guacamole, and shredded lettuce - one of my favorite trifectas.
• My wife has persuaded me to read a vampire novel. No. Not that one. It's the series that the True Blood HBO show is based on. In my defense, I love horror fiction anyway, and this series is a little less teeny bopper, but still pretty female-point-of-view oriented. I found it a bit uneven. It started really quirky and comedic, but didn't carry through with that. I still enjoyed it. It was still pretty well done, but it was no Anne Rice.
• Started another Brennan Manning book last night. I love that he doesn't sugar coat anything, and points out things many wouldn't even think to point out. Case in point, when talking about Jesus' lineage, he points out that there were prostitutes, people pretending to be prostitutes, and adultery that ended with murder. His point? God doesn't prefer Saints. Not a huge revelation. Just nice to see it brought up with less gloss.
• I've signed a few petitions lately (online). I love that my state representatives are at least acknowledging me, but I'm not too crazy about the extra attention I'm getting from "related" causes. I've always loved wolves, so I sign a petition to keep them protected, and a few weeks later I get three different wildlife groups emailing me asking for donations. Worse is the actual snail mail I get that's fear mongering. Who needs more fear? I don't need DVDs about nuclear war or the threats of terrorism. I haven't been in a coma for the past thirty years.
• I love that there's a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine, but there's no way it could live up to all the expectations my imagination comes up with based on the title alone.
• My wife started a new job today. Set in stone hours. Full-time. Eventual benefits available. Hopefully less stressful for her.
• We had a new accountant do our taxes this year at half the cost of our usual people. We signed a release form after paying them, but the lady working the check out desk mistakenly shoved the form in with our taxes. After waiting four weeks for our return, I decided to contact the IRS to see what the hold up was. They, of course, had no record of our taxes being filed. A quick call to the accountant cleared that up. Turns out that paranoid little voice in the back of my head was right this time.
• Riding around with me this weekend, Owen hears the lyric, "in a worn out suit and tie," and asks, "Why is the guy in this song telling us to die?" Even when you give them clean lyrics, you have to be concerned that they're getting the wrong message.
• The Pokemon cartoons are strange to me. My son likes to watch them, but I don't think he understands that they're based on a game of some sort. What's with all the I'm a winner, you're a loser talk. Seems like that could be giving our kids complexes.
• Higher education soon to follow.

Illegal Immigration

My first Challenge response. Today's subject: Illegal Immigration. I'm going to approach this from the standpoint that we're talking about people that either sneak into our country or don't exactly leave when they're expected to. I'm giddy to begin writing because it's such a controversial subject. People have strong opinions. Allow me to dive into mine.

I think we over react to this subject most of the time. My feelings on this can be divided into two separate influences: First, I was raised and educated to believe that America is a country that thrives on diversity giving people from all over the globe the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Secondly, my spiritual convictions back up the idea that we should value all people as equal no matter where they're hailing from.

The First Influence:

I often wonder if my more liberal leanings weren't picked up in early grade school. We used to sing these songs about America being a melting pot, that everyone was welcome. I believe there was even a Schoolhouse Rock! animated cartoon-o-merical on during Saturday morning cartoon marathons.

These ideas have left me open to the idea that what sets our country apart is our welcoming nature, our passion for being diverse. We also proudly refer to ourselves as the land of opportunity. In one way or another, I think the outside world often perceives that about us to. We throw these vibes out there, and then we're upset when people do desperate things to get here.

The Second Influence:

Even in the Old Testament, we have scriptures that tell us to care for the foreigner, the alien. There are instructions not to take advantage of them.

Of course there are scriptures that also tell us that we are supposed to follow the powers and principalities dictated by the lands we call home. We're supposed to follow the law. It's illegal for people to sneak into our country based on our country's laws.

In this conflict, law versus care, I have to think about Jesus. To me he's the living embodiment of love trumping legality.

I know that we have official, legal ways of obtaining entry into our country. I know there's a process for citizenship and even a process to just kind of hang out for a while. I also know that these processes aren't free. I'd do just about anything for my family. If I had grown up in a less hospitable country and perceived that America had a better life to offer, I might do desperate things to get here. Is it ideal that people are sneaking in? No. But it's happening, and it's sometimes a more realistic way for some people.

I don't think putting up a wall is the best solution. People would still find a way in, and it kind of sends a negative message. Not to mention, it just plain would look odd. We might try to make the legal entry into our country easier or offer added aid to those that might not have the monetary means. I think that's pretty unrealistic though.

So what do we do with all of the illegal immigrants that have made it in and are found out? I think we have to take the time to look at every case. I think that's the humane thing to do. I think that carries more of the melting pot, come make yourself a great life in the greatest country in the world vibe. I know it's hard to ask judges to weigh each case. That's kind of why we have blanket laws, but I think there are things to consider:

Do they already have established families here?

Have they committed any criminal acts?

How are they assimilating?

Are they contributing to society?

Will sending them back put them in danger?

That last one is a big one to me. I think the blanket law ignores that possibility too often. I remember reading about cases of African young women facing horrible mutilation upon returning to their homeland. I think we need to be a safe haven.

Do I think illegal immigrants steal American jobs? I think outsourcing does far more harm. I won't go into my entire rant here, but that alone is likely far worse of a drain on American jobs.

I also read multiple reports on businesses in the U.S. that rely on immigrants for their livelihood. I think it's fair to say there are many jobs in this country that most Americans simply won't do especially considering the wages offered for such work.

There was a dairy farmer in Wisconsin that claimed that he'd go out of business if his immigrant workforce was taken away. He needed people to work long, hard hours on his farm for minimum wage. He was rarely able to find anyone other than immigrant workers, and he required a constant, large group of people.

When asked what he did when he found out workers weren't legal, he had to pause. They were using a pretty strict screening process, but sometimes they were duped. Sometimes paper work was forged or misrepresented. In other cases, people wouldn't complete Citizenship before their green card expired. In most cases, he explained, people were deported. He got a bit emotional then.

The problem being, he worked shoulder to shoulder with these people. They become his friends. He had often helped them find affordable homes. He often helped them in setting up a stable living environment for their families. He said that he and his family had started working as closely as possible with their workers to make sure that they were able to obtain Citizenship legally. He was pointing out that, sometimes, even when people arrive here legally, they aren't given enough support to operate effectively in our society.

Are there horror stories? Sure. Like anything in this world, nothing is perfect. There will always be bad apples. That's the known risk we take when we portray ourselves as a welcoming nation. We can't pick and choose who gets the invite.

I think that's what we need to keep in mind. These are people. If they're trying to better themselves, raise families, contribute to our country, I think we need to offer second chances to do things the right way. I think that's the kind of country I want to live in, a country of second chances, a country that values people over laws. We've got a long way to go, but I'll take mercy over legality any day.

From a more spiritual standpoint: I don't think God intended our world to have so many borders. Sometimes it's hard to reconcile how you feel about your country with how you suspect life was really intended on this big rock of ours.

Business/Leaves Me Confused.

Well, no one has challenged me by asking me to write about something difficult yet. Come on guys. So, I guess I'll jump into what's on my mind today.

I earned my degree from a business college. Stop laughing at me. It's not nice. I didn't really major in anything too business heavy, but I like to think I learned a thing or two about business, profits, customer satisfaction, supply and demand. It seems like some of it is pretty common sense anyway.

So, I don't get the actions of some of the struggling businesses out there right now. Two really stick out to me: The U.S. Postal Service and Blockbuster Video. It seems like they're using the same business model lately: The demand for their services is waning, and they counter this by raising prices and cutting perks. That makes no sense to me.

To be up front, I've always been hard on the Postal Service. I'm sure their infrastructure is very complicated and demands lots of man power, but email has been around for a long time now. I know that making mail delivery cheaper wasn't much of an option, but regularly making it more expensive just makes no sense to me. Now they're talking about dropping Saturday delivery all together.

In business, you look at your competition's strengths and weaknesses. You try to do better at the things they're weakest at and counter the things they're strongest with. Email is free and available 24/7. I'm scratching my head that they increase prices and cut back on days.

Blockbuster's strategy for competing with Netflix and online rentals was to seemingly drop late fees. Technically, if you read the fine print, they simply chose to let you keep the movies a certain length of time before charging you an inflated retail price for the DVD, effectively selling it to you. The problem they didn't fix was their already inflated prices. In their hay day Blockbuster was worth the extra expense because they offered a much better selection. Netflix trumped that easily.

Their newest effort to save themselves, from what I've heard is… to raise their base prices and re-instate late fees. On top of Netflix and the online rentals, they now have the one dollar Red Box company to deal with. I'm scratching my head again.

Another big part of business is determining what people are willing to pay for a product or service. That price can change and even lower. The companies I've listed don't seem to get this point, and I know it's a hard point to swallow for any business. Ignoring the market trends won't work for too long. This just seems like common sense to me. I'm scratching my head.

Challenge You/Challenge Me

I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I want you to challenge me. I want you to ask me questions that I can respond to. I think it will help my writing. It'll give me some things to chew on a bit. I'm not promising I'll respond to all of them, and if I can't I'll try to at least respond to anyone asking the questions.

Don't hold back. (wow I might regret that line)

Ask me the hard stuff: Why aren't dinosaurs in the Bible? How do you feel about the abortion issue? How come your wife doesn't paint her toe nails? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

Okay, I probably won't answer the personal ones. My wife's toe nails are off limits, but let's hear from you.

A few further statements: I don't know much about physics, your trig homework, or auto mechanics.

Short Note

I just got back from a quick trip to the grocery store with the boys (ages 2 & 4). Before I can even unpack a grocery sack, Owen is demanding that I turn his DVD back on. I ask him to chill out for a few seconds, and he starts whining that I had said he could continue it when we returned. I repeated that I just needed a few seconds, and he continued to whine. I said (in a calm, understanding tone), "Can you just relax? Can you just have a little patience? You get to do what you're asking. I just need a few more seconds. Chill out. Okay?" And then the thought hit me: Is this what I sound like to God?… like a whining son that wants something trivial to his father who's trying to do a few essential tasks?

Brought a smile to my face despite the fact that I was the whiner.

I thought we were all Americans

It seems to me that America isn't a country that's set up to make 100% of its people happy all the time. It's set up so that the majority opinion dictates. I know this is a simplistic breakdown, but I think we need to acknowledge that some of us are sometimes going to be in the unpopular section of opinions. Some of us are going to come out on the losing end of a vote. It doesn't mean that we're less American or that the winners are more American.

People just seem so outraged when there are people that disagree with their viewpoint. You often hear, "But I'm an American, and we didn't want this." In most cases, especially considering those debates and elections that were very public, someone out there did want "this" to happen, and those people are of course equally Americans too.

I've learned in recent years to try to see the other side, and to especially recognize the other side as people that aren't all that different than myself. It's not easy. It's easier to believe that my opinion is the majority, but that's not always or even often the case. I think the hardest part about our entire system is that we don't really see one another often enough. We take on that old 'them' versus 'us' attitude. We believe that there's some conspiracy against us when our group doesn't seem to come out ahead.

I was talking to a politician one day. I don't remember which one. It was likely someone pretty local. I was telling him about a few of my concerns. He told me that I should always keep in the habit of writing my representatives letters in some form. He said that politicians operate under the assumption that every letter they receive represents around 5,000 people. I don't know how accurate that is, or how well they react to opposing view points, but I started regularly contacting my Senators and Congress People. It's really pretty easy online, and to my amazement, they respond - quickly! They respond even when they disagree.

If you think someone was elected or a bill was passed because your representatives didn't act they way "the majority" wanted, I'm not so sure you're being realistic. The truth is, there are people out there that don't see things the way you do. They're Americans too. They care about the future too. They're not stupid, uneducated, or uninformed. They just live in different circumstances than you do. They don't want the country to fail. They just see a different path than you do. No one is saying either path is wrong or right.

I think we need to learn to see one another. We need to care about all of us instead of just those that agree with us. One election, one bill passed, that won't likely bring down our country. What'll bring us down is our inability to remember that we're all people, and that it's okay to disagree. It's okay to win sometimes, and it's okay to lose too. That's kind of what made us different all those years ago.