Dear future President of the United States,

When in office you’ll be as busy as ever. Either deleting emails or attempting to persuade Mexico into funding the expansion of the Southern border, but it is of utter importance to look into the current education system and change it for the better of this country. You can better the education system by integrating workforce training for high-school students who don’t believe they’ll attend college, because college is not for everyone.

From kindergarten through a student’s senior year he/she is taught to believe that going to college is the only path to success, rather than being taught that it is more of a guidance. Success can only be defined by oneself. Should all students attend college after high-school? Is every student able to learn the same way as every student? The simple fact that I need to ask this question should tell you that the education system needs some reconstruction. Schools do not test intelligence or ability to learn, it truly tests rote memorization and blind obedience.

The reason I don’t believe that college is for everyone is because I do not go to school to abide by their un-scholastic ways or to remember irrelevant ideas or topics, I go to learn and further help myself with understanding the world around me. For the thirteen years I have attended school I have always struggled with keeping my grades up not because I am unable to learn, but because I use the basics taught to me at school for my own intellect, not to prove to teachers and the board of education that I am able to remember and abide. There has been instances where teachers treat me as if I were dumb because I am unwilling to bark back like a trained dog. I do not believe I am the only person in the States that is this way, and feels this way. The reconstruction of the system of education needs to be able to adapt according to the students, this most certainly would need for higher pay for all teachers. 

On June 8th, the former President Barack Obama visited Northern Virginia Community College, he went there and spoke about education not only being for a diploma or degree but for your own personal gain, that it should help you earn a raise at your job or earn you a higher position at a job. I have not been too fond of Obama throughout his presidency for a number of reasons, but this speech intrigued me, gaining access to higher education- not just four-year universities but community colleges and occupational training programs as well would be a change that would help generations to come exponentially. Students are pressured by parents and members of More Americans are attending college than ever, but college tuition has skyrocketed both at public and private universities, even with a college degree you are not guaranteed a job. Since 1980 tuition rates have tripled, mainly for private college. Thirty years ago the average student debt was less than 10,000 dollars, by 2012 the average was 29,400 dollars. As time goes by the debt only increases exponentially. At times a college graduate is in debt all their lives for their inability to find a job. This is outrageous, the Huffington-Post suggests that about 62 percent of high-schoolers are unable to pay for college. It’s almost as if the system is built to screw us over. By us, I am referring to middle class and those in poverty. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. This needs to change or those ‘below’ will have nothing to eat but the rich…staff to get a diploma for the ‘benefit’ of going to college, a job is never promised but debt is assured.

Who ultimately should decide if college material or not? Oneself, nobody knows you like you know you. If you believe that college is not for you and you know this before high school graduation and your school offers workforce training for an area that is particularly interesting to you, then take it. Then after high school go into that field, you’ll already have some background knowledge to this particular trade. Please do not look over this POTUS, if you want to make significant changes to the United States for the better, than this is one of the MANY things that should be on your mind for the four years in office. Respected or not, this is the country I live and the people I live with, you and the entire system is nothing without the people. We can overthrow the government for entire reconstruction, a revolution I would push for, if failure to run the business we call, The United States of America.

Sincerely,

Adrian Castro

Warner, By Andy. "Is College Worth the Cost? An Illustrated Explainer." The Lowdown. N.p., 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Https://www.thenation.com/author/smccroskey/. "Should All Kids Go to College?" The Nation. N.p., 29 June 2015. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.