“What colleges are you looking at?” “Do you know what you want to major in?” “What do you want to do for a living?” SO MANY QUESTIONS. Too many if you ask me, and I think I can speak for myself along with many of my peers who were recently bombarded with all these questions and many alike. As a recent high school graduate, it is expected for me and my newly graduated generation to go off to college and obtain a degree, and later work a well-paid job in the field of our chosen major. But why? Why has it become so important for young adults to have everything planned out at the ages of 17 and 18? Yeah, the majority of us are legally recognized as adults, and though we constantly like to remind our parents of that fact, most of us have no idea what adulting is really like.
But wait! There’s a catch! For us females who live in a society that so narrowly defines success and ability based on the outdated views of a bunch of white, privileged males, even college isn’t enough for us to reach higher levels of success. Women are shadowed in the presence of men, but what’s new? We live in a man’s world where we have been systematically oppressed throughout history. So, the representation of women in this country has induced silence and a lack of female influence involving important ideals, one of which is the value of obtaining a higher education.
The decision is basically black and white: either you go to college, or you don’t. If you do, you’re considered to be a smart, successful and well-rounded person, but if you immediately enter the workforce, you missed the opportunity of being considered one of these “successful” individuals.
Then, there’s another aspect: if you did decide to pursue a college education, did you choose the two-year route or the four-year route? Because we all know that this is also a determinant of how people judge ability. Somehow, two-year colleges have come to be seen as less worthy approaches to education, and the four-year colleges have become incredibly prestigious. See anything wrong with this? Me too. Just ask community college alumnus and London Royal Veterinary College graduate, Liz Addison. She claims, “The community college system is America’s hidden public service gem…they offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope, and an option to dream.” As a woman who obtained a degree and later attended graduate school, her feminist response to an article in the New York Times by writer Rick Perlstein challenges his claim that college is not what it used to be. Perlstein lessens the value of college while solely focusing on his observations of a large, private, four-year university that he used to attend. Do we really want the Rick Perlstein’s of the world to determine how valuable an education is, solely based on where it was received?
Don’t get me wrong, college is incredibly beneficial to a person in so many ways. You can’t go wrong with a higher education. But the issue here isn’t whether or not college is beneficial, it’s whether or not a person can be successful without a higher education, and the answer is quite simply- yes. Take a doctor and an electrician for example. A doctor needs to obtain a degree in the field of science in order to attend medical school, so, a college education is necessary. But an electrician doesn’t need higher schooling. By entering the workforce, they can master their skill and be promoted in the ranks of their occupation thus becoming an expert in a “learn-by-doing” process. So, this process can’t be made out to be so cut and dry. There’s a grey area in which a person can not go to school and still be successful. It’s not as simple as either you go to college and you’re going to be a money making machine, or you don’t go and you’re bound to be some sort of “low life” that cleans the bathrooms at Taco Bell. A job is a job and it depends on a person’s ambition with how successful they will be in the ranks of their occupation, unless of course, you’re a woman.
Take Rush Limbaugh for example. A middle-aged white male who called Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student, a “slut” and a “prostitute” when she chose to speak out about an issue involving women’s rights. Pause. Um, WHAT. Okay, let’s continue. In response, Fluke said Limbaugh’s comments were “an attempt to silence [her], to silence all of us from speaking out…” As a law student, Fluke is obviously a powerful individual and was made out to be somehow lesser because she is a woman who demanded her voice be heard. As an entitled and privileged white male who obviously doesn’t like his beliefs to be challenged, Limbaugh lashed out and perfectly exhibited the type of oppression and bigotry that still exists. Here’s a message for you Limbaugh:
It is this type of sexist environment that is causing women to sacrifice their abilities to forego the overwhelming weight of inequality in the workplace. Chief operating officer of Facebook and the first woman member of its board of directors, Sheryl Sandberg, argues, “In comparison to their male counterparts, highly trained women are scaling back and dropping out of the workforce in high numbers. In turn, these diverging percentages teach institutions and mentors to invest more in men, who are statistically more likely to stay.” In other words, men are seen as more able and successful statistically due to the fact that women are giving up their fight to attain positions of authority in their careers because of the powerlessness they feel in the workplace. While it is true that women today have equal opportunity, this does not mean that we have the same equality in professional achievement. We still have to work extra hard to be regarded as smart individuals, and treated with the same respect that men of authority are treated with.
It’s time to reconstruct society’s ideals, and include the voices of women. The definition of success cannot be restricted to level of education, and ability cannot be diminished due to lack of a degree. Anne-Marie Slaughter, the president and CEO of the New America Foundation which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute, “If women are ever to achieve real equality as leaders, then we have to stop accepting male behavior and male choices as the default and the ideal. We must insist on changing social policies and bending career tracks to accommodate our choices, too. We have the power to do it if we decide to…” AMEN SISTER. Men and women need to stand together and say “BYE” to previously established social standards and develop new ones in which both genders are deemed equal in all aspects.
-FH