Education Is The Silver Bullet

It’s often referred to, the political and economic state of the world, as a generalist phrase for the idea that we’re cooked. But I think there is something more important than the governing and fiscal states of a country; the educational identity of a nation.

There are direct correlations between those who are more educated becoming wealthier, having longer lifespans, fewer cases of mental illness. Yet in the United States, the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, only 38.7% of adults over 25 are college educated. Universities should be offered to everyone who wants the opportunity to learn. Admission not based upon wealth, creed, or legacy. Privatized education limits individuals from lower income backgrounds. Being low income isn’t a free pass in college admissions. It’s a boost because it’s so difficult to break the cycle and achieve higher education.

Before college, however, is an even more important time. Young minds are flexible, they can be stretched and challenged on the way to independence. Education offers a lifeline for so many, but that culture isn’t engrained. I was recently introduced to someone I would now call a friend from Oakland, California. He told me a story of how he and his friends would carry a basketball as they walked down the street so they wouldn’t be harassed by gangs. You didn’t bother kids who were going to hoop. It was seen as a way out. It was respected. Culturally it’s been engrained, and I think it’s amazing that something like sports brings so many people together. But really, performing well in school offers a world of opportunities. If you’re low income you have a ticket to four years of life for free.

An additional note to those who complain they don’t receive any financial aid to private schools, PLEASE take a step back and google the median United States income. Genuinely. If you get so little financial aid that your college or university would set you back $100,000 per year, you need to get off your high horse and go to your state school. Full pay students are among the most privileged in the world and if you spent a quarter of what it would cost you and go to your state school your life would genuinely not change. I know someone who was terribly let down to not be admitted to Duke University, but rather have to slum it down the road at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the opportunity to graduate without loans. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have been begging for the opportunity to spend $73,000 in tuition per year if I had a similarly selective school 15 minutes away. If your parents have the money and it’s no problem, yeah, go. But spend at least a minute thinking about what that difference could be in a nest egg invested over 40 years. You would never have to worry about retirement. The quality of education is no different either. The only difference that you receive at a state school versus an esteemed private school is the quantity of quality connections. If you go to a coffee shop in Cambridge near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, odds are the person holding the door for you is a genius. Odds are the person who sits behind you in class is a genius. Cambridge is home to some of the most intellectual and driven students in the United States, but it’s foolish to believe students of that caliber aren’t near you too. UNC offers the Morehead-Cain scholarship to over 50 high achieving students every year. They have an honors college with North Carolina’s most talented and high achieving students. State schools offer opportunities to the most qualified students of regions at discounts so generous anybody can find a way to graduate. Maybe it’s with loans, maybe you become an RA. People who cry about being hundreds of thousands of dollars in undergraduate debt didn’t have anyone telling them that taking out private loans at 18% might be a bad idea for a communications degree at a school far away because they finally wanted “freedom.”

We need to keep funding education. State schools should be shrines. California is a golden example. Maybe gas is 6 bucks 25 cents, but California backs its students. Once you enroll, your tuition is locked at your entry-year rate for up to six years. The blue and gold opportunity plan covers systemwide tuition and fees for California undergrads with family income under $100,000. The University of California, Santa Barbara offers ten thousand dollars in scholarship for students completing over 400 community service hours. You can become a residential assistant to live and eat for free. California doesn’t do everything right, but they get two thumbs up from me here. Please raise my taxes. Add a college of engineering to UNC. Add more dorms to NC State. Hire more professors at Charlotte. Make the price of college so low it doesn’t make sense not to attend. Everybody should have an opportunity.

Sam Seaborn said it better than I ever will, twenty-five years ago, on television. "Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position."