As a proper Gen-X'er, I was sold the idea that college was the natural progression toward a normal and reasonably prosperous American future. I ended up studying journalism and radio/TV, neither of which has been particularly relevant to my career since I turned 26. I graduated with a GPA of 2.65, C+'ing my way through a bunch of academics that I didn't care much about. Granted, I know now that ADHD had a lot to do with my suboptimal study habits. It was often socially difficult, because of the ASD I didn't know about, but I still consider the experience rewarding for a lot of reasons. If nothing else, I would't have been ready for the real world after high school.
Right before Simon was born, I moved to Seattle and started at Microsoft. There I met a ton of people that were around five years younger, none of which went to college. They were graduating from high school right in the middle of the dotcom boom, around the turn of the century, and living in Seattle. There was no reason to go to school if they were self-taught in coding and could get hired. It challenged my long-held belief that you needed college to make a solid living.
Today, I have a 16-year-old, and for now, it seems unlikely that he'll go to a four-year school, if any school. He has the same atypical brain as me, and he doesn't really care for school. He sees potential working in hospitality or theme parks, of which there are opportunities here. Housing costs suck, as they do in most places, but he can see a future there. I think he has a good shot.
So it's not surprising that his generation, and those a little older, are somewhat disenfranchised about college. I get it. It doesn't help that the cost has become insane. Millennials all went and got graduate degrees and loaded up on the debt, with little payoff. If we had free college and didn't tie jobs to healthcare, I think the outcomes would be vastly different, but we're not Scandinavia, unfortunately.
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