Category: Teenagers

On the Road Again

Blogging from Columbia, South Carolina (okay, West Columbia, like it really matters), from a Chick-Fil-A with free Wi-Fi.  Love me that free WiFi. Malia and the bride are checking out South Carolina University. She was accepted there and its still high on her list of probables.  Personally, I’m hoping not, its out-of-state tuition, after all.

But, I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the campus and the town. Much friendlier here than even at home. The desk clerk at our hotel was more than happy to provide directions to us, The manager here at the Chick-Fil-A has been by twice to refill my soda while the two younger kids play in the playground. Everyone has been more than willing to be patient and polite to the foreigners from Virginia.

The campus is on the old side, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. Lots of history here. I grew up with the campuses of SW Texas State (now called just Texas State) and the University of Texas. Both have some history, but Texas grew from its original 40 acre sized campus to be a monstrosity. Don’t think any of the schools Malia’s considering are that big.

Now just have to map out the drive home tonight for maximum coffee effect.

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categories Teenagers | admin | datetime February 16, 2009 2:33 pm | comments Comments Off

Back to School Night

Went to the oldest daughter’s Back to School night. It’s her senior year in high school, and its slightly less important than her junior year. It went just fine, in case you were wondering. Her teachers all seem to care about the kids and their respective subjects. She’ll be heavily challenged in some of her classes and less so in others (Student Council leadership seminar, for instance), but that’s not what I took keyboard in hand to tell you about.

Did you know….and I have it on good authority, the High School principal….that the difference in lifetime earnings between high school dropouts and high school graduates is $250,000?  That’s right! A drop out can expect to earn a quarter-million bucks less than the high school graduate over the course of a lifetime.

I realize, this runs the serious risk of putting me at odds with parents from less affluent areas, but that ain’t much. Let’s face it, the difference in lifetime earning power between a high school grad and a Bachelor’s degree recipient has to be much, much larger.

What it really says though, is that just having a high school diploma doesn’t really prepare you to earn much in today’s world. I’m told it used to, but sure don’t anymore. I’m not so sure that’s necessarily a good thing to say about modern society.

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categories Teenagers | admin | datetime September 4, 2008 11:33 pm | comments Comments Off