Exactly. And why stop at 8-9k at a state university? She would be equally clueless and most likely surrounded by even greater confusion.
This is the state of most people entering college in the United States. A person should not consider college unless they have some focus or understanding of why they are there. With focus, so much more will be achieved with what's given to them.
How do you gain focus? First and foremost life experience. Secondly, applied knowledge in areas that interests you or attracts your attention. This knowledge can be learned at school, though it's a terribly ineffective way of doing so.
In theory I agree with you, but in practice I don't.
For most of the people I've seen delay college, they only life experience they gain in the meantime is in waiting tables. (Which they usually already had from jobs in highschool anyways.) The only positive effect I've seen is that people realize they don't want to work a shit job for the rest of their lives, and get some motivation for education. On the margin this is definitely a win when it happens, but I've never seen the sort of identity discovery you're describing actually occur.
I completely agree. This is exactly the area I'm interested in.
There needs to exist something in between high school and college. In other countries especially, a lot of people take a "gap-year" and travel and work elsewhere in the world. That's one option.
Some other possibilities are (I'm curious to hear what others think of these):
- Find a business/company that would hire you as an intern. Low pay is OK - the experience is what counts. It's OK if you don't know what industry to start in, doing any decently attractive job to you brings you one step closer to figuring it out. (We need to encourage adults/businesses to take in young adults and provide them with experience in different areas, basic mentoring and training).
- Attend some sort of career/passion finding school where the entire focus is on you and your development into a thinking being (this wouldn't be needed if public schools did a better job). I'm curious if places like this exist and how effective they are.
- Take a gap year or two and travel and work remotely in various places. Learn about the world and what exists in it. This will almost surely develop character faster than waiting tables in your hometown.
- Go to a community college or take random classes at any university that interest you until you develop some interest somewhere.
As you pointed out, a key factor in motivating someone to follow any logical path is for a person to understand that the paths exist and are as possible as any other, and perhaps even more lucrative. It should all be part of the initial education.
Unrelated to your suggestions, Quebec has a school (CEGEP) between high school and university. I think it's a good idea to give kids some time to think about their choice, and since they have to choose their general orientation (science, etc.) it's a good test of their choice. Many people change program at this point.
Delaying college by going into the military for 2-4 years seems to work out pretty well. Some of the best students I've met have been on the GI Bill.
An approximation for non-military-inclined people would be spend a year or so traveling, and then learn some relatively straightforward but non-trivial skill (say, photography, or field service engineering for a certain kind of hardware), and then traveling around to do that job (even if you end up net losing money). It's cheaper than college, and generally better preparation for life. It then makes college itself much more valuable.
Yeah military is definitely an option as well. Easily the most motivated and focused person I met in college was a Navy veteran who had recently gotten back from Iraq.
This is the state of most people entering college in the United States. A person should not consider college unless they have some focus or understanding of why they are there. With focus, so much more will be achieved with what's given to them.
How do you gain focus? First and foremost life experience. Secondly, applied knowledge in areas that interests you or attracts your attention. This knowledge can be learned at school, though it's a terribly ineffective way of doing so.