Moving to Atlanta Area

[GF72]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

That may be, but I know a number of people who wanted to start their own businesses or get into sales after high school ... or join the military ... and who have been quite successful at it. Those people are doing rather well now for the most part -- some of them far better than I am in some respects.

For them, higher education sometimes came later as the desire to raise in the ranks even further became apparent. One good friend of mine has a Bachelor's degree as well as an MBA, both earned after he left the military, but college wasn't in his plans at all initially.

Higher education sometimes isn't needed at all, however. A good friend of mine bounced around between jobs after high school and finally found a niche as a finance guy which he has now built into a very successful Twin Cities finance company with its own building and a few dozen underlings. Another (one of my younger brothers) is a successful sales consultant, having worked his way up from door-to-door sales to managing small business sales accounts to corporate sales trainer.

Such a path isn't as rare (or as bad) as you seem to portray it.

I do like the idea that Georgia encourages making college an option, but I also suspect that there is a certain percentage of people even at a high school like Walton who would rather do something else, who have legitimate goals and talents that lie in other directions, or who simply aren't smart enough for a college program.

Of course, the latter case would be weeded out by the test and (probably) by high school GPA.

Close to 100% of Walton and Northview graduates attend college. This isn't true for most schools in the country, but it is for these two and other similar schools. These students come from upper middle class suburban families, most of them probably don't even realize that not going to college is an option.

You're right that there are other options other than college, it's just not something that is popular among suburbanites.

As for joining the military, in schools like Walton and Northview, "joining the military" means going to the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, or West Point, not enlisting.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Higher education sometimes isn't needed at all, however....

Such a path isn't as rare (or as bad) as you seem to portray it.

Originally Posted by GF72

Close to 100% of Walton and Northview graduates attend college. This isn't true for most schools in the country, but it is for these two and other similar schools. These students come from upper middle class suburban families, most of them probably don't even realize that not going to college is an option.

You're right that there are other options other than college, it's just not something that is popular among suburbanites.

As for joining the military, in schools like Walton and Northview, "joining the military" means going to the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, or West Point, not enlisting.

GF72 has pretty much covered the topic, but seeing as it was my comment that provoked the "... isn't as rare (or as bad) as you seem to portray it" response, I figure I'll chip in too.

I really didn't intend to imply that not attending college was either rare or bad. However, I do think, as my post said, that the pool of remunerative opportunities that don't require college has been shrinking and is expected to continue to shrink. I wasn't intending to imply this is a good or a bad thing; it's just an observation about change in our society.

I think GF really hit the nail on the head with his or her comments about the worldview and expectations of the kinds of families whose kids attend schools like Walton and Northview. Sure, a person can have a good life without attending college, as per RC's good examples, but this kind of path tends not to be on the mental map of these suburban familiies.

My kid is now a freshman at Lassiter, a school that's pretty much in the Walton/Northview league. She's in all gifted/accelerated/advanced sections of her academic classes. Both of her grandfathers were college professors their entire working lives. (Her lazy parents both stopped after master's degrees and didn't go into academic careers). Does our family actually devote any consideration at all to the possibility of her not attending college at all? Honestly, no. It's possible things might turn out that way, but right now, the non-college option just doesn't cross our minds.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by GF72

Close to 100% of Walton and Northview graduates attend college. This isn't true for most schools in the country, but it is for these two and other similar schools. These students come from upper middle class suburban families, most of them probably don't even realize that not going to college is an option.

An actual lack of realization would surprise me.

You're right that there are other options other than college, it's just not something that is popular among suburbanites.

Believe me, I'm aware of that -- I grew up in the SW suburbs of Minneapolis (Minnetonka), and most of the folks I know came from Minnetonka, Edina, Eden Prairie, and similar areas, which are about as close to the Walton or "East Cobb" mindset as you can get up there.

As for joining the military, in schools like Walton and Northview, "joining the military" means going to the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, or West Point, not enlisting.

Sure, but that still isn't the traditional college route. Such people would be exceptions.

[GF72]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

An actual lack of realization would surprise me.

I didn't mean literally, just that it's not something seriously considered.