"Heartbeats and Hashtags"

Truth be told, our generation is looked down upon way to often. I mean, seriously…the only difference between past generations and us is simply the time period that we grew up in.  And to be honest, we can learn a lot by working with one another instead of criticizing what we believe each other’s morals are and how we go about our daily life routine, whether it involves refreshing your news feed or reading the newspaper.  There are so many different possibilities and opportunities available if we just take a step back, think outside the box, collaborate with each other and let all of our different intellectual juices flow together.

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While reading an excerpt from the book “Share or Die: Voices of the Get Lost Generation in the Age of Crisis,” I came across one particular passage that stuck out so vividly to me. It told the story of a girl who was living in the BIG, BOLD state of New York on a $25 per week stipend from volunteering with $60,000 in debt from student loans. (Now you and I both know that this is a rare occurrence. C’mon, who do you know that would volunteer for ONLY $25 per week? Especially in New York!) She spoke about how “society has already forcibly stamped “Generation Y” on [her] forehead, at the sight of which older generations stop and scour the floor in search of [her] pacifier.” (Is this not true? Do older generations not think of us as “innovative, but impatient,” and “smart, but selfish?” And is it also not true that we “youngsters” think of adults as incapable of even coming close to knowing how the technological world operates? Think about that for a moment………)

            ……..OK, moment over.

Anyway, the girl was led to a community life center a block away from her apartment, and soon met a lady named Sister Margaret who was the executive director of the foundation.  She’d met the lady online when her Google search failed to give her any relevant results, but instead, brought about a blog that had not been updated since 2008 but seemed like it was supposed to be of great importance in the Bronx community. Later on after Sister Margaret and the girl agreed on a position that could be filled, the girl began to think of ways that she could help Sister Margaret expand her business. And of course! What else is our generation known for besides our ability to thrive in the technological world? The girl came up with the idea to “lace together the strings of social media with the cords of social good.” One thing our generation knows extremely well is social media and its abundant purposes.

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By the time they finished all of their planning and collaborating, they had each learned something from one another. Sister Margaret taught the girl how to develop a sense of good will and how to translate impoverished, under privileged heartbeats when today’s economy is all about the dollar sign. Meanwhile, the girl was educating Sister Margaret on the importance of evolution and how vital social media can be in helping better the world.

So kids, the moral of the story is this: when we come together without judgment and with the willingness to work together and think outside the box to meet a common goal, there are endless opportunities for all of us, and anything is possible. Whether you’re a Baby Boomer, from Generation X or Generation Y, your specific knowledge and skills can be passed off to individuals, and can ultimately lead the world to greatness.

You can have more degrees than a thermometer, but is college really enough?

      Let's be honest...How many of us spent most of our high school days contemplating what we're going to do after the long awaited graduation day? And, how many of us realized that just because high school was over, doesn't mean that we couldn't sit around the house and wait for mom to make us sandwiches the rest of our lives? AND, how many of us came to the conclusion that if we want to be something in this world, then sooner or later we would have to go to "Almighty" college to be successful? Go ahead. Raise your hand. It's ok to admit because we've all been there and we've all been told that college is the way to go! But, think about it...Is college really good enough? Is college actually all you need to be successful?....

         According to the College In America Info graphic, college isn’t all its cracked up to be. Why? Because of the rapidly decreasing job opportunities, poor graduation rates, and even some of the most absurd classes! Studies show that more high school students are aspiring to go to college than ever before. However, they don’t yet know that going to college alone, isn’t going to guarantee them success in the 21^st century. They can have more degrees than a thermometer, but that one piece of paper with their name and degree of study stamped on it means absolutely nothing unless they put it to use. Unfortunately, school systems today are teaching students everything except how to thrive after college graduation. In some cases, it seems like they’re teaching the exact opposite, implied in John Coleman’s article "The Bad Habits You Learn in School."

“It can be tough to help new college graduates adjust to the real world. Joey, a 22-year-old, Ivy League graduate who joined one of my consulting teams, was a great example. He was bright, hardworking, and motivated. But he had bad habits that were hard to break. Joey would become so focused on the perfect answer to a problem, he wouldn't consider implementation. He feared failure so much that he would hide his mistakes until they grew worse. He was only interested in getting his own work right — rarely helping the rest of the team proactively. And he saw the world in terms of hierarchy: I was his "boss," and no one else's opinion really mattered.”

     All throughout the twelve to twenty years that people attend school, they are taught about authority and that being the leader means being the boss. And who doesn’t want to be the boss!? We’re also taught to compete against others so that we can have a better rank than them, especially in college. Learning to work together to accomplish a goal is one skill that is most definitely being thrown out the window. Instead, it’s a race for dominance. Also, students are being taught that there can only be one right answer to a question and that thinking outside the box is not the way to go. Students have gotten so used to looking for the textbook answer. However, in the real world, textbook answers aren’t going to be as beneficial when you have to do a job that requires you to use common sense rather than book smarts.

The video Is College Enough gives a great explanation about college and outside skills that you need to acquire that some people don’t learn during their college journey. Adaptation is a big part of being successful in the 21^st century. Because of all the new technology and sudden requests, knowing how to adapt to certain situations is a MUST! But, most of the time, college only teaches you how to manage things when they are going how they’re supposed to. How are students supposed to know when and how to adapt with their environment?

In the article, The Case Against College Education, the dominating opinion is that college is not always enough to guarantee success now or in the future, nor does it always do the job in preparing an individual for their chosen career field.

“It is absurd that people have to get college degrees to be considered for good jobs in hotel management or accounting — or journalism. It is inefficient, both because it wastes a lot of money and because it locks people who would have done good work out of some jobs. The tight connection between college degrees and economic success may be a nearly unquestioned part of our social order. Future generations may look back and shudder at the cruelty of it.”

        So, to wrap it all, the answer to the BIG question is no. College is not enough. “Your education won’t guarantee success” (Hughes 2008) College teaches individuals how to compete against one another and how not to think outside the box. Without a person’s will power to go further after graduating from college, more than likely, they will not succeed in today’s economy. College graduates still need to learn certain skills that are not taught in college, they need to be able to adapt to their surroundings, and they need to know what behavior to use in certain situations that arise. 

COLLEGE: The Good Of It In a Nutshell!!!

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We can all conclude that everyone has their different reasons for coming to college, right? And, because it’s been shoved in our heads through every different direction, most of us are convinced that college is A MUST and that in order to be successful, we have to go. But, why exactly is it good? What purpose does college serve? How does attending college benefit each individual student who chooses to take that huge leap out of the bird’s nest and move forward with their lives? Well, to be honest with you, I agree that college is the key to success. It opens up doors for individuals that will one day become the top doctors in the country or some of the greatest politicians to ever walk the face of the earth. As stated in Louis Menand’s article, "Live and Learn," “Society wants to identify intelligent people early on so that it can funnel them into careers that maximize their talents. It wants to get the most out of its human resources. College is a process that is sufficiently multifaceted and fine-grained to do this.”

College also benefits society in a sense that it prepares the “daring” individuals who attend for the real world. It equips them for the social aspects of life as far as job searching, interviewing, and basically just broadening their horizons about all the diversity taking place around them that will more than likely be there for the rest of their lives. The article "The Benefits of Having a College Education" implies that “Making the acquaintance of people with diverse histories gives you a broader world view, cultural understanding, and sophistication. At college, you’ll surround yourself with people who can share a multitude of backgrounds, cultures and experiences.” 

What else is college good for? Well….the obvious answer would be that college is a place where you can gain knowledge about millions of different things, and in today’s society, knowledge equals power. Have you ever been in class and there were just these few select students that seemed to know ALL the answers to ALL the questions EVERYDAY? How did it make you feel? Did you feel as if you were inadequate compared to them? Did you try not to look them in the eye because you didn’t want them to catch a glimpse of that hateful glare that you so desperately wanted to give them? It’s as if they had control over the class, right? Well, technically, they did. Because of their, what seemed like, overflowing amount of knowledge, those “smart” kids had power over all of the others who felt like they were less than average at the moment. So, as I’ve stated in the above paragraph, college leads to increased knowledge, which leads to power, which in the long run will give you the upper-hand in your chosen career field. Also, attending college will not just allow you to “learn things to make a living, but also learning things to enable you to do things with your life, to enable you to find interests and pursuits that may in some way or another expand the way we see things." (Value of College Extends Beyond Paycheck)

                                           photo credit: Illinois Springfield via photopin cc

Another reason why college is beneficial is because it gives you experience. It trains you to use your mind in ways you never thought you could. “College can't serve you well without challenging you to integrate information and skills in ways you haven't before, and to apply the results to problems that may not yield clear and simple answers” Don't Miss The College Forest for the Career Trees. All in all, college makes you test yourself beyond measure. It prepares you to live as a responsible and knowledgeable citizen that can change the world by obtaining your own knowledge and putting it to good use.

What'd You Ask? Why College?

Why College?... Well, to me, college equals FREEDOM. When I was a kid, I could never figure out why the majority of my family was always struggling and burdened by things that I was unaware of at the time. But as I grew older, things became clear to me; with the exception of my mom and one out of 10 of my aunts, no one in my family had achieved higher education outside of high school. Watching some of my cousins being taken away from the family because their parents couldn't provide a suitable living place for them because of their lack of education and money, and also seeing some of the things my family members were doing to try to survive quickly made me realize that I did NOT want to follow in their footsteps and live my life like they were living theirs. I had to find a way to become more than what I was surrounded by. So, for me, college was my way out. I chose to go to college because I figured that if I kept pushing myself, and kept striving to be better than my best, then I would get to a point in life where I could live freely, without burden, and could eventually help my family build themselves up. I strongly believe that knowledge is power, and if I were to ever come to a point in life where I lost all my possessions, I would still have my knowledge, and with it I can create a better world for myself at any time.

My Life....So Far

Hey you guys! My name is Shatia, but I go by Tia. Either one will do. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Rockdale County High School in Conyers, Georgia. Unfortunately, I'm the middle child (If you're not the middle child then you wouldn't understand.) My younger brother is adopted and he is the light of my life! While at JSU, I plan to double major in Nursing and Psychology, and minor in Spanish. Afterwards, I plan to become either a neo-natal nurse, or a pediatric nurse. I've always had a passion to work with kids, especially ones that are sickly. Other than children, I have a DEEP passion for dancing! Dancing to me is how I express myself and tell my story to others. Unfortunately, my parents didn't really support that dream of mine, so instead of being a part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre or somewhere like Juilliard, I'm here at JSU living out my back-up plan! Anyway, I'm a really down to earth person. Simple things make me happy, therefore, I'm not hard to please. I love music and everything about it. I also love making people laugh, traveling, interior decorating, and baking cupcakes (Before I die, I WILL own my very own cupcake shop. But that's another story for another day.) Oh yea, I'm a member of the infamous Marching Southerners, so if you've never seen us, you should come check us out and look for me in the Colorguard! But yea....You can find me on Facebook and/or follow me on Instagram @cutie_patootyy !!!