Can you put a price tag on passion?

mar-ket-ing:
the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.


ed-u-ca-tion:
the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

Is there a difference between the two? Are general knowledge and basic skills appropriate to exchange as commodities? With the growing number of private and public colleges rivaling with state universities and being bullied by Ivy League Institutions, the market for incoming tuition-paying freshmen has become more competitive. Not only are institutions marketing prospective students, the students must market themselves to be accepted.

Accepted by the admissions department, or accepted by their fellow co-eds?

The days of selecting a university based on a parent’s alma mater are long past. Many secondary school students juggle academics, athletics and extra curricular activities and after school jobs in order to stand out among their peers. The question is, is there enough time to do them all well? When the student over extends their time to different obligations, is the experience absorbed? The answer is no. The interpersonal relationships made among America’s youth have strayed from who you are, to what you are, and what you do. Higher education markets to what individuals are: an athlete, an artist, a musician. As a result of this, we start to identify with the labels attached: Mike the football player, Sophie the painter, Rodrigo the Cellist. Could it be said that passions are being translated into price tags?

That Fruit of the Loom T-Shirt Costs How Much?

The clothesline in the photos is to represent the different paths individuals take. The options of the higher education market are wide and different, similar to the different locations depicted.
Clothing, like a resume, is a medium in which one markets itself. In order to find the actual books in any given university bookstore, one must navigate its way through the abundance of silk-screened apparel. Hooded sweatshirts, baseball caps, and bumper stickers are not purchased in necessity, rather as an unspoken declaration that the owner has been stamped with approval. A five dollar maroon colored cotton tee miraculously morphs into twenty five dollar maroon colored cotton tee once the term VE RI TAS has been strategically placed to be easily legible. What is important to remember is who these college co-eds are, and not what they are. A student enrolled at Harvard, is not a skeleton to fill a t-shirt, rather a person who promises much more than alumni support.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

The tide changes twice daily, respectively. Children’s dreams, not to be confused with ambitions can change just as quickly as the tide, or the direction of the wind. The innate imagination and curiosity of a child allow the possibility to want to be a low income school librarian when they grow up, and a multi-million dollar major league baseball player six hours later. The promise in America’s youth is a result of support stemming from teachers, parents and peers.

“Children possess a remarkable amount of passion.
They throw themselves completely, heart and soul into everything.”

.Mary Lou Retton.

This support is appreciated, respected and reciprocated. However, support does not pay the institution tuition bills that supercede the excitement of commencement from high school. With the dilapidation of public education and the rise of cost in private education, how do the days of "I can be whatever I want when I grow up", translate to results? Sagely enough, with education.

“Education is the transmission of civilization”

.Ariel and Will Durant.

Being fortunate enough to attend University was once granted upon select elitist children spawn from select elitist parents. The notion of higher education has replaced the American Dream and has Mr. Jones wiping the sweat off his brow with a Brooks Brother’s monogrammed handkerchief.

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

.Eric Hoffer.

.A BASEBALL PLAYER.

Small children usually request small things: A piece of bread to feed the ducks, a scoop of ice cream, or a minute to look at the trucks at the fire station. Small children usually have big dreams of what they are going to become: A princess, a movie star, and a baseball player for the Red Sox. The world of a young athlete results in semi-celebrity status. Coaches of adolescent leagues covet the talented youngsters and foster an environment of competition.

Many athletes who shine on the field do not excel in the classroom. Regardless, high school athletes are recruited to various colleges and universities. With the lure of a scholarship, many high school seniors choose which institution they are going to attend based on athletics. The factors of playing time, notoriety, facilities and fame greatly outweigh the cost of academic experience and physical well-being.

So the story goes: C student was accepted to XYZ University, sat out his red-shirt season freshman year and maintained at 2.5 GPA. Student started first-string sophomore year and tore his ACL three games into the season. Surgery and bench warming resulted in a loss of scholarship due to inability to perform. Said student is without opportunity to excel in the academic world and an inability to perform on the field. Said student is no longer a student and left with no skill sets.

.A DAD.

.AN INVENTOR.

.A BUSINESS MAN.

Some children associate “going to work” with dressing in custom tailored navy blue suits. Other children witness Mom and Dad going to work in stained dungarees and free t-shirts. Scrubs, uniforms, and police badges are normal work attire for adults who kiss their little ones on the forehead at the bus stop in the morning. The stereotypical child of a “business man” sails, plays golf, and spends Saturday afternoons showing horses. The pressure that the parents endure rub off on the children who co-exist in their competitive world. These children are expected to conform to socially acceptable networks.

The American Dream has been considered a ghostly shadow of a simpler society. Men and Women, parents of promising students are tapping financial tools in order to provide higher education to their offspring. The networks that are made ensure chosen children are accepted into select societies of the future of finance, law, and medicine. The result of a debt free resume upon commencement costs personal exploration. The fostering of academia and creativity is lost as underachieving students are networked into the corporate world.

Upon completion of the cookie cutter 4 years at an elite university, many recent grads find themselves at the bottom of the corporate ladder. With no financial management skills of their own, 22-year-old graduates are left without passion and interests and find they are taking jobs that almost allow them to maintain the lifestyle they have grown accustomed. The goal of a corporate college is to produce a marketable person in the work force. The goal of the student should be to absorb the undergraduate experience of a learning environment. While facing the reality of “the real world”, many decide to return to graduate school, where the student is literally paying tuition for a better occupation.