A lot of you have been asking for more from Adam's cousin DJ, who talked on the podcast about his decision not to go to college. Some of you even called it our best podcast yet.

Philip Vitale disagrees. He writes:

Just heard the podcast with the story of DJ. Frankly I cringed every time you, Adam, made a condescending remark to DJ. Even though you were apologetic at the end, the tone of your voice didn't in any way indicate to me that you were really sorry. Maybe that's just a professional tone that you can't drop. Look, I enjoy your reports and in a way the tables were turned on you but I still didn't get the feeling that you actually believed your friend Pietra. College to my mind is just another function of big business. But that's a different issue.
The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of smart people out there who don't go to college for a number of reasons. There are also a lot of dumb ones who do go to school (think of GWB & his degree from Yale--how much more can he screw up the world?) and I think the situation about whether or not it's necessary is a lot more complicated when we start talking about individual choices. Allow a small personal digression.
Both my ex-spouse & I have Masters Degrees from public universities and we've both been college instructors. Our son refused to go to college last year. And believe me there was war over that. Still he won out because he's a bright kid and could argue his points. Instead he took a year's long course to get started in the recording industry. He did extremely well in that and was excited and turned on by the hands on work and the fact that he didn't have to sit through long, boring lectures. At this time he's an intern at a small studio, but he's excited about going to work every day, gets free meals, free transport and free software from them. He got the internship on his own. I expect that not long from now he'll get a paying position and eventually he'll do fairly well. Sound engineering isn't just for the recording industry in any case and there may be many opportunities. I admire his choice now and I admire this sprout for having the courage of his convictions and the fact that he's turned on by what he's doing.
Anecdotal yes. But attitude means a lot and a college education is extremely costly. How many kids go to school today, are not interested in what they're doing, come out of school and are confused by what they should be doing? And if they do get a job, it generally is fairly low paying at first and more than not it's something they just have no interest in. Meanwhile they or their parents are strapped with a huge financial burden that may difficult to recover from. So send them to graduate school?
At the least, Adam, you could admire your cousin DJ for having the courage of his convictions to do what he'd really like to do. Why do we need to lead miserable working lives? The economy will turn eventually. And the working people of this country, to paraphrase John McCain's campaign slogan, really is America's greatest resource. That's one thing he wasn't wrong about.
Anyway, keep up the good work.

categories: Letters

10:12 - December 4, 2008

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