Today I spoke to a class of 8th graders about the importance of going to college. The basic message was, if you go to college, you will never have any problems and you’ll be fabulously rich, and if you don’t go to college, then you’ll be homeless and miserable. And never have any dates. I threw that part in for good measure. And then I ended up on some tangent about how important it is to be an independent woman who doesn’t need a man to build a house. I have probably screwed those poor kids up!
I didn’t mention that I know some fantastic people who didn’t go to college, and some people with advanced degrees who don’t have a penny to their name. I didn’t want to confuse them. But I did tell them how fun college can be, and how they’ll never regret it if they go. Maybe they got something out of it. Or maybe they were just relieved that their history quiz was postponed for a day because of my visit.