By Perrin Clark ’15, Section Editor

Aristotle once wrote, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” In other words, attaining an education is difficult work, yet its returns are invaluable. Today, one feels as if one is stuck with the roots of education and devoid of the fruit. The roots have become most associated with student debt, the fastest growing form of debt in America. To be blunt, this growth is unacceptable.

To address the problem of student debt, I first ask: From where exactly does this problem stem? While there are a variety of economic reasons to explain this surge, there is only one philosophical reason: everyone wants an education. They should want one, because indeed, “the fruit is sweet.” However, we have lost sight of what a true education can be. More and more people think that an expensive college education is what is necessary to succeed. However, that idea is also being challenged, as it should be. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Pay-Pal, pays 24 students each year $100,000 to work on business ideas and not attend college. That’s right- he pays potential students to not go to college. Such thinking is unconventional, but could it hold a key to solving the problem of student debt? Should it be avoided by not going to college in the first place?

I might be hypocritical as I write this. Like every student at Newark Academy, I hope to attend college. Newark Academy’s purpose is to prepare students for a college education. However, we should always ask ourselves if college is the right option. Sometimes, I question what value such an education can bring. Are its staggering costs worth it?  Too often in the United States, we assume that the answer is yes.  Germany, however, has tried a different (and laudable) approach towards education. In Germany, high school students like us are offered a choice. They can go to University or pursue vocational training under the guidance of employers and unions. Under this program, students go to classes like we do, but they also learn by working alongside adults. Students even get paid for this work! Come to think of it, I would take a paid apprenticeship over an unpaid internship any day of the week. The allure of the program has caused a majority, 51.5%, of German high school students to pursue apprenticeship education. Quite simply, Germany’s system is working while ours is not. Germany’s youth unemployment rate is 7.7%. The America youth unemployment rate is a staggering 16.2%. It is time to say auf wiedersehen to a stubborn education model that recognizes University as the only possible approach towards succeeding in the job market.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Education has taught me to question more. Now, I am questioning the educational philosophy that I and everyone around me faces. Our evolving educational model says something about our culture. Society is scared of people who do not directly fit into the mold of college. As a result, society tries to fit everyone into this mold to make sure no one feels under-valued. However, we have failed to realize that everyone is different. This failure has led to many students incurring massive debt for an education that oftentimes does not provide them the necessary skills to get a job. We should not ignore these differences, but rather embrace them in order to guide everyone toward the right path to education and its sweet fruits.