To the editor: I cannot agree more with your assessment that there are many other avenues to success than just a college degree.
I have been a very happy California resident for more than 40 years after moving around our great country as a young man. I was afforded this luxury by virtue of my vocational and technical (vo-tech) high school education in Delaware.
In the summer between my sophomore and junior year, my high school counselor placed me and many other classmates in a 40-hour-per-week job with a local railroad contractor, rehabbing and repairing train cars. I worked alongside grown men who were supporting their families and teaching me to be serious about the work we were doing.
My senior year, I went to class in the morning and in the afternoon worked a part-time job as an electrician’s apprentice at a manufacturing plant.
After high school and a year of community college, I had the confidence to strike out on my own to visit any city I wanted, knowing my experience and skills made me employable. Realizing I would never want to live anywhere but Los Angeles, I started an electronic security company.
There is a proven blueprint for successful vo-tech education in Delaware, and it should be studied and copied nationwide.
Don Moore, Redondo Beach
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To the editor: Your editorial seemed focused on the money side of this issue. But it isn’t all about money — we must consider intellectual development when discussing college costs.
College isn’t for everyone, but it does have important advantages.
Those who attend and finish school are better able to dissect the language used to describe things and ideas. This allows the educated to better evaluate what we are being told.
When we are educated, we are not sold on ideas until we understand them. We become discriminating individuals who can sort ideas into “good” and “bad” categories. This allows us to consider options that may not be obvious.
Most of us have one chance in life to select our destiny. Think analytically before you reject the college option.
David Ando, Torrance
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To the editor: As one who had the good fortune and privilege of working in the California community college system for half a century, I appreciated the part of your editorial that said the schools “play the biggest role in preparing students for well-paid employment.”
Unfortunately, I think California residents largely fail to recognize that most nurses and police officers receive their education in the community college system. For those seeking good-paying positions in everything from computer technology to airline mechanics, our great community colleges can assist you in achieving your goal.
It also needs to be recognized that our transfer students to four-year universities do as well as people who start their college careers in those institutions.
As one who worked for more than 50 years in the system, I am a strong advocate for the roughly 2 million students attending California’s 116 community colleges.
Donald L. Singer, Cardiff
