To the editor:
“Settle” for trade schools, Mr. Eakins?
Who built your home? Who installed and maintains the electricity, gas, water and plumbing? Whom do you call when your furnace or air conditioner fails you? Who provides your food as well as built and works in the store where you purchase it? Who manufactured and services your car? Who builds and maintains the roadways on which you drive that car?
This is just a scratch on the surface of what people who “settle” for trade schools provide to each and every one of us. College isn’t for everyone. I’m grateful for those who choose, for whatever their reason, to keep this country running — whether it be the military protecting us, the tradesmen and women building and maintaining our infrastructure or the professionals who provide their valuable services.
My sons both furthered their educations after high school. They were neither wealthy nor had athletic scholarships. They had a single mom who encouraged them to follow their dreams.
One chose a trade, the other an MBA. Both financed their own education. It wasn’t easy, and they both had loans to repay when the were finished. One chose to join the military (Army National Guard) and wasn’t forced to either murder or butcher anyone.
He attended six weeks of basic training while he was in high school, then one weekend a month for the next four years while he was attending college. He walked away with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and chose to earn his MBA at a later date.
We all have the option of a clean, full glass, Mr. Eakins. I suggest you take the opportunity to wash and refill yours.
Denise Garrity Summerson
Dawson
