Education Articles from College Matching Service

The Ostrich Pandemic.

Across the globe parents go through the same challenging dilemma of making sacrifices to increase the likelihood that their children will have a good education and future career success. The world wide community of parents wants to feel that the influence they instill in their children will be the underpinnings for which their children will use to make good decisions throughout their lives.

Now we have been hit with the “Ostrich Pandmic!” The world wide trend of Parental Units going through life with their heads in the sand!!! Mothers and fathers who overlook the same “rights of passage“, that we all experienced in our youth. It is the tri-fecta of issues that work the same around the world just to varying degrees, drugs, sex and alcohol moving from generation to generation.

Kids have to learn on their own.

Kids have to move through their own social circles and get exposed to peer pressure. It is important that they make the correct choices. No one is immune to the influences of the tri-fecta when moving from adolescence to adulthood. Parents think that their child is special, innocent, balanced and too smart for these distractions. Those who stay up late to finish their school work and dream about the day they will get to pick a college.

The speed of the internet and our technology driven generation has moved us faster than anyone’s expectations. Kids are in constant contact with each other through text, email, IM, facebook, twitter and even the old fashioned cell phone.

Now we get to my studious, athletic and popular 17 year old daughter. My pride, my dilemma. I have shared with her the dangers from my youth and the “rites of passage” that I once went through. The challenges and values that confront us when we have to make the right choices. Trust is key, and a value that I have instilled as key to integrity.

Trust And Integrity.

I had not foreseen the possibility that I would reach a time when I could no longer trust my own child. A seemingly innocent afternoon of baking brownies with her friends… how could it turn into a night mare of “marijuana infused confections.” Followed by a car ride home, under the influence of one of life’s “rites of passage!” Now what am I supposed to do with her? Having given my child my complete trust, and a long leash of freedom in the past. I must now reign her in and evaluate her choices and her future, just when we both thought that time was coming to an end. With my head now held high above the sand, the consequences of my child’s poor decisions must now be addressed.

As a parent we want to believe that plugging all of the possibilities into life’s equation will produce the wisdom we need to guide our children properly. With college rapidly approaching as the next chapter in my child’s journey, like so many other “head in the sand, parental units,” I want to place my offspring in a safe and productive environment.

So how do I decide?

Choosing a venue of higher education for my daughter will no doubt be a life altering experience. But today, the higher education possibilities, teamed with high tech technology offer a “Pandora’s Box” of opportunities that were not afforded to the “Ostrich Pandemic” Generation. Online Education has taken higher education globally. With the economy taking an economic downward turn for so many, the prospect of an online education and a reduced housing and tuition bill has a new appeal to many. Not to mention, the ability to allow today’s youth some additional ‘home time’ to evolve within the fast pace of the high tech world adds additional food for thought.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)  Loading ...
Share
Email This Post	Print This Post