Twenty-five years ago this month, yours truly was one of those fresh-faced children sitting in a metal folding chair, contemplating life.

Wrapping my head around the fact that one-quarter century has passed since my own high school graduation is difficult.

What’s funny, though, is just how serious high school graduation seemed at the time — and it is clearly a bit of a rite of passage.

Two and a half decades later, the identity of our class’ valedictorian and salutatorian are lost on me. All I know for sure is that I didn’t fill either position on the graduation program.

Whatever inspiring messages were delivered at my graduation long ago have long since been lost.

The message could have been one of several common themes often communicated to young graduates.

Inspiring words from Dr. Seuss, Walt Disney, one of our nation’s presidents?

Despite all of the catchy, clever phrases and stories we love to recount to young graduates, perhaps the most telling advice is to simply follow your heart in life and be true to one’s self.

That’s a bit difficult for most 18-year-olds to comprehend fully.

Many of today’s graduates are pushed to go immediately into college. I know several people with whom I graduated so many moons ago were urged to attend college. Some found their niche in college and some flunked out and started looking for their place in the world on their own.

College graduates do, on average, earn more than non-graduates.

Increasingly, however, many college graduates also wind up seeking to join the workforce after amassing piles of college loan debt.

The total outstanding student loan debt in America is more than $1 trillion. Seven in 10 college seniors who graduated in 2012 accepted their diploma along with carrying a pile of student loan debt — an average of $29,400.

That number is on the rise across America. In 2004, the average debt was less than $19,000.

The growing trend is unsustainable.

So what’s the answer?

No one seems to have a perfect solution, but two things are worth considering.

First, not having a college degree is not the end of the world. Many Americans earn a good living based on skills they learned outside of a college classroom. This is a tough one for all of us to swallow though because we all want the best education possible.

Sometimes, the cost of that education may outweigh the benefits.

To that end, some national leaders have proposed interesting changes to the current student loan system. One of the changes would include providing students with a clear picture of likely earnings after graduation and the amount they’ll owe in student loans.

The idea being that perhaps seeing that a degree in Portuguese literature isn’t likely to earn a person enough of a living to drive a luxury car, have a nice home and pay off the student loans.

At least an attempt at showing students a bit of reality before they sign on the dotted line may help a few avoid borrowing too much and getting in over their heads.

That might be the best, most inspiring graduation lesson any of the graduates could ever hear.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.