First Lady Michelle Obama recently launched a new campaign to get young students, ages 14-19 years old, interested in their education beyond high school. The campaign, called “Better Make Room” is a part of her “Reach Higher” initiative to encourage low-income students to consider college, job training, or trade school.
The first lady is concerned that the age group she is calling “Generation Z” is more concerned with celebrities and status updates than preparing for their future. The command “Better Make Room” is aimed squarely at these pop culture distractions.
“We want to create a space where young people can inspire each other to complete their education beyond high school,” she said. “Right now that space really doesn’t exist in our popular culture.”
Mrs. Obama knows how hard it is to talk with kids of this age about their education. Her own Generation Z-ers, Malia and Sasha, have short attention spans for such serious topics.
“Their eyes just glaze over as we blather on and on,” she said. “We think we’re getting to them, but they’ve shut us off minutes ago.”
So save your breath, because “Better Make Room” is a social media campaign designed to speak with teens on their own terms. Major networks, social media outlets, and celebrities, such as A+E Networks, Vine, and LeBron James have already promised their endorsement.
This push towards college is consistent with other recent White House efforts. In September, The College Scorecard was released, providing student debt and earning potential information for colleges and universities nationwide to help students make informed decisions. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden announced he would not run for office and offered his vision for the Democratic Party. Briefly addressing education, he said “we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all our children. As a nation, let’s make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education a hundred years ago.” President Obama has challenged every American to commit to at least one year of higher education or post-secondary training. The administration’s goal in all these efforts is to make the U.S. number one in college graduates by 2020.
The recent push towards college seems to be well timed. Amid the outcry against rising tuition costs and student debt, the best way to enter the jobs market today is with a four-year degree. In 2014, student debt reached the $1 trillion mark. But the New York Times called the decision not to attend college “the most economically irrational decision anybody could make.” Indeed, the growing gap in hourly pay between those who attend college and those who do not proves the continuing value of a college degree.
College has become the new high school, the new minimum standard for those who hope to build careers. Ironically, the White House is preaching to the choir. The U.S. News & World Report found that 75 percent of high schoolers believed attending college was necessary to finding a job. The policy brief, “Betraying the College Dream,” reported that 80 percent of high school students hope to attend college. Though sending the kids to college may not be Hollywood’s first priority, the importance of higher education seems to be well-understood.
Students may want to attend college but are discouraged by other factors. First, the rising costs of tuition and student debt is certainly intimidating. The sad irony is that the huge increases in government subsidies meant to encourage higher education are likely inflating student costs. Second, high school leaves the majority of students unprepared for college. U.S. News reported that 60 percent of students missed college readiness benchmarks on the ACT college entrance exam, while “Betraying the College Dream” found that less than 12 percent of students were capable of the course requirements for the institution they chose to attend. This would explain why only 60 percent of college students succeed in earning their diploma, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The young folk may be caught up in pop culture gossip, but have managed to make room for future college plans. The administration should understand that the vast majority of students would like to attend college, but academically and financially are unable to do so.
