I have three fabulous daughters, the oldest about to graduate from Eastern Washington University, the middle one is studying at Western Washington University and the youngest is a sophomore in high school.

​All three are living in the Northwest after being transplanted from Dallas, Texas. For the most part, the ideologies of people in these two areas of the country are as vastly different as they are geographically distant. People in the Dallas area tend to be conservative Republicans while people in the Northwest tend to be liberal Democrats.  

I no longer claim any party affiliation because I see that our great country has lost its way. We need to get back on the track to greatness.  One political party is advocating that a method to get us back on that path is free college education for all.  I will address that issue and hope to encourage college-level critical thinking regarding it.
 
Imagine that you have gone to college to earn a degree and you have an entry-level job in your field.  You must work hard to get ahead but that hard work is rewarded.  The harder you work at building your skills and setting yourself apart from the rest, the more money you make. 

​In the scenario above, we witness two components to success:  education and hard work.  One political candidate is garnering a lot of support from the young people by promising free college education for all.  Sign me up for that! 

As I said, we have two in college and a third one wanting to go.  After it is all said and done, we will have spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 for their educations so of course, I would appreciate FREE! 
 
In a recent speech, Bernie Sanders said, "… we need the best-educated workforce in the world, yes, we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free."
 
I absolutely agree that in order to compete in the world today, earning some sort of degree or certificate is a necessity for most in order to make a middle- to upper-middle class living or beyond. There are always those exceptions that drop out of college and go on to create multi-billion dollar companies but they are few and far between.  Thus it seems that as a college-level education is becoming a requirement for a good job that the education should be available at no cost to everyone, right? 

Let's forget about the pesky question, “How and who is paying for it?" That isn't the right question anyway. The right question is, “Would getting rid of tuition at public colleges and universities, by itself, really give the United States ‘the most educated workforce in the world’?”
 
I guess by the way I phrased the question the answer is obviously, "NO!” But why not?
 
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States currently has the ninth-most-educated workforce in the world, with 45 percent of young adults having earned some form of diploma or certificate.  South Korea is at the top of the chart where 67 percent of adults have some degree or certificate.  Japan is in second showing 58 percent.  Here is the problem with the theory that free education leads to a more educated workforce... Both of these countries charge tuition at their universities, which are overwhelmingly public. 

 
The theory takes another punch in the gut when we look at Brazil, Norway, Sweden and Slovenia.  All have lower percentages of adults with higher education but they don't charge for college. There are several reasons why but the point is that an overwhelming percentage of students drop out for a simple reason: "Ain't my money”.
 
So "the most educated workforces in the world" today don't have free college, while countries that do have free public universities don't necessarily have more educated workforces than we do.
 
If free education isn't the answer then what is the answer? 

There is a second component to success that we seem to be over-looking:  hard work.  When people work hard for something, they appreciate it whether it is their first home or their college education.  Even if people are handed a free education, unless they possess the motivation to work hard, they are going to fall short.  The fact that they are demanding a free education tells me they are lacking the desire to work hard so no amount of free education is going to build them into successful people.
 
There is hope for our country by going back to one of the principles that made us great: “We the people” are empowered by God, and our Constitution, to govern ourselves (and all that implies), and we own the responsibility to measure up to this expectation.  We cannot and should not expect a new president or a new Congress to save us. We need to work hard to achieve the results we desire as individuals.  In other words, "leaders" please get out of our way; capitalism works!
 
references:
https://data.oecd.org/chart/4s6E
https://youtu.be/6kbjo3SFLuc
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​You may have noticed that there is a lot of political discussion in the media right now.  I thought I would throw in my two cents. 

Looking at my family today might make you think that I was privileged. Nothing could be further from the truth.  My mother brought me to this country without money or possessions.  In spite of that, she got a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She raised me and my sister and sent both of us to college.  Today, she and I are living comfortable lives thanks to the education we received and the jobs we were able to get as a result of hard work. We essentially lived out the American dream.
 
Our success was due to living poor, studying hard and working even harder.  We did not believe in taking hand outs.  You might be wondering, “why not?” The story below illustrates my point.  

In 1972, there was a family that desired to escape a difficult living situation in India. The family consisted of a mom, Meena, and her two children, Uma, age thirteen and Akhil, age seven. Meena wanted to move to the US. She had kept in touch with a family friend who had immigrated to America a few months earlier so she got in touch with him to help plan the journey.
 
After much planning and anticipation, Meena and her children made their way to America and settled in the Midwest. Moving from a distant country was not easy and once in the Midwest, life wasn't easy either. Meena and her children moved in to their friend’s very small one bedroom apartment. Four people lived in a space designed for one or two people. To make matters worse, the apartment was in a crime-ridden part of town. Meena worked at a minimum wage job while she attended the local university. Needless to say, times were tough financially.  

Uma saw others in her neighborhood that appeared to be working less and getting more. She found out from kids at school about a program where the government gives families money to buy food at grocery stores (and today even at fast food restaurants). The program was called food stamps (today it is referred to as SNAP).  Excitedly, Uma told her mom the good news about FREE food!  Uma said, “We are in the US so we deserve the free food too!"
 
Uma's mom stopped what she was doing and told Uma to sit down. She said, "I know about food stamps and other free items that are available for us."
 
"What?" Uma questioned in disbelief. "You knew that we could have delicious free food and you continued to feed me rice and beans all this time?"
 
Uma’s mom replied, “Don’t you like the food I give you to eat every day?"
 
"No! I don't want to eat the same thing every day! I would rather eat like my friends!”  

“Good answer; I was hoping you would say that because when you don't like your situation you will work hard to change it!  Aren't you curious who pays for all of this FREE stuff? The government pays for it but where does the government get the money? They don't make a product to sell or provide a service they can charge for like a business.  So where does the money come from?

The money to pay for all this FREE stuff comes from people and businesses who are earning money by doing or making something.  Do you think it is fair that people who are working are responsible for providing Ding-Dongs and potato chips to those who aren't working or who are working but can’t afford indulgences like that?  By the way, those are indulgences, not necessities.”

“I want you to understand that we will not be taking FREE anything. Why? You might be wondering. These free things are designed to help people temporarily in a time of trouble.  Unfortunately, some people don’t see it that way and these free things become a trap for those people. 

They feel entitled to choices like Ding Dongs or potato chips instead of rice and beans for dinner.  When these choices are available to them, the people no longer feel the pain of eating rice every day. Without pain there is no reason for change.  Something that is designed to help is actually backfiring for many people and the government is making prisoners out of the poor. Don't get me wrong, the programs that are free are wonderful if they are used in times of trouble, for a temporary solution but NOT a way of life.
​ ​
So thirteen-year-old Uma asked her mom, "What can I do to get better food and candy?”
 
“Now that is right question. What can you DO?” They stayed at the table, brainstorming.

Uma was on the right track.  My mom was happy because Uma wanted to DO something to change her OWN situation rather than looking to others to change things FOR her. 

​​The only lasting changes are ones we initiate ourselves.  An increase in the minimum wage may seem like a “fix” but it will only work temporarily until businesses begin raising prices to compensate for it or automating manual jobs to reduce payroll; then the people will cry out again for an even higher minimum wage or more unemployment compensation.

​ The solution is not in government, it is inside us.  It is our desire to better ourselves and suffer in the meantime that will result in a far-reaching, long-lasting outcome.

The key to success is realizing that you can change your situation rather than being the victim and waiting for someone else to fix it.