Plan Your Life

If I were to advise someone in high school what to do with their lives, I think this is what I would tell them...  

First, learn what you can in high school but have fun as well.

Second, join the Air Force after graduation and as soon as you can after you become designated with a skill, start taking college classes...

NOTE:  If you are in the Air Force, your likelihood of being sent to any war zone is next to nothing

Third, plan on remaining in the Air Force for 20-24 years...

Fourth, plan to have received a BA and MA degrees (perferrably in Education) by the time you leave the Air Force.

NOTE:  if you are 18 years of age when you graduate from high school, you will be only 38 years old after serving 20 years or 42 if you stay for 24 years.

Fifth, relocate in a Southern State and try to find employment at a Community College while you pursue a PhD in  Education.

NOTE:  Plan to work at this Community College for another 20 years or until you are 67 years old and can return with full Social Security Benefits.

So, you are now 67/70 years old and you are living in the South where is cos of living is lower than most other State and you are receiving 3 sources of retirement income:

• 20+ years from military
• 20+ years from Community College
• Full Benefits from Social Security (because you worked 40 quarters or 10 years that your paid FICA)

So...  let's just say that you are going to receive $1,500 each month from each one of those...  that will give you a retirement income of $4,500 each month for the rest of your life...  this does not include possible income from your spouse if you decide to get married.

HERE's another idea...

If you save $2.50/day and at the end of each month you put that money into a Mutual Fund...  and, if you do this for 40 years...  at the end of those 40 years you will have $500,000 that will give you a monthly income of $2,000/month for the rest of your life.

If you were to do the Air Force/Community College life plus the Mutual Fund savings, when you retired you would have an income of $6,500 each month.

The key is to plan out your life and then spend the rest of your life executing your plan...  Once you have developed a plan, you will have plenty of time to enjoy life along the way...

Education

The average annual cost to attend a Community College (2 years) is about $4,000 and if you took 5 classes each semester, each course would roughly cost $400 as compared to the average cost of a 4 year college being about $2,500 for each course.

A student's first two years are general education courses and most students do better at a Community College for these courses than at a traditional college.

So, now you first two years is under $10,000 plus you have acquired an Associates Degree.

PLUS...  it is much, much easier to transfer to a traditional college in your first year than in your first year where the entry requirement are substantially HIGHER.

It does not matter what your grades are or were at a Community College, when a student is transfering all grades transfer as "C's".

I have known many people to go to a community college for their first two years then transfer to an IVY LEAGUE college or university for their last two years, and receive a degree from a school that WILL OPEN DOORS for you for the rest of your life.

Additionally, instead of having college debt in the neighborhood of $200,000, it is now only around $100,000.

Your employer is not going to look at your first two years, only that you have a 4 year degree and at what school that degree was earned.

American Higher Education

Donald Southerland

My career (1969-2019) spans 50 years although the last 5 years, I was a part-time Adjunct Instructor for a local University.  Of those 50 years, 45 years was spent either directly or indirectly in Education either as a Professor/Instructor or as an Administrator.  I have worked or taught in the following educational systems:  Community College, College, University, and/or Proprietary Colleges. 


The courses I have taught include:

1. English Composition
2. Micro/Macro Economics
3. Introduction to Computers
4. Statistical Problem Solving
5. Process Re-engineering
6. Personal Financial Planning
7. Strategic Planning
8. Project Management
9. Business Communications
10. Human Resource Management
11. Production Management
12. Management & Leadership

What did I discover?

That my college students were not very well prepared to attend College other than a Community College and even that level of education was doubtful.

My students basically LACKED:

• Writing Skills
• Spelling Skills
• Reading Skills
• Grammar Skills
• Presentation Skills
• Problem Solving Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Working in Teams Skills
• Drilling Down on a Subject Skills
• Self-starter/Hit-the-Ground-Running Skills

I had students that...

1. never purchased the textbook
2. could not remember what they learned from their previous course
3. memorized for the test then forgot
4. did not prepare for class
5. did not do homework
6. did not ask questions
7. wanted to be told exactly what to do
8. did not want to figure out what I wanted