Vocational Training…, By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

May 11, 2011 Whitney Farmer 17 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an M.B.A, and has a way with animals.

There are probably better career choices for me besides being a comic book illustrator. (See original artwork, Left.) One of the most graceful gifts in life is to have passions align with talents. Discovering where the two differ or converge sometimes seems to be more of a puzzling art rather than a science. But perhaps the most efficient tool towards this end in a land with representative government is education.

The academic preparation of our Commander-in-Chief is being called into question by ambitious aspirants. At the same time, the CSU and UC higher education systems in California are both investigating tuition overhauls in an effort to weather knee-weakening budget storms.  If adopted, the measures being discussed would have a nearly immediate effect of reducing the number of prospective students because of affordability rather than academic talent and career visions. This generation’s Einsteins would be smart to plan on being born into wealth, following the ’winning’ strategy of Donald Trump.

Adversaries of our Republic are shrewd to attack education on every level. America was founded by the rejects of aristocratic societies, but we battle against worshiping the wealthy. For the apologists of the rich, any mechanism that can shift power away from submission to a wealth-based ruling class must be viciously opposed.  The American cultural soup includes iconic messages of the triumph of underdogs, and achievement through pulling up bootstraps and rolling up sleeves and putting nose to grindstone. But education shifts these myths that glorify serfdom from working hard to working smart.

Education makes people uppity, or full of faith.  The word choice depends on who you ask.  It also provides a vetting and network of influence that can change a life for the better.

Anecdotally, the only times I have heard any hint of a student saying, “Education wrecked my life!” were when debt was accrued that outweighed the value of the doors that were opened. This usually happens in the Wild West of private vocational schools whose numbers have been exploding as the global economy has resisted recovery. I have never heard a student say that an Ivy League education was useless. Academic rigor is present in many places, but the influential relationships that can be developed in certain institutions are unsurpassed. In a world where six degrees of separation between any two people are a statistical reality, creating geographic proximity between impoverished but merit-based scholars and the resource-rich elite can create explosive and paradigm-shifting liaisons. Even the slight blurring of social lines – such as a commoner modeling lingerie within the sight line of a future king – can change the course of history.

President Obama was born the child of a dangerous marriage because miscegenation laws were still in force in the majority of American States. He was raised in a broken but thankfully loving home. Without hereditary wealth or an Anglo-Saxon name or appearance, he was left with education as a tool that he could use to discover what talents he was born with and the means to develop those gifts into some kind of vocation. He benefitted from philanthropic scholarships and government aid to pay for his tuition. And as he proved himself academically, a series of consecutively more exclusive doors opened for him. By the time he arrived at Harvard Law School, his increased currency had made him a good investment for that institution.  Make no mistake: Schools place value on students exactly as if they were stock in a mutual fund. They place bets that they hope will pay off in the future in the form of representation in the circles of influence and innovation.

As at the racetrack, the best payoff is on the dark horse, which offends and alarms Donald Trump and the circle of hereditary wealth.  They have no response when confronted by a competitor who has developed natural talent into certifiable skills as well as strength of character.  But it is precisely this random variable, unexpected data point, and statistical aberration that introduces vigor into the experiment in civilization that is a merit-based society and makes us stronger.

To this generation’s Obama, I don’t know what door will be open that will allow you a chance to find your calling. There is a fierce battle over the gateway to education, and I’m not sure who will win. As our President was growing up, bad guys made a mistake when they didn’t realize how dangerous education could be to their self-interest. Their lifestyle requires an underclass – a serfdom – that will work hard and will believe that’s all that’s needed to advance. What you will need is the new strategy that will allow you pursuit, preparation, and success in your vocation.
Do what you can to ignore people who say that no one wants what you have to offer. Unless you are trying to corner the market in stick-figure illustration.

Quote of the Blog, from Ed, Dude of Light and Fog: “Have you ever seen a guy with the bottom half of his wetsuit all faded? It’s because he pees in it. It wrecks it, but sometimes it’s a good idea because it helps warm you up. Just a bit of secret surfer info….”