In an earlier commentary, The Premise of Peter's Principle, I mentioned that I studied Political Science and History. I attended Queens College in Flushing, New York at night carrying 12 to 14 credits while working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, in a bakery as a baker.
I accrued 83 credits from September, 1969 to May, 1972. It was hard, but I did it.120 credits were necessary at that time to get a BA in my major, but I was exhausted. I decided to leave the bakery to kill the summer of 72, and got a job as a teller at $90 a week.
But something happened. I was promoted before the summer was over to Head Teller, and because that happened, I decided to take a leave of absence. What helped that decision was the fact that I was 21 years old, there were no teaching jobs in fields other than Math or Science, and I felt I had time to go back and maybe even change my major.
In 40 years, life happened. I was promoted to Platform Assistant in 1974, Assistant Manager by 1975 and Branch Manager by 1980. I wasn't 30 years old yet and I was married, and well on the way to a great career.
Soon, the kids came along, we bought a house, and life continued to happen. The point is, I never had the opportunity to go back to school. And I admit, it was my fault.
40 years have elapsed, and the students today are finding that it is difficult to find jobs in careers related to their studies. The economy is cyclical, to be sure, but our children have spent more than the $30 a credit like I did, and many of you did as well, and are now struggling to repay massive student loans.
And as of July 1st, interest rates will double. What say you? Is this fair?
How do our kids deal with issues like "life happens"? We need to get the Congress to revisit legislation to keep interest rates affordable.
Or, when "life happens", they will not have the successes we had.
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