When All Things Seem Possible

An old friend of mine sent me an e–mail reporting that he went to his brother's son's high school graduation last night. He didn't have much to say about the actual ceremony, but he did say that he had dinner with his family afterward. His nephew apparently wants to pursue a career in law enforcement and is planning to continue his education with that in mind.

My friend and I grew up in Conway, Ark., the hometown of recent "American Idol" winner Kris Allen. Earlier this week, I wrote about my memories of the Conway of my childhood and Allen's improbable victory at my Birth of a Notion blog, so it isn't my intention to go over that territory here ... except to make a couple of observations.

I don't know how many of my classmates went on to college. When I graduated from high school, I know there were some in my class who chose not to continue their education and went straight into the workforce. Some got married and started having kids right away.

In many ways, that was a different time — in others, it was not so different. We didn't realize it then, but we were about to encounter a severe recession that has frequently been compared to the one we face today. But when my high school friends and I walked across that stage and received our diplomas, all things seemed possible. Unemployment was a source of concern, of course — the rate at the time was around 6% — but the rate had been declining in the months leading up to graduation. So, whether our plans included college or not, the future looked bright.

Today's graduates face a different set of circumstances. There are a lot more of them, for one thing. From what I've been reading on the website for my hometown newspaper, there were nearly 600 graduates in my old high school this year. That's close to twice the number who graduated when I did.

The account of the graduation ceremony indicated that, while the graduates may have been from a different generation, they experienced the same conflicting emotions that we did. They were glad to leave, yet sad at the same time. And, in today's economy, I'm sure there's some ambiguity about what to do next.

My advice would be to go on to college or community college or trade school or whatever.

I don't know if there is a perception among today's graduates that a college degree is a ticket to a lifetime of security, as there was in my graduating class, but I think the current recession has pretty much disabused many of that notion.

From a practical standpoint, staying in college means one can continue to receive health care coverage through his/her parents' employers. Elizabeth Cohen writes about this issue for CNNhealth.com, but she approaches it from the perspective of recent college graduates, not recent high school graduates.

Even so, I think anyone who is finishing one level of schooling these days would be wise to strongly consider moving on to the next level — if only because most policies will continue to cover dependents as long as they are students. It isn't as easy as it once was to get health care benefits with a job offer.

While it is possible that current conditions are more favorable for health care reform than they were when Hillary Clinton tried to achieve it in the 1990s, that isn't a sure thing. The smart thing for young people to do these days is to remain in school and take advantage of their parents' coverage while they can.

And times may change again. An advanced education may be more valuable in the future than it seems to be today. Having a college degree may once again be the advantage that it was.

We can all hope that the recession will be over by the time today's high school graduates walk across that stage again.