GEO Principle Blog

Avoid college debt to obtain the freedom of graduation

These kinds of stories are always interesting. Who can resist a story about what others are making these days? Clearly it's a tough time to be starting out in the job market. The unemployment rate is higher now than it has been in a long time.

But I think it is important to make the point that college should be about much more than getting a high-paying job and that work is about much more than money. College graduation should have something to do with freedom -- freedom to choose a job that pays only a modest wage, if a person feels such a job offers the best opportunity to apply his skills and talents. My fear is that many people are getting a college education but they are not getting the freedom that it should bring. Astronomical tuition debt defeats the purpose of their college degree.

When I graduated from college in 1983 in another very difficult job market, I was free to take almost any job because I had no one to care for but myself. I went to the local college and had no tuition debt to repay.

I feel sad when I hear people talk about graduating with $50,000 or more in school loans. That's a tough way to start out life on your own. Knowledge should be freeing, but people who graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt are not as free as they should be. They face a lot of pressure to find a job that pays well right away. This may or may not be the kind of job they really want. I know many people who delay marriage and/or having children because they are waiting to pay off their debt. What good is a college education if it prevents you from having the family you want?

So my message here isn't so much for the college graduate as it is for the high school graduate. As you enter college, make choices that keep you free from debt if possible. Not everyone has to go away to college, not everyone has to go to a private school. You can get a fine education from a local school, even a junior college or vocational school. If your parents will allow you to live at home, don't turn your nose up at that possibility. A college education should prepare you to go out and build up the Kingdom of God, in whatever field you choose. It should not shackle you with debt.

A teacher made the difference for 150 students

Erin Gruwell is a teacher who founded an organization called Freedom Writers. Her story is so compelling that M-TV made a movie about her. Check it out here.

Fresh out of college in the mid-1990s, Erin taught in a Long Beach, Calif., high school. Her rough and tumble students were described as the toughest cases. These were 150 kids who weren't supposed to make it. After much trial and error, she connected with the students. Many of them began to take school seriously for the first time in their lives. Over the course of four years of study, many of the students found new hope for their lives. Ultimately, Gruwell and the students published a book made up of entries from their journals. Erin presented her story at a business meeting I attended in Nebraska a few days ago. Her presentation was so compelling I stuck around to meet her afterward.

Teaching professionals might argue over Gruwell's methods, and certainly there has been plenty of blog-chatter about the accuracy of the movie, but I am writing about her here because Gruwell did what she had to in order to do her job. The way she told it, she wanted each of her students to read books written by authors a lot like them. Many of the students were living in what felt like a war zone, a place where drive-by shootings were all too common. So Gruwell wanted the students to know about other teens, like Anne Frank, who lived in traditional wars.

Gruwell said when she went to the administration of the school to buy the books, she was told the students would never read them. She was denied the funds to purchase the books. That's where Gruwell took things into her own hands. She went to a local book store and bought 150 copies of six books. She said she had to max out her credit card and dip into her Christmas savings in order to make the purchase. As she looks back, she said the books turned out to be an important starting point for many of the students.

I like the story because Gruwell poured herself into her work. She didn't let the establishment prevent her from being the teacher she knew she could be.

Many people want things in order to do their work, but they would never pay for any of those things with their own money. Would you? Gruwell wasn't going to let the money for books be the barrier that prevented her from reaching those students.

Bringing God to work means loving those around you. It means not giving up on those around you, even if others have. It means giving your best to those around you. It seems to me that Gruwell did that. I am sure many teachers do something similar every day. It is a great example of the GEO Principle in action.

Boy Scouts and the GEO Principle

A friend pointed out an interesting interview appearing in USA Today earlier this week with Robert Mazzuca, who is the chief executive of Boy Scouts of America. The entire interview is worth reading, but I want to highlight answers to two questions. Here’s the first:

Q: When people of business discuss leadership, they use words such as vision, passion, charisma. Why do the Scouts use these 12 words: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent?

A: Charisma and other personality traits may determine how far up the ladder you go, but the 12 points of the Scout Law define your character. If you don't have integrity, you're not a good leader no matter how charismatic.

Every election year, the question comes up “Is character important?” It absolutely is, and the Scouts get this point right. The exciting thing is that if you get it right as a young person, you have a much better chance of getting it right as an adult.

If you are a manager who hires people, you know it is important to look for character in your candidates. Of course new hires need the basics: they need to have the skills, knowledge and experience to do the job for which you are hiring, but in addition to that you want a person of character. If a person has character, you know you can trust them, even when you cannot watch them. If they have character, you get the sense they will go the extra mile when something unexpected happens. Competence and skill are all you need when everything is going fine, when everything is going the way it is supposed to. But if something unexpected happens –- like the economy sours, your businesses suffers a setback, or personal problems diminish the ability of some people on staff to work to their potential –- then it is people of character which will get you through that crisis period.

Character, of course, is a euphemism for faith. Character means putting others ahead of yourself, which generally only happens if you believe in someone other than yourself. And the Boy Scouts get that, too. Here’s the other question I like in this interview:

Q: Scouts require a belief in God. Many business leaders are religious, but they keep their faith to themselves so they won't offend customers and employees who have a diversity of beliefs.

A: The Scouts have a duty to God, but we in no way have tried to define God. We have wonderful Jewish Scouts and Christian Scouts and Muslim Scouts.

We accept any faith, but they have to embrace some faith. In the middle of faith are the principles of good and the kinds of things that are good lessons for business. Most good business leaders are men of faith.

But you don't have to wear it on your sleeve. "If you're coming to work for my company by God, you're going to be a Christian," I think is not acceptable. But the idea that we live a life of faith and don't hide from a life of faith is an important part of who we are.

I like that: “We live a life of faith and don’t hide from a life of faith.” That’s the GEO Principle. Take the faith that you are living on Sundays, that you are living at home, and live it in the work world.

Schools provide poor model for faith-filled living

The premise of the GEO Principle is that God is in Every Occupation. How is God going to get in every occupation? You have to bring Him there! Start by bringing God to your own job, and then help others to bring God to their's.

If you are reading this blog, then your faith is probably important to you. Most people of faith do pretty well living their faith at home and on Sundays. But when it comes to going to work on Monday morning, something happens. They leave their faith at home. They don't take it with them to the office. While many people live a happy home life thoroughly integrated with their faith, they opt for a work life where faith is separated from their occupation. Why?

In many ways, our culture discourages the integration of faith into the workplace. The idea of separation of Church and State has leeched into the private commercial sector to the point where common expressions of faith are discouraged or even frowned upon. Think about the flap that comes up every year in December about whether store clerks should wish their customers Merry Christmas.

My contention, however, is that people learn to segregate their religious inclinations from their professional duties at a very young age, while they are in school. In school, religion and spiritual considerations are completely separated from the study of all other fields. Moral education is set aside for Wednesday night or Sunday morning education. Even in private religious schools, faith is typically treated as music or art class, alloted a 45-minute slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In a perfect world, religion, spirituality and morality would be a part of the discussion of every subject taught in school. It is really pointless to learn math if we don't also learn what it is that we are counting or measuring -- God's creation. All literature, in one way or another, is part of the story of salvation. If that fact is ignored in English class, then students miss the most important part of the story. It is tremendous to study biology and science, but if you can't discuss where life came from in the first place, then all those images under the microscope are going to mean a whole lot less.

I don't really see our school systems changing. If anything, given current educational trends, schools are likely to work even harder to eliminate religious or moral considerations from the teaching of any subject.

As young adults graduate from high school and college, however, they need to know that they do not need to live their lives in a manner that segregates faith from knowledge. The blueprint their schools gave them for isolating faith in a remote place away from all other study, is poor instruction for how to live your life. Once a person is out of school, he or she is free to live their faith all the time -- 24/7. People who understand they are free to live their faith all the time have a much better chance of finding meaning in their work than folks who think they need to keep their faith tucked away into a small corner of their life.

Dad's lessons foster workplace success

The occasion of Father's Day got me to thinking about all the things I learned from my Dad. He used to take my four siblings and me camping, and on those trips he taught us to recognize many of the constellations in the sky, how to use a compass, how to bait a hook and remove a fish from the line, how to cook over an open fire, and even how to start a fire.

Dad also taught me how to sail on a 16-foot MC scow that he kept on one of the city lakes. I learned how to rig the boat, and to work the tiller and main sheet; he taught me to read the wind and surface of the water. Sailing offered bigger life lessons. For example, in sailing if you want to go to Point A from Point B, you sometimes have to sail toward Point C for a while, depending on the wind. I know now that when you want something in life, sometimes you have to go in a seemingly divergent direction for a while to get it.

My Dad managed an apartment complex and while I was in college, he had me painting those buildings. My Dad was a good painter and he taught me now to do it -- prepare the surface well before applying any paint, pour the paint into a smaller container so that if you spill you don't lose the entire gallon of paint, and always secure your extension ladder at the top to the building so the wind doesn't blow you over. I actually liked painting, and after I was done working on his projects I started painting other buildings and made pretty good money.

I didn't realize it at the time, but Dad was teaching me a trade. The money I earned paid for a good portion of my college tuition, but if I couldn't find a job in my field of study, I always knew I could make a living painting, based on what my Dad taught me.

One of the most important things a father can do for his children is teach them a useful skill. A father should teach his kids something they can use in the work world to make a living. This is a very important way that a father provides for his kids; with this kind of lesson, the provision goes on long after the father may be gone. Joseph is our model. He taught Jesus to be a carpenter.

It is not always easy to teach our children, especially as they enter adulthood, but we can begin in simple ways. A good start is to make sure your children know what you do. If you go off to work everyday, share that work experience with your kids. Make sure they know where you work and what you do. Invite them to work with you; show them around your workplace and introduce them to your colleagues and boss.

Parents also need to teach their children the basics of workplace etiquette. Parents should teach kids about punctuality, about the importance for working hard, about team work, appropriate dress, good phone manner, and about respecting others. These basics will give a new employee an edge at any place of employment.

And kids need to learn from their parents that money is to be earned, not given to you. Wise people save for things before they buy them. Credit is a useful tool, but it should be used wisely. Parents should explain how interest works -- both as an incentive for them to save and as an incentive for them to avoid debt.

Fatherhood is an awesome responsibility. As fathers, we want to prepare our children to go out into the world, live independently, and contribute to the greater good. It is a lot to expect of our kids -- too much to expect without a lot of help from dad and mom.