6 I March 27, 2015
The Guilfordian
OPINION
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/OPINION
Degrees are worth more than just paper
BYBEATRIZ
CALDAS
Staff Wrfter
Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, is one
of the many Republicans considering a run
for the WTiite House next year. He stands out,
however, thanks to a simple thing: he doesn’t
have a college degree.
This fact has raised a
lot of questions about
whether he should
be running for the
presidency or not.
As a college student,
I believe a coUege degree
is indeed the best way to
achieve what you want.
My parents always
made sure that I had
access to the best
education possible. And
grown-ups are usually the
ones who know best.
“To me, education is priceless whether you
can make a million dollars with it or not,”
said CCE junior Angela Russell. “I think
education is a good investment.”
CCE students are the perfect example of
how much impact a college degree can have.
“Why wouldn’t you want to go to school
and learn about something that you don’t
know and expand on that?” said CCE senior
Phil Gordon.
Going back to college is more than just
having a piece of paper at the end of four
years.
“By coming to college, you have that
opportunity to seek ... what it is you’re truly
meant to do,” said Student Success Counselor
Nicole Arnold ’ll. “It’s really about finding
that passion.
Accordingrto U.S. News,, a study published
in 2011 by the Georgetown University Center
for Education and the Workforce states that
individuals with a bachelor’s degree in any
field earn an average of $2.27 million in a
lifetime, while those with only a high school
diploma earn an average of $1.30 million.
“In an economy that’s changing as quickly
as ours is, job security is huge,” said Assistant
Dean of Career & Community Learning Alan
Mueller. “It’s not guaranteed, but a college
degree helps with job security.”
And it is not any kind of job that can
hire someone based only on a high school
diploma.
“If you have a passion to be a doctor or
go into any kind of biology, any science,
you’ve got to have a degree,” said Career
Development Counselor Teresa Fitzgerald ’09.
“It can help point you in that direction and
open doors for you that otherwise would not
have been opened.”
Going to college is not only great
intellectually, but it is also the best place for
people to find themselves.
Emma Watson, who played Hermione
Granger in the Harry Potter movies for over a
decade, decided she wanted to have a college
degree even though she is already settled in
her acting career.
“I think (the college experience) is a great
time to figure out who you are and what you
like,” said Watson in an interview with the
New York Daily News.
This experience can make ail the difference
when going out there to face the real world.
“When it comes to the value of a college
degree, it’s an inside and outside of the
classroom thing,” said Career Development
Assistant Director Amanda Fontenot.
“Having that roommate experience (and)
living and working with people that are not
like you at all create a person that not only is
knowledgeable about their field, but also has
been exposed to different things.”
On the other hand, not having a college
degree does not mean you will not be
successful or happy in your occupation.
' Brazil’s former president Luis Iniicio “Lula”
da Silva has had little education. He did not
learn how to read until he was 10 and does
not even have a high school diploma.
As a Brazilian myself I do not agree with
Lula’s politics and despise him for all the
corruption scandals he and his party have
been involved with. But, I must admit he is
a great speaker and is smart
enough to convince a whole
coimtry that he has got
the solution to their
problems.
“You don’t
necessarily need to
be in college to
be successful,”
said senior Anne
Bell. “I’m really
thankful for my
opportunity to
have a degree, but
it’s not a degree
that is going to
define me after I
graduate.”
Facebook
creator Mark
Zuckerberg, co
founder of Spotify
Daniel Ek and the co
founder and former
Apple CEO Steve Jobs
are all examples of college
dropouts who became
millionaires and did not
need a degree to do so.
However, I still
believe that a degree is
our best shot nowadays.
Zuckerberg, Ek, Jobs
and Lula all had to get
some education at some
point in life. Walker
dropped out of college
in his senior year; he was
educated enough already.
: This is not about becoming
a smarty-pants.
“It’s about learning how to
critically think,” said Mueller.
“My grandmother used to say *Go to
college because nobody can ever take
your education away from you,’ and
this is powerful.”
Staff Editorial
Budget committee
needs transparency
As President Jane Fernandes expressed during the community
meeting with students and board of trustees members, Guilford’s
budget crisis may seem sudden to us, but it has been building for many
years. Action must be taken so that Guilford can sustain itself in the
future. However, before decisions are made, we feel strongly that the
entire Guilford community must be accurately informed and given the
opportunity to share our thoughts. An exclusive and nontransparent
process will not reflect the concerns of students, staff or faculty. When
Jane came to visit Guilford last spring she acknowledged the lack of
financial transparency the community had been afforded by President
Chabotar’s administration. She vowed to not follow his pattern.
Hence, the editorial board of the Guilfordian urges all those on
the budget committee addressing the $2 million deficit to uphold
transparency.
Meanwhile, our community is currently being told “everything is
on the table” to possibly be cut. This is meant to be: a comfr)rting
sentiment, but we take issue with this rhetoric: • - '
If everything really is on the table, we demand that the highest-
paid administrative employees, such as the VP of advancement, VP of
finance, president, director of facilities, etc., be considered for salary
cuts. We feel strongly that our community needs to take money from
the top and distribute it to programs that are constantly in need of
more monetary support. We urge the committee to keep .in mind
historically underfunded departments such as the Multicultural
Education Department, the Bonner Center and the Health and
Counseling Center, as well as many others, and not repeat these same
patterns. ,
Though some cuts are necessary, the editctrial .board ;;would‘, be
disappointed to see a repetition of austerity-like cuts that starve those
already suffering and keep rewarding those already comfortable.
Reflecting Guilford College's core Quaker values^: ■■Mo'- tcontent^o
OF Staff Editorials are chosen through consensus of all 14'EbhoRs^'Xi^D^NE^:
FACULTY ADVISER OF ThE GuILFORDIAN's EDITORIAL BOARD.
When you’re bilingual, you
have to hold on to your roots
“Yn cnv tfit hturuaif nt>rn nn .^npakinff Tt rnntiniipd to bp this wav until bivh school.
BY LESLY
VASQJJEZ
Staff Writer
‘Yo soy mt lenguaje, pero no abuses.” Speaking
two languages, I get asked one question almost
daily: ‘How do you say this in Spanish?’ It’s
always very comforting to know that I just
helped somebody expand their knowledge on
something, even if it’s small.
I especially enjoy it when the
person is asking the question
for useful purposes and not
for the abuse of the language.
Being Hispanic myself,
I had to learn how to blend
in but still trying to keep my
roots alive from my culture.
Si no aprendes ahora, nunca
aprenderds. While I was
growing up in a Spanish
speaking family, my parents
enforced the tradition of
learning Spanish because it
was the only way to communicate with them.
They would prefer that I speak the language in
which I was brought up.
No naci y creci en Mexico, pero mis rakes son
reales. I was born in California, so English came
easily. What was difficult was learning Spanish.
I heard everyone around me speaking it, so I
caught a few words, but there were always those
silly words that I would most often forget.
When I was 10 years old, I would always
forge.t how to say ''elefante” so instead I would
end up putting my right hand towards my nose
and making a trumpet noise. It was entertaining
to some people to see me act out an elephant,
but to me, it was the most frustrating thing
possible.
^ Yo soy diferente comparado con los demas. I went
-to school with many Hispanics, so Spanish
followed me to school. This was great, until
: hoticed some high-class Southern preps
'^whiftxeriiig “Do they not know that we speak
English'*in America?”
It continued to be this way until high school.
My freshman year was the last straw, when I
heard a boy saying “This is America, we speak
English here.”
When I heard that, I also heard my mother’s
voice in my head saying ''Que nunca se te olvide tu
lenguaje.” It was inspiration to help me become
better at speaking both languages.
By the end of my freshman year of high
school my accent was completely gone, which
is something that scared me, but it helped me
blend in with the others. It was all that I truly
wanted, but made me feel guilty. I would speak
perfect English and nobody ever noticed I was
Hispanic, until I spoke Spanish, of course.
I might have been born in California but I
was raised in a small town in North Carolina
called Asheboro. There’s never much going
on, but when Christmas season always comes
around, they set lights all over the town. A week
before Christmas they do a little festival called
“Christmas on Sunset,” on Sunset Ave.
Me and my family usually just drive by and
see everyone having a great time, and every time
I look through the window of the passenger
seat, I imagine the future.
Will I keep the traditions that my parents
taught me throughout my life? Or will I end up
putting stockings all over the house? Will I be
able to keep my roots alive inside of me? Or will
I want to get my niece to put up a star on top
of the Christmas tree?
Being bilingual is not all about the language,
it’s about what you’ve been taught throughout
your life and always staying true to your roots.
It’s a privilege to know two languages, but it’s
a necessity to always remember where you come
from.
Blending in with a culture that isn’t yours
can have its pros arid cons. You will either lose
yourself, or find thaf .yOur roots will never leave
you no matter what you try to do.