How Much Of A Lesson Do You Want To Learn?

There's a little private two year college, just across the California border by Death Valley, in Nevada, at the old Deep Springs Ranch. They take 8-11 students each year. The students do all the ranch and maintenance work. They have a few dairy cows and a vegetable garden, as well. They bring in a couple of teachers for a few months at a time and the kids get general education courses. The experience and maturity that the students gain at Deep Springs is considered really special. Admissions officers from all the most prestigious undergraduate institutions in America fight over Deep Springs graduates and offer them full ride scholarships. Are these kids really so special? I know kids worked like dogs the first 18-20 years of their lives on ranches. They went to school as well and did fine. Nobody ever begged them to accept a scholarship to Harvard.

I've known guys that join the military after high school. A lot of them end up doing things at a very young age that require a lot of judgement, responsibility and maturity. They can save money toward college while they're in and the government kicks in some. I guess there is a new GI Bill that has pretty good benefits. The truth is though, most colleges don't seek out or encourage veterans to apply to or attend. They don't consider them prime prospects. Why is that?

I knew a couple guys that robbed liquor stores and gas stations. Can't imagine why they did it except maybe the thrill. There's no money in it. You can do better selling a little weed to friends. Both guys got shot by the cops. One died, the other got one of the lobes of his lungs shot off, then spent the next decade in prison. Prison is one of the greatest character building experiences you can ever have. You never get a day off or even a break. You learn to cope with a changing and varied range of stressors. You'd think that anybody that makes it through a decade in prison without turning into a psycho, would be in great demand. It's not true. Ex convict felons have very limited opportunities waiting for them when they get out. Most colleges won't even consider them.

I guess that the worth of life experience is a relative thing, that really exists mostly in the eye of the beholder.