BY WILL BUNCH, Philadelphia Daily News
PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Rick Santorum thinks it’s “intellectual snobbery” to say that every American should go to college. But tell that to Bob Stewart, of Northeast Philadelphia. After steady union work dried up a few years ago, a diploma became his quest for survival.
“Everything needed a college degree,” said Stewart, who admits that he’d been an indifferent student at Archbishop Ryan. He joined the steamfitters’ union in the 1990s, even as blue-collar work for high-school grads was vanishing.
Now 34, married with two kids, Stewart – seeking a steady paycheck close to home – finally bit the bullet three years ago and enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia while tending bar at night. He became editor of the student newspaper and is set to enroll in Temple’s journalism program in the fall – but he still feels conflicted about employers who demand that sheepskin.
“I definitely think that you shouldn’t need college,” said Stewart, who believes that more employers could stress on-the-job training – as unions did in their heyday – in lieu of four-year colleges with their exorbitant tuition that’s saddled middle-class students with massive debt.
When you run down the list of major issues in a typical U.S. presidential election, college – who goes and who pays? – traditionally didn’t make the cut. But 2012 is different.
A major breakdown in the social contract – in which college grads were all but guaranteed jobs, and opportunities still existed for those without higher education – has left many American voters confused, angry and looking for answers.
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