Kokomo — When Shannon Smith was a teenager, her parents didn’t encourage her to go to college, assuming she would be a housewife and mother. With encouragement from her in-laws, she earned a two-year degree in child development from Indiana University Kokomo, but she would still like to finish her four-year degree.
Polly Mohr earned not only a bachelor’s degree but a law degree.
Both are now mothers of high school daughters and middle school sons, and they have at least one more thing in common — both have let their children know college is a requirement, not an option.
Local leaders in economic development, education and labor are echoing that sentiment and encouraging both students and adults to obtain more education.
Indiana University Kokomo Chancellor Michael Harris said higher education prepares students for the work force by providing knowledge and teaching students cognitive and analytical skills.
“We can’t compete with China when it comes to pay per hour,” Harris said. “But we weigh better than them in manufacturing. We weigh better than them in knowledge.”
He said in many cases, the parents need more persuasion than the students that post-secondary education is necessary.
Money is often seen as a barrier to higher education, Harris said, but he said education should be seen as an investment, one easier to make right out of high school than later.
“Look at non-traditional students. How many say, ‘I wish I went to college right after high school’? Others regret not finishing a degree.”
Harris said once students earn degrees, there needs to be amenities such as restaurants, bars, gyms and nightlife available to keep them in Kokomo.
“We need to make living here cool. When you have something nice, people want to go there,” Harris said.
Jeb Conrad, president and CEO of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, said his organization’s role in education is to advocate for people to get more education beyond high school.
“It’s not like we’ve got a bunch of dumb people ... but to be competitive in terms of the economy, you’ve got to teach that,” he said.
Jerry Price, vice president of United Auto Workers Local 685, agreed. He said Chrysler used to provide a tuition assistance program until it was suspended in 2008.
After layoffs began, he said, many of those laid off went back to school to make themselves more marketable, while some who were not laid off went back to school to be prepared to find another job, just in case.
Andrea Smith, a freshman at Eastern High School, and Morgan Mohr, a senior at Kokomo High School, are among the students who have heard the message about higher education. Their parents also are believers in college.
Shannon Smith grew up in Marion, where her father worked for Foster-Forbes, a glass factory. Her parents assumed her brothers would work at the factory like their father did, and the girls would marry and have children.
Her older brother worked at the factory for a time, then went to college. Her younger brother currently works at a factory.
Shannon graduated from IU Kokomo in 1995, when Andrea was 5 months old. She also worked while she went to school, and said it was hard to manage a baby, classes and work.
Smith said her parents’ attitudes changed for their youngest child, Danielle, 19. She is a freshman at Indiana University Bloomington.
“I think they saw me struggle not having that four-year degree,” she said. “They saw me struggle with my marriage. They wanted her to be able to stand on her own and not rely on someone.”
She and her ex-husband, Jason, are united in pushing college for their kids.
“It’s never been ‘when you graduate high school,’ it’s ‘when you graduate college.’ We want more for them than we have.”
Andrea Smith said she doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t know she was going to college.
She said she’s considered IU Kokomo, because her mom went there, and Indiana Wesleyan University, because that is where her dad went to school. She said all of her friends also plan to go to college.
“In this job market, there aren’t very many jobs you can get without a college education,” she said.
Like Andrea Smith, Morgan Mohr said she grew up knowing college was in her future.
“I’ve always really wanted to attend law school. College has always been an assumption for me.”
She said a lot of her friends are worried about how to pay for college, but added that Kokomo High School’s guidance department helps with finding scholarships. She hopes to earn a Wells Scholarship to Indiana University, then she wants to go to Harvard Law School.
Polly Mohr said when she and her husband, Bill, who is a physician, became parents, they started college funds immediately. They read to their children, introduced them to foreign languages when they were young, and took them to museums for cultural experiences.
She said while they planned college for their children, some other parents they knew assumed it was not necessary because of the abundance of good-paying manufacturing jobs available even for those without a high school degree.
“That is no longer with us at this time,” she said, adding that for many entry-level jobs, a four-year degree is now a minimum requirement. She said there are also many opportunities for technical education that lead to good careers.
Morgan Mohr is finding classmates who weren’t interested in college when they were younger are now starting to at least consider the possibility.
“They’re not sure they would find a job as a profession without college."