People in prison should think carefully about the high hurdles they must surmount if they are committed to succeeding upon release. Unemployment rates remain stubbornly high and economic leaders expect them to remain so. If people without prison records find it difficult to build careers, then those with criminal records must plan on facing resistance from employers. Anticipations of struggle upon release and a 100% commitment to overcome them have guided my adjustment through every day of my journey.
A key component of my strategy to overcome was to earn valid academic credentials. Recently I received a message from a caring friend who works to help prisoners. She was inquiring about an education program from a for-profit organization about which I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I believe that students can educate themselves through all types of structured courses. But on the other, I’ve read numerous findings that report on the ineffectiveness of for-profit colleges. The New York Times has been reporting that people who graduate from for-profit colleges have a much more difficult time finding employment.
I don’t think it is wise for prisoners to invest financial resources to enroll in diploma mills. Those types of unaccredited programs waste time and money. I wrote an article on education programs that described some of the accredited university programs that prisoners may pursue through correspondence. Early in my prison term when I was working toward an undergraduate degree, I completed several courses through Ohio University. The courses were extremely well designed and every credit I earned was transferable to any other university.
If I were advising another prisoner on how to prepare for the challenges that await release, I would encourage the prisoner to study toward meaningful academic credentials. When I say meaningful, I refer to programs that educated people (and potential employers) would respect. It doesn’t serve a useful purpose, I don’t think, to waste money and considerable energy to study toward credentials that others will not recognize and that will not have much influence on opening employment opportunities.
After earning an undergraduate degree from Mercer University and a graduate from Hofstra University I enrolled in a law school that was not accredited. Although I completed the first year of the program, I was disappointed in the school and considered it a waste of money. Since I didn’t value the program I declined to continue. Instead, I studied independently, learning just as much but not wasting money for tuition that would result in a degree that no one recognized.
Ran 10 miles / 5,470 miles in 613 days
500 pushups / 89,200 pushups in 2010
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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