"A few years ago, I worked closely with a student who very much wanted to be a reporter. She was passionate about it, and spoke about her dreams with wide eyes and a contagious smile. The issue? This student’s writing was subpar at best, and her talents, while immense, were not shown through her academic ability. She simply did not have the grades to make it through four more years of college.

Guilty of it myself, I watched as all of her teachers smiled at her and encouraged her to follow her dreams, no one having the courage to push in her a direction that was more logical for her to take. We smiled and watched as she dropped out of college and moved back home with no back-up plan in place. I had to learn the hard way that sometimes it’s our jobs as teachers to tell students no, otherwise life will do it for them — and life is rarely ready to catch them when they fall."

  The teachers should have informed her of how she was doing and that she needs to work harder. Just because she wasn't doing well does not mean that she could never become a reporter. She needed a push and that is exactly what her teachers did not give her. 

Nowadays, a Bachelor's Degree is the same as a High School Degree was in the past. Most employers look for a College Degree. Be realistic, most jobs that don't require a college degree are those that don't pay much and are unstable. Although a College Degree may not be for everyone, it is for most people. It teaches students to work hard and gives chances at a better life. By telling a student not to go to college is the same as telling them that they are not smart enough, they do not work hard enough, and that they wouldn't get a good job anyways, so just give up. Instead, it is a teacher's job to encourage their students to work as hard as they can to achieve their dreams. Not tell them that they cannot do something and not to just smile at a failing student.

I think that the value of a High School Diploma isn't as much as it was before. Nowadays, a High School Diploma doesn't offer much more jobs than having no diploma.