June 10, 2026
College Is Not the Goal: Helping Your Children Find the Right Educational Path
Choosing your children’s educational path is one of the most important responsibilities parents face, and college is not always the goal. It is something a husband and wife should discuss carefully and, as much as possible, agree upon. After all, we are trying to equip our children with the best opportunities to become responsible, well-adjusted adults who can someday build families and lives of their own. Above all, we want them to fear the Lord, because “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
That means we should approach education with a goal in mind. But the goal does not have to look the same for every child.
Not all of our children are going to become bankers, doctors, engineers, or rocket scientists. Nor should they. College does not have to be the destination for every child. Learning a valuable trade, joining the military, building a business, working with one’s hands, or becoming an entrepreneur may be exactly the path that best fits a particular young person.
Education also begins long before a child walks into a classroom.
Read books to your children early and often. Play counting and math games with them. Teach them basic skills and encourage their curiosity. If you have more than one child, you will quickly discover that they do not all learn the same way or possess the same abilities. One may love books while another wants to take everything apart to discover how it works. Getting involved early gives you the opportunity to begin discovering who your children are.
Then get to know the educational opportunities available to you.
Public school may be the most practical option for your family. Homeschooling or private school may be financially or logistically out of reach. And private does not automatically mean better. Some private schools may lack the facilities, programs, and opportunities available at a good public school. Parents should investigate rather than assume.
Look beyond the classroom as well. Are there sports teams? What after-school clubs are available? Organizations such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America can expose children to skills and experiences they might never encounter in a classroom. Sports, music, agriculture, vocational programs, clubs, church activities, and part-time jobs can all help young people discover their abilities and interests.
Years ago, a very successful businessman told me a couple of stories that have stuck with me.
He grew up on a dairy farm. Farming is one of the toughest jobs around, and while he was still in high school, he knew he did not want that life. That realization gave him a goal. He knew he needed to improve his grades if he wanted a chance to attend college. He also knew his parents could not afford to send him, so he would have to find a way to pay for it himself.
He eventually did, and he became very successful.
But the second story makes an equally important point.
A farmer in his area would drive into a nearby town during harvest season to pick up day laborers. One day he hired a drifter he had never seen before. The man turned out to be one of the best tobacco cutters the farmer had ever encountered.
Naturally, the farmer thought he should promote him.
He made the man a foreman, but within a week the fellow quit. The farmer eventually found him sitting in a tavern and asked what had happened. The man explained, in so many words, that he did not want to supervise anybody. He did not want to be in charge.
He just wanted to cut tobacco.
The farmer asked whether he would come back if that was all he had to do. The man agreed. He stayed for several harvest seasons, cutting tobacco, until one year he drifted away and was never seen again.
There is an important lesson in that story for parents.
We often assume that moving “up” is always better. We may decide that our child needs to attend college, earn a certain degree, enter a prestigious profession, or achieve something that looks successful to us. But sometimes we are trying to make a foreman out of someone who was perfectly suited to cutting tobacco.
Our responsibility is not to force every child into the same mold. It is to help our children discover what they can do, what they are willing to work to do, and where their abilities can take them.
That requires actually knowing our children.
It may also mean reconsidering our expectations about grades. Straight A’s are wonderful, but they are not necessarily the best measurement of whether a young person is being prepared for adulthood.
My daughter attended public school and later went to college with a friend who had made straight A’s throughout high school. They were very good friends and became roommates during their freshman year.
That year did not go as planned, and eventually the friendship fell apart for several reasons. But their academic experiences also taught me something.
We had made our daughter take college-prep classes in high school. She struggled to make B’s and C’s, and we were fine with that. She was also involved in sports and other activities throughout the year. We did not expect straight A’s while she was challenging herself academically and productively involved outside the classroom.
Her friend had made straight A’s but had taken less demanding courses and had rarely been challenged academically. When she entered college and encountered the demands of her chosen field, she struggled. Eventually, she transferred to a public university, did well there, and went on to build a successful life working in the family business.
My daughter’s B’s and C’s in those college-prep classes had taught her how to struggle. When she reached a private university, the work was difficult, but difficulty was nothing new. She graduated in four years while working as a waitress and living in an apartment off campus during her final three years.
Then there were our sons.
Our rambunctious middle child barely made it through his freshman year of college. After bouncing around for a while, he eventually enlisted in the Army and found a place where he could put his energy and talents to work.
Our youngest took yet another path. He muscled his way through an electrical engineering degree and, at the time of this writing, is beginning his career.
Three children. Three very different paths.
Of course, we hoped all of our children would graduate from college, or at least find a pathway that would lead toward a fulfilling and productive life. One has yet to earn a degree, and I am neither surprised nor disappointed by that.
The degree was never the most important thing.
What matters more is that each of our children grows into an adult capable of taking responsibility, working hard, building relationships, developing the gifts God has given them, and pursuing greater opportunities for spiritual, material, and personal growth.
Education is a tool toward that end, not the end itself.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” As Christian parents, perhaps our greatest educational responsibility is not choosing the school with the greatest reputation or pushing every child toward the same definition of success. It is knowing our children well enough to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, challenging them enough to help them grow, and giving them the wisdom, discipline, faith, and opportunity they need to find the path God has equipped them to walk.
Author: Jon-Roy Sloan is the Chief Communications Officer for NationsUniversity and the author of Anastasia Smiles: Love Needs No Translation. Disclaimer statement: Please note that the opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and are based on his personal understanding of scripture and how God works in our lives and do not necessarily reflect the views of NationsUniversity®.
Article 23, Family Policy Series – 305 Children’s Education