Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Lebron Way Or The College Way?

Recently Lebron James became a controversial household name because of his decision to play for the Miami Heat. During this ordeal I listened to everyone's opinion of what he should have done. After hearing several opinions I was confused. I didn't know whether to agree with those who were made at James or those that were overjoyed with his decision. However, now I'm starting to agree with the choice that he made. This is why.

While still in high school James became a household name because of his skills in basketball. Then while only 18 he was the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by Cleveland Cavaliers. Before he even started his basketball debut in the NBA he signed a $90 million contract with Nike. Since then James has also gotten endorsements with several other companies, such as McDonalds and State Farm Insurance.

James started off with the Cleveland Cavaliers. While with them he became Rookie of The Year (2003-04), NBA Most Valuable Player for the last 2 years in a row, and he got payed pretty well. If he's spending his money right he'll never have to work another day in his life after he retires from basketball. James has received lots of success since he career started. The only thing missing for him was a championship ring. That's when his latest controversy hit. Some people feel he decided to get traded to the Miami Heat for more publicity and others feel it was because he wanted to get a ring.

On the other hand I'm just a college graduate who will soon have a lot of loans to pay back. Before I graduated high school my parents had already decided the college they wanted me to go to. They'd decided I would get my bachelors and then head straight back to get my masters. They decided that as soon as I graduated I would have jobs lined up and they probably even made up their minds that I would be back in Houston. Well not all of their plans worked out.

I went through 5 years of college to receive my bachelors degree. The only thing is I graduated at a time when the economy was awful and working for free was a challenge. While applying for free (unpaid internships) jobs and paying jobs I started to realize that I could have started my career straight out of high school. Most of these jobs don't ask for college degrees. They ask for degrees or lots of work experience. Even applying at a grocery store requires years of already working at a grocery store.

I think my life would be a lot different if at 18 I would have had colleges and jobs recruiting me. I would have chosen the money over the loans. In fact I could have learned to operate a camera much faster and have produced a lot of McDonalds commercials by now. I could have already had the most valuable short films by now. I could have even been a published author by now. My parents know my dream of being an author. The  only thing they don't seem to grasp is it costs money to make money. Well they understand that, but they don't understand that I can't just get published for free. If they did understand that maybe I would have been working already. Majoring in broadcast journalism was hard, so it would  have been impossible to work and try to graduate in 5 years. I know students there who have been working since they were 18 and they are going on their 6th year at the school because doing both is hard.

 I do have a college degree, but I've learned that the only difference between working at 18 and going to college is you collect debt doing one. Someone ask Lebron James about debt and he might not even know what it means.

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Lashuntrice

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