My kid just got her sheepskin from Cal. Of course, these days that doesn’t mean one has “graduated.” There are still more units to fulfill, but kids are allowed to “walk” in June as long as they intend to finish up in the next three decades or so. Times have changed.

She’s a 4th generation Cal grad.

Her great grandfather, born in the backwaters of Bakersfield, graduated in 1912. His father, Methias, was like many of your great grandfathers—-an immigrant who came to this country in order to have a better life.

He spoke English with a thick Norwegian accent and taught himself to read. His brother, Ole, had died in his arms of tuberculoses when they were teens. Determined that someday his family could afford a doctor, Methias vowed to end the cycle of poverty.

Methias worked for Southern Pacific. His kid was going to “be somebody.” He would go to the State University up in Berkeley.

Methias owned his own house (ok, shack) and even had some tiny shacks he rented to rough-and-tumble railroad workers. Apparently, he was a parsimonious recluse—but a tireless worker.

He was mysteriously bludgeoned to death in 1938. It is thought a drifter came through and saw him reading a magazine in his window (using the light from the street lamp) and cracked his skull with a lead pipe. The crime has never been solved.

Though Methias didn’t live to see it, his plan worked. His kid graduated from Cal and eventually found himself in the Governor’s mansion in Sacramento before heading back to D.C. to take a seat on the highest bench in the land. Not bad for a kid who rode a donkey to high school.

As successful as Methias’ kid was, he never made much money. He couldn’t afford to put six kids through college, so they all attended various campii of the (practically) free University of California.
The eldest (Methias’ grandson) went to Cal. Eventually, he bought a home in Conn Valley. He started his own business here in town and soon had a better life style than his father or grandfather had. He was able to send his kids to Cal. They were able to grow up and have the option of having a better standard of living than their father. That was the plan from the beginning.

Today’s anti-America crowd calls that white privilege. Our ancestors saw it as the way the system was designed to work. The American dream has always been about breaking the chains of class distinction. Education has been the key to upward mobility from the 20th century on. Each generation wanted the following one to be “better off” than they were.

Even today, college isn’t the only route. Just ask Mr. Gates. Hard work is the key. But a better life is the goal.

Once, Horatio Alger was the American ideal. Children were weaned on books about rags to riches stories. Climbing out of poverty was considered admirable. And if one weren’t on the track to becoming a Carnegie or Mellon, by the end of World War II it was obligatory that parents made sure their kids had the opportunity to at least go to College.

Money wasn't God. Upward mobility was.

Now we have a President and his wife going to commencements and exhorting kids to work for non –profits. Nothing wrong with that--if they can afford it. But why does Mrs. Obama tell students at Cal, Merced who are on Pell Grants (their families earn under $35,000 per year), that they should go to work for non-profits? Is that the route to upward mobility?

Shouldn’t she be advising them to start businesses and create jobs which will raise the standard of living for others? If dad made $35,000 and his kid has a chance to make more thanks to a college degree, shouldn’t she do it? Or should she become an ACORN volunteer?

Education is about many things—character, knowledge, enlightenment, but attaining upward mobility is key. Isn’t creating wealth and jobs in the private sector a good thing? Is it greedy to pay one’s own bills, own one’s own house, or provide jobs for others? Isn’t that the American dream?

Ending the cycle of poverty—-attaining individual financial independence from the state—-creating jobs for others—-that is why the public finances Universities like Cal.

Nothing wrong with non-profits. They are essential. But unless a non-profit pays enough to put one’s own kids through school, one is obligated to put his education to a higher use. Family comes first. Giving kids the chance to be all they can be--is the first priority of any parent—-or once was.