Newspaper Page Text
April 13, 1978
Maroon Tiger
Page 5
What Does The Future Hold
For Morehouse Grads?
“Two roads diverged in a yellow
wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I
could
To where it bent in the
undergrowth.”
Frost
As a Morehouse senior receives
his baccalaureate degree, awes
tricken that an academic as
piration has been fulfilled, one
question he may ponder is: What
will the next step be? Un
doubtedly, the right steps were
taken in making an academic trek
through Morehouse, as the
institution acclaims to prepare
scholars who will-be adept in their
chosen career objectives or future
professions.
However, as a Mo, house
graduate passes irrevo, bly
beyond the portal of his future,
whether or not he will perform
with professional eclat in his
proposed vocation is dependent
upon how the institution has ac
coutred him, i.e. properly or pro
forma. As helmsman of his
personal ambition, the Morehouse
graduate must realize that his
dreams may be actualized or
enhanced by the educational en
dowments he receives while
matriculating through the
institution. The horizons he set
sail for, the paths he treads toward
his destiny should not be selected
unstudied, for all may turn awry.
Basically, there are two paths
which the majority of Morehouse
graduates are inclined to follow:
the path to employment and the
path to higher education. The
subsequent remarks will be
explorative of where the paths
may lead and how they are
journeyed.
THE JOB MARKET
It is estimable each year that the
majority of Morehouse graduates
avail themselves of the job market
demand for qualified black
personnel in public, private and
professional employment,
especially for affirmative action
programs. If a Morehouse scholar
believes that he is destined to
follow a vocational path, whether
to be a careerist or craftsman, then
securement of a satisfactory oc
cupation should involve proper
career counseling and inspection
of the college’s job placement
services.
CAREER COUNSELING
The Office of Career Counseling
and Placement has a primary aim
of aiding students in selecting jobs
which are commensurate with
their talents and skills. However,
it is emphasized that career plan
ning is essentially the res
ponsibility of the Morehouse
scholar. The structure of his
educational program should be
supportive of the best possible
placement he desires within a
specific wage-income level. Some
academic departments, such as
economics and business ad-
By Gregory Battle
Editor’s Note: Mr. Battle is
a member of the Morehouse
graduating class of 1977.
He graduated from
Morehouse summa cum
laude with departmental
honors in mathematics. He
is presently a graduate
student pursuing the doc
toral degree in
mathematics at
Washington University in
St. Louis, Mo.
ministration, engineering,
education, etc. provide their
students with the necessary
manual, scientific, and teaching
proficiency for recruitment in top
salary positions at the bac
calaureate degree stratum. The
gamut of accessible occupations
include insurance salesmen,
recruitment and staffing directors,
accountants, civil engineers, com
puter programmers, civil service
commissioners, circulation
managers, teachers, news an
chormen, bankers, researchers,
etc. The prospective yearly income
for these positions have a statis
tical minimum from $6000 to $7999
and a maximum from $17000 to
$19999, with a mean from $100000
to $12999.
MATERIAL
ATTAINMENT
Usually, the anticipated annual
earnings and job prospects vary
according to the individual incen
tives or motives of the Morehouse
scholar. A primary factor which
permeates these drives is the
desire to accrue capital in a
personal bank account as a
measure of success. It the
Morehouse scholar comes from a
family beset by consistent
economic hardships, or an en
vironment where prosperity is
calibrated in terms of material
possessions, such as real estate or
monetary affluence, then the
impetus to secure a job or business
position of a lucrative nature pres
sures fulfillment. The more
fortunate Morehouse graduate
may inherit a position in his
family business, or receive an offer
of executive title in a governmen
tal or private industry that is
financially stable.
PRIVATE AND
PROFESSIONAL
INDUSTRY
Continuing, it is vogue today for
versatile Morehouse scholars
(generally graduating magna cum
laude or summa cum laude) to
enter into a professional industry
or business at the bachelor’s
degree level, with intentions of
furthering their education to ac
quiring a master’s degree with
promotional advancement. The in
dustrious Morehouse graduate
should ascertain whether or not
the company or business will
finance his educational plans with
concomitant benefits (medical and
insurance), if applicable. Too
often, these professional and
private industries sacrifice black
talent at the altar of black
tokenism to satisfy functional
criteria, particularly under
scrutiny of the federal
government. The gifted
Morehouse scholar should be wary
that the offer of a flourishing
professional career in a business
or industrial firm may be a flaky
facade to deter governmental
inspection or to maintain
unscrupulous business practices a
couvert. Other environmental
stresses which such a Morehouse
graduate may encounter are racial
prejudices, isolationism,
advertant demotion and demerit,
as well as contractual stymie.
MEDICINE
AND
ENGINEERING
Thus, the path to employment
(pursued primarily by Morehouse
scholars) may be prosperous and
prismatic for some, but inflexible
and tough for others. Two
academic programs which
guarantee Morehouse graduates
filtrability into the high income
brackets are the engineering dual
degree and medical education
programs. If these curricula sus
tain a considerably small differen
tial in the size of graduating and
entering enrollment in future
years, then both programs may
earn greater repute for Morehouse
College. It is the travail of those
graduates who seek the road to em
ployment which becomes the
cornerstone of monumental life s
work to inspire others of the legacy
of Morehouse to the black com
munity, which has contributed its
strength to the growth of this res
pondent academy.
HIGHER EDUCATION
However, such a salute is not
complete without recounting the
ventures of those Morehouse
scholars who travel the road to
higher education. For them, it is
certainly veritable that there is no
royal road to learning. Without
question, those Morehouse
graduates, whose ambitions deem
further education at a graduate
school, occupy an impressive part
of the black professional niche.
The goals of such an educational
odyssey may not be attained
without expert counseling for the
proper selection of professional
schools which offer the best formal
advanced training in the liberal
arts and natural sciences.
EARLY PLANNING
If a Morehouse graduate nas as
pirations for a graduate degree,
then steps should be taken second
semester of the junior year to
commence application and con
sultation for study in one of the
nation’s professional schools. Em
phasis is placed on knowing the
admissions procedures at a
proposed school and the re
quirements to be met in the ad
missions policies. These
Morehouse scholars can save
themselves very much money and
frustration, if they discuss their
academic career objectives with
their advisors and make early con
tact with prospective graduate
schools. The two major criteria for
selection of a graduate school are
the grade of its academic program
and the amount of financial as
sistance proportional to individual
education expenses. Candidates
for graduation should be alert that
some professional schools may
attempt to overwhelm them with
attractive monetary offers, but
have inferior academic standards.
FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE
On the other side of the coin, a
graduate school may have a
superior program of study with
almost nil financial support.
Before a Morehouse graduate auc
tions himself to a professional
school, he should assure himself
that the highest bidder possesses
the highest academic reputation.
This is especially true for
athletes/scholars who may be
drafted by professional teams
which may have minor interests in
then; scholastic aptitudes. Those
graduates who pursue advanced
education at vocational and
technical schools should obtain a
guarantee of satisfactory em
ployment before enrollment. In ad
dition, it is usually a fact that a
large percentage of Morehouse
scholars who seek the master’s
degree have a definite objective to
acquire employment in a profes
sional business or industry, at a
minimum expected yearly income
of $13000. Such a graduate
program may be financed con
siderably by the prospective com
pany whose esteem may rest on
highly qualified personnel.
ministers, corporation executives,
principals, economists, college ad
ministrators, musicians, real es
tate agents, architects,
mathematicians, governmental
officials, etc. An even more im
pressive aggregate of Morehouse
scholars are those whose formal
education will culminate in the
earning of a doctoral degree. An
interesting program (usually four
years of study) by-passes the
master’s degree, awarding the doc
toral degree to candidates who
demonstrate exemplary creativity
and conceptual perspicacity in a
major field of scholastic endeavor
under degree requirements.
Though this doctoral program is
standard, it is not pervasive as
different schools, such as law and
medicine, require special academic
criteria.
DOCTORATE
DEGREES
The small percentage of
Morehouse scholars in quest of the
doctorate degree are admonished
that they may be strained to ac
tualize their scholastic poten
tialities, if they experience
disillusionment or maladjustment
in their graduate educational
goals. The insentience of a highly
competitive academic en
vironment, the resilience of social
and economic barriers may abrade
the spirit of the Morehouse
graduate who expects his chosen
graduate institution to have an
academic and social milieu similar
to the Atlanta University Center.
Morehouse scholars, especially
those enrolled in ivy-league
schools, may miss the stimulation
of the unique academic at
mosphere at Morehouse whose
general program develops the in
dividual wholly with a strong rap
port among faculty and students.
Nonetheless, those Morehouse
graduates who attain the doc
torate degree, particularly in law
and medicine, earn title to a
prosperous profession, as well as
much prestige for their alma
mater. There seems to be no hurdle
too high, no rampart too sturdy
which have not been surpassed by
these professional scholars.
Morehouse has produced in this
space age era some of the most ac
complished ministers, educators,
doctors and lawyers of impeccable
performance in the American
society.
Thus, whether the Morehouse
scholar aspires to follow the path
to employment, or the path to
higher education, there is beyond
the storms to quell—the light of
success at journey’s end. Look on
bel-esprit brothers, look on to
see/How far down the road where
might you be?/Are you close
enough to reach the goals of your
odyssey2
MASTERS DEGREES
From the ranks of these master’s
degree pursuants have emerged
many Morehouse men of eminence
in variegated occupations as
