Help me find videos of well-known people saying college is necessary

August 16, 2017 7:12 AM

Please point me toward video clips of people expressing the idea that attending college and getting a degree is a prerequisite to getting a decent job and joining the middle class in the United States. In particular, I'm looking for well-known people making these statements - politicians, business leaders, celebrities, athletes, musicians, etc. These can be anything from speeches, to college promotional videos, to movies and other pop-culture.
posted by theory to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Well known politicians and celebrities don't have a lot of credibility on these issues. They're generally not first generation college grads who joined the middle class. There are lots of resources that include the people directly benefited, though, and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation does a ton of research to show what effect their programs have. In their video section, there are vids of people explaining the programs but there are also personal testimonials, so poke around in here.

I also have a bunch of research sites on this question bookmarked at the office because the mission of the company I work for depends on research that shows that the best outcome for first gen, low income, high academic achieving students is met through attending a four year college and graduating in 4 years. I don't focus on videos but I can check some of the sites to see if vids are available, except that if it is truly important to you that the person speaking in the video is immediately recognizable I won't bother because I doubt that I have any. So let me know if that is truly non negotiable.
posted by janey47 at 7:34 AM on August 16, 2017

Response by poster: Janey47: It's not a deal breaker having non-recognizable people. Thank you!
posted by theory at 7:47 AM on August 16, 2017

This is Nicki Minaj's thing. If you Google Nicki minaj college or schoool you'll find hundreds of videos and tweets from her telling people, especially women, to go to college and that its important for their kids why they do so. She has also paid tuition for many of her fans, as long as they are getting straight As.
posted by fshgrl at 8:38 AM on August 16, 2017

Michelle Obama's Reach Higher initiative is precisely on this issue.
posted by Karaage at 8:48 AM on August 16, 2017