South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is a first-rate engineering university located in our city. Mines students tend to be intense and focused and the university continues to attract leading faculty and students. There are a lot of different ways to sing the praise of the University. The sixteen departments work together and students are engaged in interdisciplinary projects that demand teamwork as well as academic excellence. By the standards of some universities, the school isn’t big. About 2,400 students attend the school, pursuing 16 different degree programs. The University is also a center of research and provides research for national agencies such as NASA, the Defense Department and other federal agencies.

SDSM&T draws some of the top students from around the world and the campus is an interesting and exciting place to visit. The Museum of Geology is located in a new building and is worth a visit for anyone interested in fossils, rocks or history.

In the last year, however, the school has pursued an advertising campaign that bothers me. I’m probably touchy and I suspect that most citizens of Rapid City are simply proud of the statistics that are boasted. However, the billboards bother me.

The advertisements report that in the annual PayScale, Inc. survey, graduates of SDSM&T earn higher starting salaries than graduates of Harvard. The facts reported are accurate. The average starting salary for Mines graduates is $62,400, up from $56,700 last year, compared with Harvard graduates’ average salary of $55,000. Starting salaries for Mines graduates are ranked at the 13th highest nationally. The study focuses on starting salaries and I have not read the actual study, only news reports and press releases from SDSM&T, but I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what is reported. Of course there are plenty of numbers not reported, such as average lifetime earnings and location of graduates’ jobs, both of which would give a more complete picture. I’m not particularly interested in researching these numbers.

What bothers me about the ads is that it is another buy-in to the popular notion that the purpose of education is financial. There are plenty of articles, mostly geared towards parents, that attempt to do a cost-benefit analysis of college education. With unemployment rates that are running high and plenty of anecdotal evidence of students who graduate with excessive debt, parents are rightly concerned about the financial aspects of education.

I’m all in favor of being responsible. I am alarmed at the amount of debt associated with obtaining an education. I think that the nation needs to carefully assess the excessive rate of increase in educational costs. But the principle value of education to individuals – and to the nation – cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Our forebears in the United Church of Christ believed in the value of education for the general improvement of society. They believed that education was essential for the advancement of enlightenment, solid citizenship and a deeper understanding of God. They started schools and academies and universities all across this nation and then made those institutions independent to pursue knowledge and truth without undue restrictions from a parent organization.

The pursuit of truth was a value that we have long embraced. It is simply a much higher goal than the pursuit of money.

The richest man in America is a Harvard dropout. If the goal is money alone, the case could be made for simply buying the ideas of others and remarketing them as opposed to generating new ideas and true innovation.

It grieves me that some people at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology are portraying the school as a path to wealth. Attempting to place a dollar value on an education might lead parents and students to pursue education as a financial investment instead of a quest for true vocation and for truth itself.

Here are some things that the study does not evaluate. It does not include students who graduate, but do not find a job. There are no “zeros” in their income statistics. It does not check in to see whether graduates are happy and fulfilled in their employment after they graduate or are burdened and do not enjoy their line of work. It does not mention how many graduates eventually seek a change in their career path or how many times graduates change jobs as they work their way up the career ladder. It doesn’t evaluate how many graduates donate time and money to charitable organizations. It doesn’t list whether or not students are happy or successful in marriage or whether or not they are good parents. It doesn’t measure how well-rounded graduates are in terms of life interests.

From my point of view, earnings and the amount of money one has are pretty low on the list of things that give meaning to life. To paraphrase Jesus: Is it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a School of Mines graduate to enter the kingdom of heaven?

I don’t think my “rant” is just sour grapes from one who pursued one of the most expensive educations available in order to live one of the lower-paid vocations. After all, I am blessed to have had a much happier life than those who have more wealth.

The billboards, of course, simply fail to tell the whole story. There is much more to Mines than the salaries of graduates. There are incredible moments of discovery and enlightenment. There are students engaged in serving the community. I have worked shoulder to shoulder with Mines students on Habitat for Humanity build sites. I have been delighted with the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the life of our church. I know that there are lifelong relationships that are formed at the University and that the quest for more knowledge is ignited and nurtured by thoughtful and passionate faculty. No university is right for every student, but South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has been just the right place for thousands of students over the years. The university has a vital mission and fulfills it well.

I’m a big fan of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. I just wish they’d come up with a new theme for their billboards.

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