The following opinion piece by Clarion University Karen Whitney appeared in the Jan. 12, 2012 edition of The Clarion News:

Higher education has been and continues to be the way our American society advances itself.

First, American higher education educated white men who wanted to prepare for the clergy.

The preparation for other professions followed with our country's need for teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and artists.

Our unique American approach to education and higher education has, for over 400 years, been one of increasing egalitarianism with a focus on increasing the numbers of Americans who, through preparation and determination, could advance themselves intellectually, and thus professionally, to a higher standard of living and a higher status within our society.

My own family is this great American story of promise through education.

My father's father had a sixth-grade education, drove a truck, was a farm hand and retired as a rural deputy sheriff.

My father was the first in his family to go to college, earned a bachelor's degree in business and was a career federal civil servant.

I earned a bachelor's in psychology, a master's in public administration and a doctorate in higher education administration and currently serve as president of Clarion University. In three generations, my family story is one from truck driver to university president.

This American promise is alive and well in Clarion. Daily I talk with Clarion University students who are working hard to prepare themselves to fulfill their promise and to live their dreams.

Given the important role education has had and continues to have in our American way of life, we must continue to nurture and strengthen this promise.

As parents, neighbors and employers we all need to talk with our children about the excitement of learning and the importance of getting a good education.

These talks begin before they even start kindergarten and should continue every year. Every year our children need to read, write, explore science, math, history, art, music in ways that build a solid foundation.

We must continue to advance our society through preparation and hard work.

In this 24-hour, do it right now world, for some children and their families it's easy to overlook the years of preparation required to be successful in learning and in life and just believe that simply wanting to go to college is good enough.

Wanting to go to college is not enough. It's the years of working hard to be ready to attempt college level work.

Adults must commit to home environments where children are safe, stable, supported.

We must help each other live our dreams. All of us are connected to each other.

I firmly believe that all of us will have better lives by working together.

In our society we do this in many ways: volunteering our time to help others; giving our treasure by paying taxes; and sharing our talents in service to our community.

In Clarion, I know we can keep the promise of higher education!