Simply stated, I could have gone straight from high school to work without any difference.
Centuries ago, the only reason the tiny percentage of people who attended university did so was in order to join the clergy. These days, the rather substantial percentage of those going to "college" (and those quotation marks are deliberate on my part) have very different reasons for going: namely (1) because their parents or society expects them to do so in order to get a "good" job; (2) to garner useful contacts, particularly if one is attending an elite school.
I was accepted into "elite" schools (Princeton and Brown among them), but I chose instead to go to a more middle-of-the-road school. I suspect if I had gone to a brand-name school, I would have indeed garnered valuable contacts, but frankly, I did all right without them.
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20 comments:
I went to a very liberal college. I was a regular middle of the road guy who got a sports scholarship. I enjoyed learning about multiple perspectives on issues- sadly, the liberal mind washing has turned kids into Obama zombies and they can't get out of mommys basement
I'm glad I went to college, and I'm no fn liberal. Without the education I received, I would not have been able to have the job I have today with six-plus figure income and all the benefits. No, I'm not in the education field, science related industry. It does pay of if you go into a field that you can get a job, not some liberal arts degree where you end up making minimum wage....
One of my 1st lectures in college explained what higher education would mean to the majority of students, we were there to get a frame of reference on the world. Most of what we would learn we would never use, but we would know where to find the information we would really need as we went thru life. If you don't know where to look, it is hard to find it.
Grads from liberal colleges are unemployable.
No. College is not worth it unless you attend economically, i.e. Junior college, then an inexpensive university. Colleges and universities are in the money making, increase heir endowments business. It is no longer about education- it's about how much money they can milk out of states, out of state students and the student loan program via made up values from FAFSA.
Education inflation is going up 4 times that of CPI. It's time to stop the spiral.
I wanted to be something that required a bachelor's degree. So I went out and got a bachelor's. Now I am that something. Not everyone has to go to college. Sure, there are plenty of people who go because they feel it's just the next step or because their parents push them. Education should never be undervalued. Although our recent actions in the education sector beg to differ...
Hold on folks – it's not just about your grades or education!
At college, you also may learn, among other things:
1) How to live on your own, for the first time, away from your parents
2) How to deal with a roommate who you're not related to
3) How to socialize with people totally unlike yourself
4) How to manage your money, or take on a part-time job
5) How to explore an unsupervised love/sex life
6) How to manage your first experiences with drugs or alcohol
7) What it means to fail a class and not have any backup or safety net
8) That some professors do not care whether you succeed or fail
9) How to make and keep lifelong friends and contacts
10) That mistakes you make between the ages of 18-23 won't actually harm you for the rest of your life
College is worth it if you have a game plan of what you want to do in life. Look at where the jobs are and who is hiring. Get a degree in a marketable skill. I work for unemployment. The jobs out there are mainly in healthcare, and in the Construction fields. A degree in these fields will help get you a decent paying job. A liberal arts degree is basically worthless.
Not directly related to this article but public school education specifically. Take a majority of the $$$$$ that bureaucrats want to keep throwing at the education dartboard and create a new job in our public schools. A paid "peacekeeper" in each classroom that has the authority to remove unruly and interruptive students within pre-determined guidelines. No sane person today can expect a teacher to teach AND maintain discipline in the classroom. Take the discipline responsibility away from the teacher and our education system will thrive again. Thanks for reading this.
Honestly got more jobs and better paying prospects without a degree than I have now that I have two. College is a great experience but it doesn't guarantee employment.
excellent points 8:59. And here is another thing. When someone says I could have gone directly to work out of high school: most likely, that is not true. You are an 18 year old kid after high school. After college, you are a 22 year old kid. Whether you learned something or not (and 8:59 and others give some really good comments on this), you are simply more mature and more employable at 22 than when you were 18.
If nothing else, parking your ass in college for 4 years gives an individual time to age. So, it isn't even that you've learned something in college. It is that as a 22 year old, you are wiser and more responsible than an 18 year old (on average - let's not start posting about how YOU were so mature at 18, I get it, I get it).
In many ways, college is a necessary waiting period to keep unemployable 18-21 year olds out of the work force, and thus keep our unemployment rates lower.
Unlike the old days when kids usually got part time jobs while still in high school, parents have spoiled their offspring in their formative years. When they get to college they're in an extended high school atmosphere because colleges like SU continue to placate the snowflake generation. Kids today coming out of college are less ready for adulthood than those coming out of high school in generations before. They're ill-prepared to live in the adult world because they think life is one big cocktail, sorry correction, keg party.
So why blame the child? Blame the parents and grandparents. If you didnt have to work to get everything you want, would you work? And if you respond yes to that, you are lying. Lazy kids come from lazy parents. Bottom line.
Exactly 1032. You've got that one right.
At first my answer was not only NO, but HELL NO. Then 859am reminded me it was DEFINITELY worth it, but that was 35+ years ago. Times have changed and the education value - hahahahahahahahahahaahahaahha.
Someday, somehow, some WHO needs to figure out how to match up education with jobs, since its way out of balance as it pertains to supply/demand. While I enjoyed obtaining my education it did nothing to obtain my successes in the workplace. Again, times have changed...and boy the education debt is way outta wack!!! What did I recently read - 1 Trillion is the education debt in the USA - how and WHO allowed that to happen.
How and Who will make this better since lots of kids are graduating with debt and no jobs? Ouch!!!
Best one to go to is >> College of Carnal Knowledge !!
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611pm
best comment ever!!!!!!!!!
College worked for Senator Blutarsky.
What about a Fake College Degree from a Fake College. Rick Hoppes, John Tull, Darrin Scott and Jimmy Gladwell all pretending to be "College" graduates. They never stepped foot in their "College" because their "College" doesn't have a campus. It isn't a Brick and Mortar college, therefore it is a FAKE College. Not only is it a fake college Salisbury and Wicomico County tax payers forked out thousands upon thousands of dollars so that these morons could get their Fake Sheepskin. Thousands of dollars wasted so that these clowns could claim they have a college degree so they all could get promotions. All promotions require a college degree, but a real college degree. These clowns ripped off the tax payers of this city and county. They should be fired. Each and every one of them with their Fake Promotions.
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