I completely agree that a lot people learn within a degree (unless it's something practical like engineering) is not relevant to the job they eventually get. However, if you do well in college, that is a signal to employers that you are willing to put in the manhours and hard work to achieve that, and you'll be likely to do so at the workplace. How else can you screen people to see if they work hard or not? My own econ professor said that what you learn is almost irrelevant, employers look at your results, and if they are good, that means you have the right attitude to be a good worker.
Sometimes I really relate to her position, as I thought that I "did everything right" too. Two undergraduate degrees, a post-grad college certificate, professional designation, and a MBA (graduated top of class). Unfortunately, all that seems to mean jack squat when you are going up against people with some sort of an inside connection.
Nice try, did you not read the second sentence in the O.P? "Except for certain careers which can't be achieved without a degree..." I think I made it clear certain disciplines take years of study to do at a high level.
You make some valid points. I hope its investigative and inquisitive, cuz most all your posts seem to be questioning the structure of things. That can get pretty miserable if its not having a good mindset behind it. Is college an overrated scam? No, and Yes. No, cuz EDUCATION is vital even into early adulthood and beyond. Still need organize learning centers to teach people. Even if they're expensive. Yes, the "college at ALL COSTS" approach is overrated and a scam. The thing is even though people are lazy and look for shortcuts, they don't want to sell themselves THAT short and therefore removing themselves away from the (so called) best path to success. I think thats is a bit of the "calculator" mindset thats always cautioned against. Where instead of learning long math manually the hard way, its having the calculator do it for you. And then applying that approach to all of life. Its not about "efficiency" and path of least resistance, its about learning. Plus how many people are really that effective in being self taught? Most people have to be taught and nurtured in the critical thinking. Its a big risk to leave it ALL to some Darwinistic self determination approach to eduction. Overall, I don't think the intent of college education is to throw more at people than they can handle. Some people are gonna have life get in the way and can't have the full availablity. There's no easy microwave fix to that.
Wikipedia isn't the only source for information on the net (and everyone knows it's notoriously unreliable) and besides, I did make mention of the fact that books of any subject by all kinds of people are massed produced and readily available to any and everybody. Sites like Youtube make available videos and interviews from people you may well not have come across without it. I came across quantum physicist Nassim Haramein (I probably misspelled the last name) thanks to the net and it would have been harder find out about him and his work and more time consuming to digest it without hearing the man himself. That said, college is/was definitely a unique experience that can't be really duplicated but is it worth the time and investment? For some yes but I think for many, no.
The results can be so subject. I can believe there are smarter and more hard working people at, say, Indiana State University (not saying it's a bad school) than the worst students at Ivy League schools but who has more prestige? And from what I've heard, most don't even care what your grades were in college, just that you got it. That's just what I heard though. And even then, getting better grades than another applicant who may have gone to a worse school doesn't prove anything either for a variety of reasons.
If your questioning the whole system: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs...overnment-shouldnt-subsidize-higher-education From what I remember reading: Essentially student loans are backed 100% by the government, so the lenders (Sallie Mae) have an agenda to push loans on students because it is risk free. Institutions want to push higher education to make money. That's made worse by for profits like University of Phoenix or Devry which is basically a useless piece of paper. Bankruptcy does not clear student loans, so you will be in debt essentially forever. So you could say college is setup to keep the general population in perpetual debt while bankers rake in profits. Companies value these degrees because those at the top have them and therefore have a desire to keep them valuable to keep themselves valuable. Or you could get a degree and make the most out of college. Get paid, pay off your debt and stop questioning our overlords.
Yes, unfortunately it's often about who you know and not what you know. It's highlights my point to because many people can be brought up to speed just by getting on-the-job training.
Absolutely it's overrated. I spent 25k and 4 years of my life getting a degree. Now in the real world with my business I don't use a damn thing I learned in college and I associate with entrepreuners in their early 20's who make 6 figures and never even considered going to college. If you want some corporate ******* to look at your resume and offer you a job one day to punch the clock then college could be benefecial, but if you want to run your own business, make your own rules and be a hustler, then **** college.
That's a self-fulfilling fallacy. You don't give people without a degree the better jobs and then 20 years later you say, 'See, I told you they make less money over a 20 year career if they don't have degrees!'.
One thing I would have done differently is go to a JUCO and then take my time, taking 1-3 classes a semester (including summer school) so it wasn't so intensive as opposed to 5-6 classes during one, which became time consuming and annoying both in that it hurt my ability to effectively do an internship and work for some extra $ and the classes in the major I settled on didn't even help me in my career path. I've gotten MUCH more experience and learned far more more since leaving school than what I learned there and that's in part because of the technology that has changed my field. And I reiterate my point, unless you're going in a medical field, something that involves lots of math or just years of dedicated study, we ARE feeding the pockets of the elite.
Don't they already have juco transfer programs to transfer into the bigger colleges? But JUCO is like "13th Grade" and it is mostly filled with people who should be considering trades but want a "step up" from that. Or it is full of people who don't know what they want in life. They're in JUCO cuz they didnt qualify for college. Why do all that hard work in high school to qualify for the best, just to go with a juco? Even though it costs way more, might as well go right into what you can qualify for. I agree its ALL about networking. Its about WHO YOU KNOW, probably more than degrees. You gotta go out and meet people and brown nose and kiss ass. But leeching off the college image without attending the college isnt looked upon too highly. "T-shirt fans" of the big universities get weeded out eventually. You can go to Austin Community College and get in some of the social scene yes, but can only get so much cred from the true UT attendees who scratch each other's backs. Its elitism no one likes. But elitism that might be better to pay to get into. (Of course none of that crap matters when you move out of the region or state anyways) You said it in less words than me. There's alternatives to consider past our college system. But really they all have their inherent risks.
And the funny thing is it's not just the money you have to pay back. That's one thing. It's the time spent in college that can be equally as damning. You could be learning or doing something in that time that could be productive, even if that means just working at Wal-Mart while living with your folks and saving up some money. Then you could figure out what you want to do in life and know if you need college for it or not. For the most part, people don't know what they want to do in life at 18. What compounds this is that people are programmed to believe they have to go to college. In some cases it's for some of the reasons I laid out in OP like Greek organizations, sex, SPORTS (i.e. the football or basketball team is good so I want to go there). Then they get in thousands of debt and wonder why they went college in the first place and do so in their mid-20's.
College is a tool. Grad school is also a tool. If you do not know how to use it, it is pointless to get it. If you do know how to use it, you can do amazing things with it. If you give a wet saw to an electrician, what is he going to do with it?
Easiest way to be rich. Study hard in high school and get accepted to A&M or UT. Get into the Engineering college and choose petroleum engineering as your major. Maintain a 3.5 GPA and do some leadership roles in clubs or frats. Graduate in 4 years and you will be making 115K base salary like most of my friends are doing. Biggest regret of my life.
