How essential is a college education?

[Olivia]

How essential is a college education?

Can you have a successful life without going or do you think college is required for that?

 

[emily]

I never went to college, and though my knolledge isn't the greatest, (I often have to ask about really simple concepts), I get by. a lot of what I know is from tv shows or playing quizzes

I think it all depends on what you want.

example: I always wanted to be a theme park engineer. obviously you would need college for that

but, if your dreams were something smaller, then maybe not

 

[fuzzems]

I think LEARNING is what makes someone smart or successful. There are a lot of ways to learn. College is one way. But, one can travel, read books, get on youtube, try a multitude of things and on and on. College is now just a lot of liberal baloney and the only reason to bother with it now is because it is a path to a certain career. But to just go to college for a general education? No, you could take that money and travel, start a business, etc which would be far more valuable. But, you want to be a engineer or pharmacist or something, than yeah you have to go to college

 

[MrDawn]

College don't do squat unless you learn how to apply it. I've known a lot of people that went to college who are working dead end jobs.

 

[Webster]

How essential is a college education?

Can you have a successful life without going or do you think college is required for that?

It depends on what you want to do in life.
As I said on another board once, college ain't the only route to success....

A Time for Trade Schools

Of the 55 million job openings created by 2020, about 30 percent will require some college or a two-year associate degree.

www.dailysignal.com

Solving the huge debt incurred by young adults who took out loans to attend college has become a key policy debate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for example, recently announced proposed legislation to eliminate student loan debt by taxing bonds and stocks.

By the beginning of 2019, student loan debt was at an all-time high: Over 44 million borrowers owed a total of $1.6 trillion. Student debt now is the second-highest consumer debt category, after mortgage debt.

Behind Sanders’ motivation for pushing legislation to forgive student loans is a belief that education is a human right. Those students who find themselves in exorbitant debt are being unjustly punished for wanting to do “the right thing,” Sanders said, “and that is going out and getting a higher education.” But the importance of getting an education doesn’t necessarily correlate with a college education, especially considering the current state of higher education institutions across the country.

Many colleges have demonstrated a commitment to limiting intellectual diversity on campuses, as we have seen with the absurd instances of protest against free speech on campus. More importantly, many students who graduate from college struggle to find a job immediately, as they lack a practical skill set to market beyond their education. “When I am looking to hire you, I don’t care about where you went to school. I want to see what experience you have … what can you do for me?” Jose Sanchez, a senior mechanical engineer, said.

Sanchez is of the opinion that what matters in the job market shouldn’t be who you know or where you come from, but your ability to demonstrate skills and a willingness to grow those skills...

 

[Dee]

Not important to have a successful life, but important to better one's self with education no matter whether you're doing it for work or personal purposes. I was one of the last ones of the generation where the push for college was still very strong. "Go to college, get a degree, and you'll go far in life." Well, I have a bachelor's and a master's and I never truly went into the field I studied. I'm also not making a ton of money, so that was quite obviously a lie.

 

[Nebulous]

I didn't go to college and I do okay.

 

[PGen98]

I did go to college, had a decent career starting to form and then I gave it all up to be my mother's full time caregiver...so...my college education might as well not have happened.

 

[MrDawn]

An issue a lot of people face after college is the "You have no experience" excuse.

 

[fuzzems]

I did go to college, had a decent career starting to form and then I gave it all up to be my mother's full time caregiver...so...my college education might as well not have happened.

I don't think that is wasted. It helped shape who you are. So maybe you are not using your degree in the professional sense but it still added value to your life hopefully.

 

[Nebulous]

College is now just a lot of liberal baloney

but it still added value to your life hopefully.

Well which is it? Liberal baloney or a life enricher?
....just teasing

 

[fuzzems]

Well which is it? Liberal baloney or a life enricher?
....just teasing

Well, one has to learn how to navigate the world of liberal baloney, so that makes your life richer! Lol I had to learn to write total bullschit papers to please my professors for my A. Yep, i was able to play them like a fiddle. I wrote the most stupid liberal bullschit paper one time in college and my Prof was falling all over herself holding it up as one of the best papers in the class . Got an A + with a lot of compliments from the Prof! LMAO!

 

[Nebulous]

Well, one has to learn how to navigate the world of liberal baloney, so that makes your life richer! Lol I had to learn to write total bullschit papers to please my professors for my A. Yep, i was able to play them like a fiddle. I wrote the most stupid liberal bullschit paper one time in college and my Prof was falling all over herself holding it up as one of the best papers in the class . Got an A + with a lot of compliments from the Prof! LMAO!

Thats a good way to stick it to the man!

 

[Jayson]

I think people are obsessed with titles. Well, you either know it or you don't. For instance, some one with a so called "low quality degree" or no degree in that same subject can show they are knowledgeable via a blog or something and make big money.

 

[Crys]

How essential is a college education?

Can you have a successful life without going or do you think college is required for that?

Maybe essential for the career someone is looking to have and have more education under their belt, I guess. I never went. I think you can have success without it. I've heard stories of people going then once they are out there's nothing in their field. You have to do what feels right for you.

 

[Black Angel]

It isn't really.. I know people that got more mileage from their trade school degree than college and these were often the same people..

That said.. as bullshit as college is.. it is requisite if you are Black because a Black person working in the same field with the same degree as a White person, will still earn less than what that person makes especially when experience is factored in. And in some cases, that White person without a college degree, will STILL earn more than the Black person with one. So in these cases, we really can't win.. and without a degree, we won't even make it to the door.

Even in cases where the Black person has more experience than the White person with the same degree in that field, that person will still earn less. As a people, we work harder, and we have to be twice as good, while still earning less than half of what a White person would.. and then on top of that still be subject to the overt and dogwhistle racism from White people in those same spaces..

A perfect example would be our most recent SCOTUS justice compared to not just everyone else, but most notably the 3 appointed by Trump.



She is the most qualified justice we have had thus far. I mean this woman has a wealth of experience. And I am quite certain that she has gotten a few racist microaggresions as well when she first entered these spaces as a student..

That being said, for us, it is required because while, we will still be subject to the racism and harrassment from White people in these spaces, at least we can shut them the fuck up when they assume that we got in because of our skin color, when in reality the White person only got in because of their skin color, (hello, projection..) who they know or slept with.

I realize that this practice hearkens back to the "show me your papers" era both post-Slavery and again today with respect to what's going on with migrants and immigrants (after all, this era never really left, since history does repeat itself) which is still fucked up, and while, this wont change these ignorant people's minds, and they will just go on to move their racist goalposts to find something else to discriminate against for that person, shutting them the fuck up for at least, that moment, and validating yourself in that split second, is worth it.

So for this reason, a college degree is important. And that meme is spot on and is precisely why I am encouraging my husband to go back to school and earn his degree for the field that he has been working in for nearly half his life. Once he has it he will be an even bigger force to be reckoned with. He has all the experience but no degree yet.