• Is college/university education really worth it?
    184 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Gummylamb;20658734]It doesn't matter if the classes are pointless, it only matters that the people who give you the job look at the college you went to, and how you went. and on top of that, if you even went to college.[/QUOTE] This is a huge problem in today's society. Take for example Joe- the smartest guy in the world, yet he never went to college. He knows every single thing about the job he wants and how to make things much efficient etc. but since he didn't go to college he can't get anywhere. Just having a degree doesn't mean anything other than you did exactly what you were told to do.
[QUOTE=Pteradactyl;20660877]This is a huge problem in today's society. Take for example Joe- the smartest guy in the world, yet he never went to college. He knows every single thing about the job he wants and how to make things much efficient etc. but since he didn't go to college he can't get anywhere. [B]Just having a degree doesn't mean anything other than you did exactly what you were told to do.[/B][/QUOTE] You can choose how much you study ya know, and you don't have to get a PhD in something. Joe CAN get a job, it will just be harder and he will have to prove himself.
[QUOTE=Gummylamb;20658565]Worth the space: [b]That big ass picture of statistics he posted. Go find it.[/b] /thread You know its funny, I pasted this assuming it would help the subject, since it was entitled "Is College Worth It" BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY HELP AT ALL[/QUOTE] emphasis mine. lemme break down why those stats fail being stats. 1. This does not mean you have a one-third chance of wasting your tuition. You will get what you put into college. If you are lazy, you may drop out. If you are hard-working, or even mediocre you will do fine. Drop-outs are a student problem, not a college problem (especially first-year drop-outs). 2. fun-fact: The most expensive [I]anything[/I] will seem ridiculous. Also, that Ferrari won't help you get a job or a loan. 3. Those are starting salaries. The difference actually lies in the starting job. Most starting jobs for Ivy League students are more like internships, which get them experience, as opposed to the UC guy who ends up working at the tire plant. In five-ten years IL, now with job better suited to his experience, will be making double the salary of the UC grad who, surprise, is still working at the tire plant* 4. Students of...College? High school? Kindergarten? They should be more specific. Also, everyone makes mistakes when it comes to checkbooks. It doesn't mean they can't do it. 5. So? Right out of college, newspaper editorials will be far from a person's mind unless his job is somehow affected by them. 6. what are you going to do about freshmen? They don't know how it go yet. I'd like to see the statistics for upperclassmen party rates. Also, again, this is a student problem. It's not like college enforces parties and media. 7. So? Student problem, more time in college isn't a bad thing, etc. 8. Hey look, isolated events 9. Ah, debt. A sad part of life I'm afraid. I can assure you debt towards college loans now is better than debt towards your house and car later, which is much more like scenario for anyone without a college education. 10. This is just pointless. It's not like the Dean is the one passing out beer. Not being in college won't save someone from drinking 11. Oh come on, if you major in social sciences, your just asking for it. Also notice, not statistics here, just witty and baseless rhetoric. 12. Who the hell gives a toss about race divisions in college? 13. Who the hell gives a toss about gender divisions in college In all seriousness those stats really have more to do with the average environment those races and genders are exposed to as young adults. It's less of a college problem and more of a social problem. 14. While I'm going to be nice and assume they are talking about salary for a year, there's no reason I couldn't assume they are talking about a months salary, which would be astounding with those numbers. I would also like to know how they arrived at those numbers. they've admitted that the median starting salary is higher than both of those, are they saying that their salaries will go [I]down[/I] as they advance in jobs? Maybe they're factoring in retirement years, when they are getting [B]no income.[/B] You hear that dumb college student? If you go to college you won't make [I]any money after you turn 65.[/I] Take [I]that![/I] Seriously though, that was one of the most fallacious batch of stats I've seen in a long time. I'd like to know the agenda behind that. *I have nothing against UC or any of its grads, I was just giving an example of how little that data actually meant. It's entirely possible the roles could be reversed. I still stand by the idea that an Ivy League student would be making considerably more than a UC grad in, say, 10 years. the difference in tuition would more likely be made up in about 5 years.
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;20659235]How could I keep in business with companies like hp or dell? i'd have to drop my prices dramatically. The local computer repair place that i got my pc from went out of business a while ago[/QUOTE] Well if you don't open up shop to do it you should do it on the side if you love it. My teacher does computer repair on the side and he makes some good money.
They don't fail at being stats, they just fail at telling you why college is worth it
It isn't particularly uselful in life, however, if you don't go to college at all 99.99% chances are you are going to get stuck with a minimum wage or dead end job.
Of course it's important and worth it; you plank.
Come to the civilized part of Europe, where there is free university, and you can get 500€/month for living expenses from the government.
[QUOTE=evilking1;20661331]Come to the civilized part of Europe, where there is free university, and you can get 500€/month for living expenses from the government.[/QUOTE] you'd think they'd have it in place where you have to be BORN there to get the benefits.
[QUOTE=Gummylamb;20661370]you'd think they'd have it in place where you have to be BORN there to get the benefits.[/QUOTE] Yeah, you'd think so.
Recently some popular guy on youtube decided to say how much education sucks, and thunderf00t as usual comes to the rescue. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aikjdi3psUE[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIj8PXOe9Cc[/media]
[QUOTE=Gummylamb;20659441]come on are you kidding me you can't get a good job without a college diploma.[/QUOTE] Honestly, it depends. See, life is complicated. Sometimes there are options besides the obvious ones.
[QUOTE=OvB;20658475]Not only that, but when a company is looking for people to hire for a job their going to look at the resumes and see: John Doe: Masters degree in being Awesome. Billy Bob: High school education. Who are they more likely to schedule an interview with?[/QUOTE] I know companies that would choose the high school education mostly due to a clean slate to work with. Also College educations are over rated, you can do fine in life without one.
College and university aren't the only options for post-secondary education. Trades and apprenticeships count as well. And with the latter two, you're going to start pulling down money a hell of a lot faster.
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;20658391] also: Am I the only one who can't stand people who actually achieve? I mean there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a doctor or being a lwayer, or setting goals or working hard. But i just can't imagine choosing a career. Something that you'll be stuck with for the rest of your life. Day-in, day-out, doing the same thing over and over. I couldn't imagine deciding how you were going to live your life from such a young age. I just don't want to live a life where i know where it's going. that's boring.[/QUOTE] That's called living. You can jump from job to job all you want, but I'd rather have a good job where I feel comfortable and like to work. That day-in and day-out argument is rather silly, because that applies to everything you do. You have some routines you do every single day, ie. go to school. Do you notice them? Not necessarily, because you're used to doing them. People who say "I don't need education, I can be whatever I want" are people who live in their own magical world where everything is possible and all that jazz, but that's not how the real world works. If you don't got education, you can say hello to McDonalds and spend your days in there. And yes, people with college degrees are also left unemployed, but when it comes to hiring people they are always that college degree ahead of you, so they are more likely to get the job rather than you, who don't have any degree. A college degree doesn't automatically give you a job. It just makes your chances a lot better to get a good job with a good salary. I say "Yes" to education.
[QUOTE=Hullu V3;20663297] If you don't got education, you can say hello to McDonalds and spend your days in there. [/QUOTE] I know a 19-year old who started work in construction when he was 17 and already owns a house and car.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;20663317]I know a 19-year old who started work in construction when he was 17 and already owns a house and car.[/QUOTE] Should've clarified. Some people have skills that other people don't and that way get ahead of people. If that guy would study construction workin ie. in a vocational school, he'd get better salary and more challenging work. (Not saying that he hasn't been through anything to that sort. Just an example.)
There are a lot of jobs that a degree is actually [i]required[/i] for. I mean office work I imagine you could do it with a high school diploma (or A-Levels in the UK), but I know if you want a be a school teacher in the UK teaching GCSE (aged about 14-16, but you'd probably have to teach younger aswel) students you need a degree and at least 50% of it needs to be related to the subject you want to teach - that's the only one that comes off the top of my head because that's my plan, but I'm sure there's others. Also if you go, make sure you work! I've realised far too late, I spent most of my first year and student loan on getting absolutely [i]wrote off[/i], and now there's a chance I'm going to have to do the year again, which is another £3225 in tuition. That reminds me though - don't let the money aspect of uni put you off going, because as it is you pretty much need a degree if you want to go in to any academic field and it's only going to get worse, I mean if you want to be an electrician or whatever then there's no need, and a lot of my friends are happy doing that, but try not to let the statistics people are throwing at you fool you, you can get stats to prove anything - and these will be written by the kind of smug fuckers that say they went to the "University of Life". They're just trying to validate their decision and they're trying to bring others down with them. The bottom line is you don't get something for nothing, in most cases, if you don't go to uni you're not going to be magically making the same as someone who did, it just doesn't work like that as tempting as it is to believe.
College is not for everyone, but it will get you further in life without a doubt. Me, I am a working man, college is not for me, I don't have an issue working a blue collar job for a so so pay. Which is why I am joining the air force, I can get a basic college degree without actually taking pointless college courses and going into debt. That way I can have a degree in an applied science, so I can get a better paying job that will still allow me to work with my hands and what not. Not to mention the job security of the military. You will always have your job. 40% of people who goto college drop out. Those who finish it have an average of $52,000 in debt when the graduate. That doesn't sound fun to me, when I'm done with the air force i get a $60,000 G.I. Bill towards college should I choose to further my education. But like I said thats just me, some people want to have that desk job and want to crunch numbers all day. Id much rather tear apart a transmission on a 6.5 ton truck or drive some huge piece of equipment that have the potential of driving over your Porsche and I wont be able to tell I just did.
Hasn't anyone of you heard of vocational or polytechnic school? If you don't want to read books all day and you're more of that get-your-hands-dirty type of person, by all means go there.
[QUOTE=Hullu V3;20663999]Hasn't anyone of you heard of vocational or polytechnic school? If you don't want to read books all day and you're more of that get-your-hands-dirty type of person, by all means go there.[/QUOTE] Pretty much what I said. So I agree.
I wish I could've gone to college / uni. I'm not smart enough. :frown:
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;20664166]I wish I could've gone to college / uni. I'm not smart enough. :frown:[/QUOTE] Join the military and make them pay for it.
Yes, it is useful, even if your degree doesn't really pertain to a job you end up working. Having a college degree shows that you are able to work hard and stick with your commitments until you finish. To any employer, those are good qualities worth hiring you for.
Going to be probably an lawyer
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;20659661]Well you've been here for a few days so I can assume that you're just band-wagoning.[/QUOTE]the question you asked is pathetic. of course going to college is worth it. as i said don't go and have fun working fast food and working a lot more harder than going to college and for example being a teacher. have summers off, weekends, and holidays. that's just one of many jobs. you act like high school is all you need. you keep saying you don't want life to be about work, so go to college and it won't be so fucking hard. [editline]08:08AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Zeke129;20663242]College and university aren't the only options for post-secondary education. Trades and apprenticeships count as well. And with the latter two, you're going to start pulling down money a hell of a lot faster.[/QUOTE]that is an example of a hard job with no college education. you are out there in the hot sun building or fixing shit all day long. construction is good to get into and is good pay though but it's definitely hard work.
Maybe construction is something he likes doing. Maybe. Just maybe. Personally, I'm working for about a year or two before I jump into college just so I'm not completely strapped for cash. Don't know yet. Too much shit to worry about these days.
Bill Gates never finished college and lots of famous/successful people never went to college. College is just something that helps you get a job.
I believe a lot of modern education is worthless. High school at least, seems to be of little use to me. Maybe it's better for people who haven't decided on a career path yet, I dunno. As for college, I might go. Going to university seems unlikely, but I might do something with the [url=http://www.open.ac.uk/]Open University[/url] in two years or so. It's more for me about learning what interests me and will be useful than qualifications which "potential employers" will look for.
[QUOTE=GreaseGunner;20664176]Join the military and make them pay for it.[/QUOTE] Military wouldn't want me.
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