Schools are going to change drastically over the next decade or 2, several times. The days of living at or even physically attending a college are soon to be nearly obsolete. And that's a good thing. You can learn much quicker when you have no travel time, no small talk, no breaks unless you want them...and the cost per student would be maybe 1,000th or 100,000th of today's tuition.
Gates & Allen didn't get their degrees, but I'll bet Microsoft is hiring a hell of a lot of college graduates and they probably start higher than the high school or 2 year grads. Of course there are exceptions; John Lennon dropped out of school and became a millionaire and world famous. Most of us aren't geniuses and aren't going to be in a one-in-a-million situation. Trouble with finding what you have a passion for is that it isn't always obvious. It can take a lot of false starts to get from here to there. There is a saying in Talmud that learning should not be a shovel to dig with; in other words, learning is not just about making a living but is important for its own sake. That being said, one need not go to college to learn. It should be lifetime.
I don't think anybody here has said you "need" to go to college to be financially successful. But it is much more likely.
I've seen plenty of stories proving your point wrong. Some people can and have gone wrong by going to school. Ridiculous expenses and them not being able to get a decent job after graduating. It's happened to several of my friends and I've read about countless similar situations. A large amount of debt and no way to pay it back, even with a degree. Sent from my banana using Tapatalk 4
Obviously there are exceptions and people have friends-of-friends, or stories, etc. But the statistics show that getting a 4-year degree is worth it, financially, in the long run.
Yeah, basically you have to play a game of "most likely". If you don't go to college, most likely you'll be lower class. If you do graduate from college, "most likely" you'll be middle class. If you get an advanced degree, "most likely" you'll be upper middle class.
I agree that going to school is bad for some. Many waste the time, party or just don't give school any focus, and don't graduate. Even without graduating, going to school can still be a positive experience for any number of reasons (like networking), but it's still not the best option for everyone. In addition..... Given the recent recession and stagnation we've been in now for several years, or lack of boom or whatever you want to call it...... higher unemployment rates.... it has been quite difficult for those who have graduated in the last 3-6 years to find jobs out of college, so many have settled for something less than, say, previous generations would have had to settle for. I've seen references to this group as the "lost generation" of American workers. While many who found their way have been successful, many have struggled to break through. I am shocked how many people I know in the 24-29 age range that have struggled to find work, fresh out of school. While I know much of this may have to do with the economy over the last few years, I also feel like it comes for the self-entitlement some of these kids have. I can't believe how many people simply expect a job to fall into their lap, like it's owed to them.
Oh, I agree. I was just saying there are exceptions. Meaning sometimes, more education doesn't work out as it should. Aren't there some degrees that just suck at getting jobs?
Careers will be increasingly rarer and rarer in the future. It'll be all about freelancers and outsourcing (even to people in the US). Workers are disposible now.
As shown in an earlier post in this thread, students graduating now pay an incredible amount more than people used to, and have way less jobs to choose from. I think the sense of entitlement this is bologna, that has always existed. That's just an excuse, a way to blame the young, when they had no part in making it this way.
The comment VG did respond to did say "you can't ever go wrong going to school." I think VG was responding to such guarantee with the fact that it can be wrong. I agree with your comment about some degrees and the related available jobs. I had a friend study sociology. You aren't going to do much with that, not without doing something completely different (rendering the degree worthless). My wife's cousin had to get her doctorate before she got a real job, and while it pays the bills, the cousin lives in an expensive area on the East Coast, and makes quite a bit less than my wife or me, so I'm not sure how she manages. A few other people have brought up good examples in the thread about certain degrees. Before I started college, I had a plan of what I'd study, I knew what I could make, I knew what routes I'd have to take after getting the first degree if I wanted to go deeper into school, etc.
Says the younger generation. I'm not saying it hasn't always existed, but it's gotten worse. And the younger generation makes it looks worse, because they're standing around like, "Yo, where's my job?" Half-assing it and sending mass resumes to a ton of companies via email/websites works for a few. You gotta get out there and earn your position, FAMS!
No, it looks worse because there are no jobs, so you hear of more people looking for them and complaining about it.
At least of my friends and family, the ones that put forth a legit effort found solid jobs (something beyond just emailing basic resumes out over and over). And the complaining....... listening to the complaining about how they can't believe nobody will give me a job..... the pity party.... boo fucking hooo...... it's sad, really. I started at the bottom doing shit jobs. I worked my ass off to network and find/create an opportunity. So, yeah, it's a lot more than just the higher unemployment. Especially now that unemployment is supposedly on the decline.