College Is a Waste of Time

[Will E Worm]

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal:

First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn't meet the goal. We will call the goal a "BA."

You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that's the system we have in place.

Finding a better way should be easy. The BA acquired its current inflated status by accident. Advanced skills for people with brains really did get more valuable over the course of the 20th century, but the acquisition of those skills got conflated with the existing system of colleges, which had evolved the BA for completely different purposes.

Outside a handful of majors -- engineering and some of the sciences -- a bachelor's degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses.

The solution is not better degrees, but no degrees. Young people entering the job market should have a known, trusted measure of their qualifications they can carry into job interviews. That measure should express what they know, not where they learned it or how long it took them. They need a certification, not a degree.

Article

A huge waste of time and money.

College puts people in debt right out of high school to get a piece of paper they will not use.

 

[Hot Mega]

Article

A huge waste of time and money.

College puts people in debt right out of high school to get a piece of paper they will not use.

I disagree completely. You get more out of college than just a little more knowledge and "a piece of paper".

Everyone should pursue a college education...especially those who can afford to do so.

 

[iv6789]

Speaking as a college graduate myself, my education was excellent. I went to a 4-year public school. College is much like anything in life. You get out what you put in. I put in a lot of effort and gained a lot of knowledge. A lot more than high school. Loved every minute of it too. Did it suck to take out $50,000+ in debt. Hell yes it did, but knowing my average wages would more than triple over my lifetime because it made it the smart choice. Maybe companies simply need better hiring techniques to weed out the potential employers that really don't know anything about their field.

 

[GregCentauro]

My reason to pursue a degree: You get laid at college.

 

[Will E Worm]

Hot Mega:

Of course, you were going to disagree.

College is irrelevant and has been for a long time.
Just look at the statistics on how many actually use their piece of paper.
Not many at all.

Also, most "professors" are screaming Marxists.

 

[GregCentauro]

^^ disclaimer to the non-initiated:

At FreeOnes "Marxist" means liberal, democratic, humanistic.

 

[Baill Inneraora]

Wow what a shock. Will E is against people being educated.

 

[BlueBalls]

Also, most "professors" are screaming Marxists.

:1orglaugh

 

[Will E Worm]

^^ disclaimer to the non-initiated:

At FreeOnes "Marxist" means liberal, democratic, humanistic.

Anyone who believes in Socialism and big government.

Wow what a shock. Will E is against people being educated.

Edumacated? Most people have the debt of their student loans longer than their college diploma.

Go to college to major in something you will never use.
That is so intelligent.


edumacation!

 

[ChefChiTown]

College isn't a waste of time, but it's certainly not as great as everyone wants to believe that it is.

 

[tiger1977]

Also, most "professors" are screaming Marxists.

Only in certain departments (ie Humanities & Languages).

 

[busenbust]

Depends on its 'worth' and 'value' IMO : From the Baccalaureate (and their 'degree' equivalent) :thumbsup: to the United Kingdom (uh oh!) year-on-year 'improvement' in Results (No statistics).

 

[Hot Mega]

Hot Mega:

Of course, you were going to disagree.

College is irrelevant and has been for a long time.
Just look at the statistics on how many actually use their piece of paper.
Not many at all.

Also, most "professors" are screaming Marxists.

Like most people, I disagree with things I don't agree with. I don't disagree with "Will E Worm", I disagree with many of the things you assert...as you likely disagree with what I assert.

You don't need to go to college in order to get a job...that we probably agree on. But without a degree or some certification explaining what you are and can do, you most likely will have a series of jobs and not a career.

The difference between a degree and not having one is in most cases the difference between having you name on your shirt and your name on your parking space or office.

But in consistent fashion....Obama is tabbed to address kids on the value of staying in school and getting an education and right on cue Obama critics have found a way (in their mind) to vilify staying in school and the value of an education.

Would be funny if it weren't so true and sad.

 

[Hot Mega]

Wow what a shock. Will E is against people being educated.

Of course it's because Obama is for it....:1orglaugh

 

[Will E Worm]

Like most people, I disagree with things I don't agree with. I don't disagree with "Will E Worm", I disagree with many of the things you assert...as you likely disagree with what I assert.

I do disagree with you and your love for Obama and Socialism. :hatsoff:

Of course it's because Obama is for it....:1orglaugh

Obama isn't educated.

 

[Cpt.Obvious]

Unfortunately in the U.S. we don't live in a culture where ability, is a deciding factor, just simple documentation.
I did not go to college and I work for people who did, and I usually know more about the job then they do.
I have been fired because I know the job better the my superiors, and the majority of the time, they had a college education.
That diploma is a permission slip for work.
best insurance policies in the work force are a college diploma and military service.
I have an absolutely clean criminal record not even as much as an unpaid ticket.
and I have worked under a registered sex offender (and someone who was very incompetent) and she had a college diploma, and walked into the job as my manager after I had been working there for a year.
buddy of mine has an art college diploma and it got him a job monitoring computer systems in a video broadcast center, (basically he watches TV all day, and presses a button 2 -3 times a day to make sure a broadcast signal goes to the right place, for that he makes around 50k a year, and has a retirement package, (he asks me how to fix problems at work).
I have self taught and worked in computer graphics for over ten years, but I have no college diploma, so friends of mine who have diplomas in arts poli Sci, or communications, (or what ever easy way through the system diploma) work in graphics departments and only studied computer graphics a few months before applying for the job.

you may not learn anything from it, but get a college diploma anyway.
it's a license to work.

 

[sproing99]

In my industry, pretty much everyone is college educated.

I'd also prefer all doctors to have studied too

 

[tartanterrier]

It's only a waste of time if you can't get a job after gaining what
you studied for.

 

[Hot Mega]

Unfortunately in the U.S. we don't live in a culture where ability, is a deciding factor, just simple documentation.
I did not go to college and I work for people who did, and I usually know more about the job then they do.
I have been fired because I know the job better the my superiors, and the majority of the time, they had a college education.
That diploma is a permission slip for work.
best insurance policies in the work force are a college diploma and military service.
I have an absolutely clean criminal record not even as much as an unpaid ticket.
and I have worked under a registered sex offender (and someone who was very incompetent) and she had a college diploma, and walked into the job as my manager after I had been working there for a year.
buddy of mine has an art college diploma and it got him a job monitoring computer systems in a video broadcast center, (basically he watches TV all day, and presses a button 2 -3 times a day to make sure a broadcast signal goes to the right place, for that he makes around 50k a year, and has a retirement package, (he asks me how to fix problems at work).
I have self taught and worked in computer graphics for over ten years, but I have no college diploma, so friends of mine who have diplomas in arts poli Sci, or communications, (or what ever easy way through the system diploma) work in graphics departments and only studied computer graphics a few months before applying for the job.

you may not learn anything from it, but get a college diploma anyway.
it's a license to work.

The biggest misconception people have is that managers are supposed to be better at the nuts and bolts of the jobs their employees do than their employees.....it helps but is not necessary.

Also, in many fields....you can't even ascend to the level of manager without a degree. Certainly not upper and senior management.

In the overwhelming majority of cases a degree to an employer says more than you were educated in some discipline....it says you should have a well rounded knowledge base, it's an insurance policy for them that you have a core education in a field and most importantly...you had the discipline to achieve a goal.

In most cases, it says to employer consider someone for manager that the individual can put together a sentence and articulate a point when necessary...

 

[Slick2]

I disagree that college is a waste of time. The problem is that a lot of young people go to college for the wrong reason and don't know what to do when they get there.

More than learning a bunch of facts, college teaches you how to learn, a habit that should last a lifetime.