Reasons not to bother with college

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Friday, May 17. 2013

Reasons not to bother with college

I spoke with a Mom yesterday. She mentioned that her daughter was a high school junior, intending to apply to college. I asked what the kid was interested in. She said "Well, she likes to watch movies. Not much else. She hates school and is not a very good student. She doesn't really study." I replied, "So, why college?" She told me that the kid likes her social life and "wants the college experience. She also wants a diploma."

This is cute, from Jon Stewart:

Posted by The Barrister in Education, Our Essays at 15:11 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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Wow - that kid needs a job, or trade school, or an Army recruiter. Or a couple semesters at community college. No way would I pay for a private college for her.

My H.S. Sophomore daughter is particularly good at math and computer science and has expressed a real interest in Engineering - so I'll pay up for her. Her younger brother... he might follow a different path.

#1 NJSoldier on 2013-05-17 15:43 (Reply)

That Mom (and Dad if there happens to be one) did not do her (their) job.

#2 BillH on 2013-05-17 16:12 (Reply)

Community College would be a better bet for that person's daughter. That way she can grow up a bit and realize college is not about the 'social' aspects. You can be social anywhere you want to...for free! College is about working toward a career. If she doesn't know what she wants to do, tell her to get a job and move into her own place. After a few months of working a menial job, she will realize right away that she has skills in something and an interest in *something*.

Community College is so much cheaper and you can find career programs that you can complete in 1 to 2 years.

It is not the mom's responsibility to take care of an 18-year-old. The financial burden now rests on the daughter. Mom has done her part. GROW UP!

#3 MissT on 2013-05-17 18:09 (Reply)

While I agree with the above posts I think there is a very good reason this young lady go to a four year college, in fact the best college her parents can afford. That is she has a better choice of marriageable men. I am not trying to be funny or sexist simply considering the realities and the options.

#4 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-05-17 18:57 (Reply)

Yes traditionally that was the case but in this hook up culture and girls under pressure to get a degree, start a career, then marriage then kids now not so much.

The dirty little reality in this is by the time the girl looks up from her monitor in her cube and realizes she's about to turn 30, she's no longer such a high desirable marriage candidate.

It's a terrible scam that the feminists have conducted.

#4.1 phil g on 2013-05-18 08:12 (Reply)

O.M.G. I see way too many of these [male and female]. When I first started teaching at the freshman level at a state university it seemed to me that something like 1/5 to 1/4 had no idea why they 'wanted' to go to college, although not growing up and the social life [especially as depicted in teen movies] were undoubtedly a big part of their reason if not the only one.

Now, almost 25 years later it looks more like 1/3 to 1/2, and it's mostly for not growing up and the social life.

The difference I can see is that 25 years ago [and maybe up until the late '90s] if you did "get a diploma" that was probably not so bad.

Today, even if you get a diploma it may be [probably will be] in some useless discipline [if "Something Studies" is even a discipline] and thanks to idiotic student loans you can come out owing the equivalent of having a decent house, only with no house and not very good job prospects.

And as for finding a "marriageable male" I'd might agree that they're "marriageable" in the sense of not yet being actually married. If you mean "marriageable" in the sense of "the kind of guy I'd like my granddaughter to marry" then not so much. Really.

#5 JorgXMcKie on 2013-05-17 20:47 (Reply)

Barrister...

These posts you keep putting up are red meat for me.

I have a daughter that just finished her freshman year at an SEC school. (I may have posted where before, I don't remember.) I also have a son finishing his sophomore year of HS (Catholic boys school).

I am not convinced college is right for either of them. Although that is the route we are likely to go with both.

The daughter is in college, but right now I know the thing she is best at is being a student. Really good grades, etc... But even with that, is it really at this age the right thing for her? And what good is being a good student?

Ahh... We have the signalling model of college. Which tells us being a good student is a really good thing. But I digress...

I should probably cut off the funds and see what she does on her own. Then, once we both understand her direction, I might start helping financially again.

I can't remember where this idea came up, but I'm starting to believe this is the better way to go: Instead of paying for college, use the money to help them start their own business.

#6 Mike (Link) on 2013-05-18 00:30 (Reply)

My mother was insistent I go to college. If there's one thing I did right in my life, it was not listening to her.

Look, if you've been drawing blueprints since you were 5, or been fascinated with law or medicine (playing doctor doesn't count!) or some hard science all your life, then knock yourself out. Go to college, chase your dreams. But if you don't know what you want to do, then do not go to college. You'll only wind up changing majors twelve times and coming out with a six-figure debt load and a "______ Studies" degree, which in the job market is equivalent to used toilet paper.

I drive a truck, and I make very good money (along with stellar benefits(and no, I'm not union)) doing so. It cost me $3K and less than a month to get into the industry. True, I had to gain some experience and navigate the minefield of scams and lies, but it was worth it. And some of the drivers out of my yard are making north of $100K/yr, doing something tangibly useful. How's that "Studies" degree working out...?

Trade school is a viable alternative to college--in fact, better in many cases. More and more companies are screaming for people who actually know how to do something other than spouting buzzwords and being insufferably smug about the overpriced sheepskin on their wall. You can be the best architect on Earth, able to design a building that will stand for a thousand years, but that building is nothing but a fantasy... until you find qualified, knowldegeable people to build it.

In the days when college was about education in useful fields, a college degree meant something. Now, most of the people I see that are 'college educated' have heads full of Marxist propaganda and useless tripe, but not one nanogram of actual common sense.

If, God forbid, everything collapses tomorrow, the guy who knows how to fix your car or keep the generator running will make out very well. The guy who designs cars and generators will likely do okay. But the fool with the Sociology or Political Science degree will either be low-rung manual labor or fertilizer.

And no one's going to care how they 'feel' about it.

#7 Wraith (Link) on 2013-05-18 01:11 (Reply)

Heh. Your last comment reminded me of a quote I took away from last years Tom Hank's movie "Cloud Atlas". One of the many storylines had to do with a HG wells-inspired distant future whre "The strong will eat and the weak are meat".

#7.1 Dathi on 2013-05-18 09:39 (Reply)

But if you don't know what you want to do, then do not go to college.

Exactly. One thing that derailed my college career in the beginning was discovering the incredible number of books and periodicals in the college library. Sampling this and sampling that meant that there was not enough time and energy left for my assigned courses.

College is lockstep. You need to focus all your energies on the classwork assigned. If your energies are not focused, and you spend too much time exploring other things, your grades will go down. If you are not able to focus all your energies on your courses, because you are exploring other things, your grades will tell you to leave.
Once you know what you want to do, college can be a good place to help you on your path. College is NOT a place to "find yourself."

And no one's going to care how they 'feel' about it.
I came back to college in my 40s to train for a second career in teaching. When professors solicited opinions on various issues from their classes, I was impressed- not positively- by how many students prefaced their remarks with "I feel".

#7.2 Gringo on 2013-05-18 12:12 (Reply)

I read this over at NR this morning. The interview is about education but the final question is about truckers:

QUOTE:

LOPEZ: I’ve always gotten the impression from your radio show that truck drivers might be among the wisest people in America.

WILEZOL: Bill always asks them to blow their trucker horn.

BENNETT: We have the best audience in radio. Truckers have a lot of time to digest a lot of information and process complex arguments. And they’ve seen a lot of America and a lot of people in America. So they understand this country. On talk radio in general, airtime has to be given to those who make the most thoughtful and well-articulated points, because there’s no visual component. Because of that it has been said by David Gelernter and others that talk radio is the most intelligent medium there is and I agree. Well, except for NRO.

I myself drove ships so to had a lot of time to think. Quite frankly, I've seen people go near crazy on long blue water watches staring at the horizon. But I would delve inside and find something to ponder about the world. It was mostly entertaining. What I disliked was the near shore time, it was much like driving in traffic, no time to let your mind work on interesting problems.

Once a scientist, biologist or oceanographer type, asked me why the marine engineers got paid so much. I replied, because we needed them. To get us home, to make us water, to keep the air on, to keep the lights on. Scientists were a dime a dozen and when we went into port, another bunch would be standing on the pier anxious for their turn to poke some fish or collect some water. Make no mistake their desires and ability to get money for their desires kept us going, but there were always more of them than good marine engineers around.

#7.3 JKB on 2013-05-18 15:15 (Reply)

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Friday, May 17. 2013

Reasons not to bother with college