NYT
Why go to college at all?
Reason 4: Self-discovery
Many college graduates believe that they discovered themselves in their years on campus. But Mr. Stephens said the typical student’s lack of real responsibility, coupled with an emphasis on rote memorization and test taking, hampers true personal growth.
“College is a sandbox that gives you a false sense of reality,” he said. “It’s much more beneficial to learn what it means to direct your own life.” Learners are better off spending early adulthood developing self-reliance, he said.
Self-discovery might best be achieved doing something constructive, he argued, like creating a start-up.
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$100,000 buys a crap load of self-discovery.
msmveritas on February 2, 2012 at 9:49 PM
#1 – college girls
#2 – see #1
faraway on February 2, 2012 at 9:53 PM
1. Must have college degree to teach (and be an officer in military).
…
That’s it.
Living4Him5534 on February 2, 2012 at 9:55 PM
And that’s a cheap school.
Trendy little article on a trendy little subject.
urban elitist on February 2, 2012 at 9:56 PM
I tend to prefer my doctors to have completed a little college.
John the Libertarian on February 2, 2012 at 10:01 PM
Tell me about it, I have one graduating this year and one more to start in the fall. College costs bring out the worst in me. We haven’t borrowed a dime but oh man it is a killer.
msmveritas on February 2, 2012 at 10:02 PM
I had the misfortune to be employed by a company that exploded in one of the more impressive corporate accounting frauds of the late 90s/early aughts. Lost a college stash that would seen both kids comfortably through virtually overnight.
urban elitist on February 2, 2012 at 10:10 PM
College was 4 years of extended adolescence. I can’t say I regret that.
galtani on February 2, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Because I’m looking for a career in politics and you can’t do that with only a high school degree.
That said, the education cost bubble will burst. Federal loans inflate the price of college, and should be severely reduced in size.
vegconservative on February 2, 2012 at 10:13 PM
Without the careful mentoring of college Victims’ Studies departments, how am I supposed to know when to be outraged?
malclave on February 2, 2012 at 10:43 PM
I spent enough time in college to get a degree even though I did not. College bored me. My parents and most of my family were college graduates with so many of them going to work in the public sector….state parks departments, DOA, DOT, public schools, state and local law enforcement, etc.
I went out in the world and started accumulating real-world work experience and building a resume as I went. I experienced a lay-off and the long haul back with the recent economic downturn. I now find myself employed, benefited, and working after all of that with no college degree. And making and saving as much as some of my coworkers 20 or 30 years older than me.
If I’d stayed in school to attain something like a medical or law degree would I be better off today? Yes. If I’d stayed in to attain a lesser degree in something like Public Admin or Liberal Arts or a vocation would I be better today? Gee, I really can’t say.
I earn and have saved more, in adjusted dollars, at my age than my dad did.
I’ll never urge one not to get a college degree, but, I’ll also never deter one from going out and working their way up the line and making a mark for themselves in their field of work.
JoeinTX on February 2, 2012 at 11:20 PM
That’s been my feeling.
Esthier on February 2, 2012 at 11:28 PM
I discovered myself waaaaaay before college.
Yeah…that sounds just the way I meant it too.
Pattosensei on February 2, 2012 at 11:38 PM
I was merely answering for myself. Otherwise there’s no reason to go to college.
Ultimately, thought, there’s really no need for colleges and diplomas. You think that doctors learning from hands-on training with competent professionals wouldn’t work?
Living4Him5534 on February 2, 2012 at 11:49 PM
Self Discovery? all college profs in the liberal arts want are student who parrot their BS. You could go to college and take classes (for credit) where you red the Twilight books, study Anime & pop culture, take part in protests, learn the left’s version of history and science. All while guaranteed that you will earn A’s and B’s (thank you grade inflation).
Or you could take that money, pile it high and set it on fire. The results would be the same.
Online university’s are the bane of most colleges because they have degrees in subjects that will get you a job.
Chockblock on February 2, 2012 at 11:55 PM
The kid makes a lot of sense.
Quisp on February 3, 2012 at 6:18 AM
The kid is right, it’s not what you know it’s who you know
Dollayo on February 3, 2012 at 6:38 AM
Half of my almost 7 years of college was a waste of time.
The other half was good stuff.
I’m still pissed I had to go that long to get what I got.
Badger40 on February 3, 2012 at 7:45 AM
Here’s an idea:
NO.
There are two good reasons to go to a prominent peddler of higher education, and one of them is named Sheila.
All kidding aside, the newest meme being peddled is that higher education isn’t all that.
Don’t believe it; if you can afford it — do it, unless you have an easy “in” to a quality job from day one.
hillbillyjim on February 3, 2012 at 7:55 AM
Just like any product. Choose wisely.
Choose crap-get crap in return.
I deliberately chose harder professors for things like my calculus & structural geology classes bcs I had heard I would learn something in there, even though they were tough.
I still wear my hard earned B+ in calculus as a badge of honor, having taken it from the hardest guy there.
He kicked my a$$, and I learned more than others in other classes.
Badger40 on February 3, 2012 at 8:04 AM