Is a college education worth the money?
newyorker.com
Is a college education worth the money?
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#2Theology is a science now?
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#3The author sidesteps the issue and answers with (roughly) "education is never a bad thing." That's true enough, but that doesn't answer the question of whether or not a degree is worth the cost. Not a very informative article.
One thing I've never understood about the whole degree v no degree debate is: don't people learn on the job? That is to say: I think the educational value of things other than college are often overlooked. It's the information age! You don't have to go to a university to learn.
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#4Theology is a science now?
You're probably referring to this quote:
"Particular congratulations are due to aerospace engineers, who top the list, with a starting salary of just under sixty thousand dollars—a figure that, if it is not exactly stratospheric, is twenty-five thousand dollars higher than the average starting salary of a graduate in that other science of the heavens, theology."
The author doesn't mean "science" in the literal sense that implies the scientific method, he's using it in a far looser sense that only implies "the study of a subject". It is the New Yorker--there's some degree of poetic license involved here.
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#5The author sidesteps the issue and answers with (roughly) "education is never a bad thing." That's true enough, but that doesn't answer the question of whether or not a degree is worth the cost. Not a very informative article. One thing I've never understood about the whole degree v no degree debate is: don't people learn on the job? That is to say: I think the educational value of things other than college are often…
I think this is a good point. Has there ever been a point in history where literally anything you wanted to know wasn't locked away in some obscure institution? It's hard to sometimes remind yourself how lucky you are to live in our times (though I imagine they've said that about past decades as well).
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#6I said in another thread around here, "if you're going to get a liberal arts degree, either have enough money to afford it, or be so intensely interested in the liberal arts that you're willing to pay back your damn loans." But really, what I mean by that is a slight bit more direct (yet subtle) than it seems.
It's quite possible that the study of purely academic subjects--subjects which have little chance of improving one's employment prospects--will enrich someone's life tremendously, and that the university is the best place to study some of these subjects. I'm not interested in boring arguments about what those subjects might be, or whether any such subjects may exist, but let's entertain at least the possibility that some do. Isn't lifelong enrichment worth a decade or so of loan payments?
Engineers see the cost of college as a variable in a purely financial cost-benefit analysis, and don't understand why philosophers would even bother because it fails that analysis. But philosophers get something fundamentally different out of college. Is it worth the money? That's a personal question.
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#7The author sidesteps the issue and answers with (roughly) "education is never a bad thing." That's true enough, but that doesn't answer the question of whether or not a degree is worth the cost. Not a very informative article. One thing I've never understood about the whole degree v no degree debate is: don't people learn on the job? That is to say: I think the educational value of things other than college are often…
Learning on the job is a valid point, but it's often not interdisciplinary. You learn and develop your skills in the areas you work in. Opportunities to expand your skillset and study other topics are difficult to come by in many work environments. Especially if you're in a position that didn't require a degree in the first place.
I agree you don't have to go to a University to learn, but you do have to find willing and qualified teachers and mentors which can be harder than it might seem.
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#8The author sidesteps the issue and answers with (roughly) "education is never a bad thing." That's true enough, but that doesn't answer the question of whether or not a degree is worth the cost. Not a very informative article. One thing I've never understood about the whole degree v no degree debate is: don't people learn on the job? That is to say: I think the educational value of things other than college are often…
A lot of my work is on avionics software. As far as programming knowledge goes, I've learned most of what I need to do my job before college, or at least outside of college. As far as avionics goes, I've learned most of it on the job. My college education has been at best marginal with respect to the work I actually do.
However, it would have been at best very difficult for me to cut through the red tape to get the work I have without a college degree. The sorts of people who do hiring in this industry seem to really want to see that.
The degree itself is valuable if you are endeavoring to work in an environment whose administrators expect you to have one. The education itself you can get on your own. Though, I personally find it helpful to be "forced" to learn some topics more deeply or broadly than I would have on my own (and this is something that I probably wouldn't have really understood until experiencing it in college).
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#9Yes. The people you meet, the connections you make, the overall experience is all worth it. As with everything in life it's relative.
Re: Is a college education worth the money?
#10I said in another thread around here, "if you're going to get a liberal arts degree, either have enough money to afford it, or be so intensely interested in the liberal arts that you're willing to pay back your damn loans." But really, what I mean by that is a slight bit more direct (yet subtle) than it seems. It's quite possible that the study of purely academic subjects--subjects which have little chance of improvi…
OK. 50 or 60 percent of U.S. high school graduates in 2009 went directly to college. What percentage of those do you think are studying academic subjects because they feel the subjects are "enriching their life"? 20%? 10%? 5%? 2%?
The American 18-year-old is not a demographic in which you find many philosophers.