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For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

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Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#11

Post by krschultz »

The problem with this plan is that it will just make every college vocational. Why waste money on classes that don't apply for your certificate? Why spend time playing with classes that could lead you to a different certificate when you are already 20% done with this one?

Or better yet, why not get a couple princeton review books to pass the test? I passed 35 credits of AP exams in high school, all with 5 out of 5s, and several without taking the course. When I actually took some classes in college based on that, I quickly found out how little you need to know to pass a test.

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#12

Post by mynameishere »

A long time ago, books and educated people were extremely scarce. So, it was efficient to group as many books and educated people in the same place so that, in that particular place, they were not scarce. That place is called a "school". The scarcity that gave schools their key advantage is largely gone.

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#14

Post by art_wells »

My college degree means nothing on paper professionally, but meant everything to my abilities to meet business and computing challenges. I didn't study computing at all. I don't expect that my experience is much different from others who have Liberal Arts degrees and found joy in technology.

I've worked with many people who have degrees and certification in computing and many who don't. As a result of my experience, I've rejected resumes from people who have studied computing and sought professional certifications solely, in preference to people who have English degrees and weird hobbies. Professional experience is supreme, but after that, I want a broad mind to tackle the problems at hand. While that's highly prejudicial, I've found it a very rewarding way to approach a stack of resumes.

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#15

Post by mynameishere »

ojbyrne wrote: post #4

The column seems to be entirely from the point of view of an employer looking to screen potential employees. Like it or not, college is about more than job training. For a lot of people the social life is a big part of it, the first part of life away from parents, but still with some security, and about intellectual exploration (answering the question - what exactly do I want to be when I grow up?). Perhaps none of t…

For people who enter school for vocational reasons, the sports and parties and alcohol and Shakespeare classes and diversity training and dormitory life and extended vacations and other activities are completely distinct from getting vocational training...ie, they are a complete waste. The 10K+/per year expense is vastly more wasteful than any cert training...

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#16

Post by whacked_new »

ojbyrne wrote: post #4

The column seems to be entirely from the point of view of an employer looking to screen potential employees. Like it or not, college is about more than job training. For a lot of people the social life is a big part of it, the first part of life away from parents, but still with some security, and about intellectual exploration (answering the question - what exactly do I want to be when I grow up?). Perhaps none of t…

I find the whole "college is..." or "college is not..." to be a problematic mindset in itself. For example, why not develop social skills in high school? Many of the student leaders I know from college started as high school student leaders.

Now we're talking about "HS is..." or "HS is not..." or "HS sucks." Why wait until HS? Now we're talking about MS... then lower school. Then it's just your entire life as an individual.

I like the idea of a loose education system where there aren't Nth-grade, Xth-year students, but simply students who have proved themselves in a particular set of studies. For those with the time to study, take one year. For those without, take ten years. Then there won't be any of these ideas of what college should or should not do.

It's my personal fantasy. Impractical perhaps?

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#17

Post by mattmaroon »

ojbyrne wrote: post #4

The column seems to be entirely from the point of view of an employer looking to screen potential employees. Like it or not, college is about more than job training. For a lot of people the social life is a big part of it, the first part of life away from parents, but still with some security, and about intellectual exploration (answering the question - what exactly do I want to be when I grow up?). Perhaps none of t…

It's written from that perspective because college degrees are used as a proxy for job training, and most people pursue them so they can get a better job, which makes the system broken. The other benefits of the college experience don't require college anyway, and are cost-prohibitive to a lot of people.

I don't think he was arguing that nobody should do 4 years of college. Just that employers need a better vetting system.

Re: For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

#19

Post by randome »

greyman wrote: post #2

For me, it was not. I did study Math, and while most of the knowledge can't be used directly in my daily job as a programmer, and most of the higher math was forgotten, I was taught to think abstractly in several different ways (like algebra, math analysis, statistics, geometry etc.) All of those subject are very beneficial to study, IMHO, even if you don't apply them directly in your job.

whether or not they are relevant is besides the point, I think author isn't saying "end 4-year colleges" but rather that we should change how skills are assessed -- so that a 4 year college isn't required ... i.e you can take a test and if you pass thats it. so college could still be a valid route of developing skills (like the ones you said) but not the only route to getting a job.
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