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Why I canceled my college subscription

joshstrange.com

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Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#3

Post by tseabrooks »

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree.

I'm in no way making the claim that someone can't be a very very good programmer without college, the best programmer I've ever met left college after 1.5 years, but there's a very real risk of having holes. Some of these holes, despite what people might like to believe, simply aren't going to be filled in the future.

A few holes I've seen in the awesome unschooled programmers I've worked with:

1) Inability to finish. This is a biggy.

2) Deficiency in the "science" part of Computer Science (Algorithms and Theory)

3) A lack of knowledge where the "Liberal Arts" are concerned.

(And Others)

Maybe all of these things aren't important and maybe some of them can be learned later. However, I think people who skip college will be less likely to spend the time and energy necessary to learn these things (In the same way people who put off school for a job are less likely to attend school).

It also seems that the Theory needs to be paired with the Liberal Arts and the competent programmer in order to make a really exceptional programmer.

All that said, I think this backlash is really just the front end of a massive paradigm shift in the way the western world views / does education so we'll just have to wait and see.

EDIT: It seem that leaving college early could be indicative of either a) Already getting everything you could out of it or b) an inability to finish.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#6

Post by mhurron »

tseabrooks wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree. I'm in no way making the claim t…

>There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately

It's no different than the general anti-intellectual sentiment growing in the US. The feeling that you can learn it all on your own without anyone telling or anyone's help is what is driving so many peoples thought processes recently.

That people looked at and treat higher education as just job training and nothing more doesn't help either.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#7

Post by jiggy2011 »

tseabrooks wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree. I'm in no way making the claim t…

Thing is, outside of the US how many computer science people will get a chance to study "the liberal arts" at college?

In the UK the idea is that you do all of your academic exploration in the 16-18 bracket and once you start college you already know what you want to do.

If you take a CS degree you will get the chance to do maybe 2 outside-of-CS modules in year 3 and most likely these will be something about IT management from the business school.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#8

Post by delinka »

achompas wrote: post #4
gamechangr wrote: post #2

Good choice!! Udemy and Udacity can give you all you need for free!

It remains to be seen whether (a) they will provide a comprehensive CS track or (b) if their offerings will remain free. Neither of those is satisfied right now.

(psst ... don't click the back button to edit your comment - use the edit link above your comment)

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#9

Post by hobin »

What's with all the 'Boo! College is bad!' posts these days? Don't get me wrong, if people find good jobs and educate themselves without going to college, more power to them. However, I dislike the tendency of some(/many) of these posts to present college as a waste of time. It's not. And that's from someone who dropped out the first time around. ;)

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#10

Post by orky56 »

mhurron wrote: post #6
tseabrooks wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree. I'm in no way making the claim t…

>There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately It's no different than the general anti-intellectual sentiment growing in the US. The feeling that you can learn it all on your own without anyone telling or anyone's help is what is driving so many peoples thought processes recently. That people looked at and treat higher education as just job training and nothing more doesn't help either.

The problem is when college doesn't even provide that job training. Students put their whole effort into college and then graduate without any skills employers are looking for. With massive debt from four years of loans and no one wanting to hire you, students find it harder to stomach this traditional path to a job and the American dream.

I've read a few op-eds and they mention that vocational schools in the US do provide the training employers are looking for but their status is looked down upon within society since historically this has been for "blue-collar" jobs. Well those blue-collar jobs are paying upwards of $50k which is much higher than being unemployed.

So now it's on the student. Get the degree with its pros and cons, get just the skills with its pros and cons, or do both. It's going to be harder but college is an investment, not just of money but also time and energy. If it's done properly (maybe not in the most traditional way), it will pay off for the rest of your life.

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