College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
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Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#2I agree completely - every single one of his points is something I've experienced personally, causing no end of frustration. I felt like I needed a degree because the rest of the world puts so much emphasis on it, but I personally gained very little from it. I know this topic has been discussed a million and one times on here - but I wish this was a much more public issue than it already is.
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#3> The truth is that college is one big party
I believe 100% this is THE most important part of college/university level education. The education part is minor because if you have a subject interest it will come fairly naturally (I do think if you have to force knowledge in there is no point trying).
Partying is socialising, building a circle of friends/associates and generally learning how humanity interacts. Indeed the education is partly just a way to validate the lifestyle to later employees (4 years dossing vs. 4 years "at college", right? :)).
Were I to have gone straight from school into the real world I would have failed and had no support network to catch me.
Now yes I do see what he means about letting people loose on real projects. BUT there just isnt enough incubator work to go around - and at the end of the day you do need some mundane background classes to get you started. The higher education model is broken, I agree, but scrapping it would be bad. Let people develop their social construct and let off steam - then make them useful :)
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#4College is a weird beast. I stopped out to work on Publictivity/move to the Valley and now I'm back in school finishing at night. It still has no value to me in the real world. I'm a CIS major, and even though the "formal education" is nice, it just complicates things. The way students are taught to do database design + code makes me fully understand why most software sucks.
I don't think we could ever just get rid of college, but I think we need alternatives that aren't looked upon as some "rogue option". People like doctors and lawyers need formal schooling. There will always be corporate drones, but hopefully less will emerge over time. I am glad to see more and more are pursuing things outside of what the normal college path might present.
There's also the social issue, which is an important part of college. It forces you to meet other people. That's great for spurring ideas or even starting a company. My first "company" was with a bunch of people I met while in college. Everyone is now off doing their own startup after learning some of the ropes together. So, whatever the alternatives are to college, make sure you find a way to keep yourself social. It could be meetups, super happy dev houses, coworking,etc. Just don't isolate yourself.
//End Rambling
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#5> The truth is that college is one big party I believe 100% this is THE most important part of college/university level education. The education part is minor because if you have a subject interest it will come fairly naturally (I do think if you have to force knowledge in there is no point trying). Partying is socialising, building a circle of friends/associates and generally learning how humanity interacts. Indeed…
As somebody who attended college off and on, and in my 20s instead of right out of high school, I missed out on this. I think you're on to something there, ErrantX.
I've been a fan of some required national service for some of these same reasons. I think not only you, but society as a whole benefits when young people are put together and form support groups as part of starting off. It should be encouraged more.
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#6Maybe rephrase "College Is a Waste for __fill_in_the_blank__ Majors"
Is college a waste for Doctors & Lawyers? Do you want a doctor to learn his trade on-the-job?
College is a big waste for a lot of majors, but certainly not in general...
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#7"The truth is that college is one big party"
you say that like its a negative
hey i was thinking that i would go off and screw gorgeous women in their absolute prime in between getting baked and wasted, but i thought i would rather stay in the basement and get "ramen profitable"
WHAT???
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#8Something you might learn in college: 'replace' has a 'p' in it.
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#9> The truth is that college is one big party I believe 100% this is THE most important part of college/university level education. The education part is minor because if you have a subject interest it will come fairly naturally (I do think if you have to force knowledge in there is no point trying). Partying is socialising, building a circle of friends/associates and generally learning how humanity interacts. Indeed…
As somebody who attended college off and on, and in my 20s instead of right out of high school, I missed out on this. I think you're on to something there, ErrantX. I've been a fan of some required national service for some of these same reasons. I think not only you, but society as a whole benefits when young people are put together and form support groups as part of starting off. It should be encouraged more.
You also get to meet people across a diverse range of subjects. I imagine working on hacker type projects would be great fun - but everyone would likely very samey :) I like that I can ring up a friend for help on some obscure historical reference in pub quizes :P
National Service; I'm totally down with that! Actually (slightly off topic) I've always been a fan of replacing young offenders institutes with something like enforced national service (the training stuff not the gun in hand stuff ;)). There was a great show here in the UK where they threw dossers into a "bad lads" national service camp and it had a real positive effect on them!
I think both examples (NService and college life) are about pushing you out of any comfort zones :)
Re: College Is A Waste. Replace It With Y Combinator
#10I'm a student who is halfway done with a degree in Entrepreneurship. I often ask myself what the hell I'm doing, and the answer is simple--society says I have to. Now, I realize its all one big hoax, but I've stuck with it because of the relationships I have built thus far. With that having been said, I would happily give my $30,000/year in student loans to an incubator program that could actually get me started. Maybe Y Combinator needs to take a more "University" approach and allow students to pay for the education they provide.