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College was my biggest mistake

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Re: College was my biggest mistake

#171

Post by peapicker »

ninguem2 wrote: post #145
maigret wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am European, so I really don't get that. Why don't you try to make education cheaper? Why are you taking it as granted that university must cost x 10000's dollars a year? Out here outside of UK it is mostly around 1000 Eur max a year. Having free higher ed changes the picture. When you are from a middle class family it is your ticket to maintain or even climb the social ladder. Even if for some people, the educatio…

European universities are cheap because they are government subsidized. The US has state schools that, once upon a time, were partially subsidized and cheaper, but not quite free. State governments have stopped giving money to these universities forcing them to raise tuition. This is a political decision, is what the voters want, even though it might not be in their best interest. It would be nice to have low cost un…

That's true... and at least in my area (Colorado/New Mexico) that cost for a resident is currently between ~3.1k and 5.2k per semester, a far cry from the 22k per at RIT. And that is without scholarships. A full four years at that price is about one year at the original article's cost at RIT.

Not free, but not outrageous.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#172

Post by jtmcmc »

warfangle wrote: post #97
magicalist wrote: post #39

Paying $44k a year to not go to any of your classes was indeed a big mistake. I could tell you another story about how I decided to take on a stupid amount of debt for school, but -- in the face of a lifetime of certain poverty -- the people I grew to know and the projects I actively pursued and worked hard on led me to a fulfilling life and a job that I love that covers my loans with ease. There is a point in this p…

Should they have to acquire such burdening debt to come to this realization, though?

No, perhaps if education was better subsidized in the US they wouldn't have to.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#173

Post by danenania »

ipince wrote: post #73

"I could teach myself more in an afternoon than I would learn in a 10-week class." This is either outright bullshit, or your college was complete crap. Most likely the former. Don't do this. You think you're gaining respect or credibility, but in actuality you're losing it.

I think this perception, and the ever-present debate surrounding it, really boils down to the differences between structured and self-driven learning.

Structured learning tends to be methodical, thorough, and slow. You proceed chapter by chapter, book by book, building knowledge on top of knowledge. It's good for establishing a foundation, or for pushing you through dull but potentially useful topics, but because you must stick to the track, it doesn't give you much leeway to follow up on bursts of inspiration.

Self-directed learning, in contrast, tends to be patchy and undisciplined, but it crucially allows one to harness and follow those winds of inspiration when they blow, and that offers incredible benefits for motivation and retention.

Structured learning provides a syllabus and a schedule to ensure that you fill in the gaps. Learning when touched by the muse makes you yearn to fill in the gaps, yearn to reach the next level of understanding.

"I could teach myself more in an afternoon than I would learn in a 10-week class."

This psychological shift is what self-learners are referring to when they make such claims. They aren't saying that they can literally get through 10 weeks of coursework in an afternoon, they're saying that being allowed to take their own path through a subject and approach it in a way that truly motivates and inspires them makes them potentially orders of magnitude more effective as learners.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#174

Post by sunwooz »

aplusbi wrote: post #77
sunwooz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that going to college is worth it if you're being selectively taught by the top 1%. The rest of the 99%? Forget about it-- you can learn more with an internet connection.

I'm glad you are motivated enough to give yourself a complete college education with an internet connection, and smart enough to parse all that information in a vacuum without advisors/peers to help. Not all of us are as fortunate as you are.

Most people likely have not tried teaching themselves anything. It's like learning anything else-- it's hard at first but it gets easier as you practice. You can teach yourself to teach yourself.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#175

Post by sunwooz »

krschultz wrote: post #153

If you could teach yourself in an afternoon what was covered in a 10 week class, then you probably wouldn't have failed out. The same points I make on every post like this. 1) College isn't for everyone. 2) The 'I'm so smart that college was a waste of time' people should have just gotten a scholarship and not paid for college. 5 out of the 5 schools I officially applied to offered me scholarships. All were in the to…

He didn't fail out because he's an idiot, he failed out because the classes were mind-numbingly boring.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#176

Post by slurgfest »

marknutter wrote: post #161
slurgfest wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know that anyone says it is the "only" way. The real claim is that college offers a significant advantage which it would be foolish to turn down. Hard to say how most High School students would be able to accurately gauge that college would be useless for them ahead of time, except if they already couldn't handle academics.

"The real claim is that college offers a significant advantage which it would be foolish to turn down." That sure makes it sound like it's the only way.

Of course not, because it is not implied that it is impossible to do without, only that it is an advantage and that it is prudent to take all the advantages you can afford.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#177

Post by knova »

You people had to spend 100k+ on a college education to learn "humanities" and how to be social?!? You don't think you would have "grown as a person" if you hadn't gone to college?! This.is.horrifying. If you do anything Please do one of the following: Talk to a real life person, visit a library, read a book about something other than vampires, and most importantly- GET OUT AND SEE THE WORLD! The author is challenging you to take a good look at your path in life and make the best choice for YOU. He's not saying all of us degree carrying people are idiots. He even acknowledges that plenty of careers need a degree. Maybe some of you SHOULD stay in school...

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#178

Post by maigret »

krschultz wrote: post #156
maigret wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am European, so I really don't get that. Why don't you try to make education cheaper? Why are you taking it as granted that university must cost x 10000's dollars a year? Out here outside of UK it is mostly around 1000 Eur max a year. Having free higher ed changes the picture. When you are from a middle class family it is your ticket to maintain or even climb the social ladder. Even if for some people, the educatio…

We don't know what the true cost of going to college is. There are plenty of prices , but there are few places in the world where the student pays 100% of the actual cost of their education. But I can tell you, the cost of a college education is NOT 1000 Eur, anywhere. That's heavily, almost completely, subsidized by the government. 1) Most tuition is posted at a higher sticker price with merit and need scholarships…

I know that European universities are subsidized a lot. I also think this is right, because it creates an incentive to study - price is low and reward is high. The graduates consumes more afterwards, and pays also more taxes. That's what you call a win/win.

Still I am always surprised that Americans are so much willing to go into that game where the winners are mostly university workers and banks.

This is a bit like inflation in Germany, or housing in the US - you get burnt once and then exaggerate in the other direction.

For housing, these are people never wanting to buy a home again. Wrong reasons - there was a bad bubble until 2007, they just bought too high. Doesn't mean there won't be good deals anymore. Same for education - "it is overly expensive so I jump it". For me it is the wrong solution to the right problem.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#180

Post by dinkumthinkum »

viraptor wrote: post #154
dinkumthinkum wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do Google, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, etc keep coming over to universities if it's so outdated and useless. Why aren't they out on Tumblr or photo sharing sites trying to work on problems and recruit? They could save a lot of money on these plane trips by just looking at blogs! Don't they know any better? :)

Actually they do. Write some interesting posts on tumblr, get it on LinkedIn, get high score on stackoverflow and you'll see the google recruiters writing to you at some point.

Exactly, but the mystery is why they are wasting time at those useless universities! :)
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