I realize the topic of discussion here is whether or not college is important/useful, but as a sidenote I just have to say that your animation was absolutely stunning! Excellent work!
Not Everyone has to go to College
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Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#32I was really blown away by the quality of the two minute video at the bottom of the post. Anybody have an idea about how much a video of that caliber costs?
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#33I never even finished High School, and now I earn more/do less than my college degree holding co-workers. I have the advantage of being a programmer though, where skill is at least measurable to some degree and college education isn't as important. It's actually taboo, but we now assume that someone who graduated from college probably sucks but is willing to do boring tasks.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on what your feelings are on your own children's educations. Will you advise them to drop out of highschool and start working? Are you expecting them to go to university?
Well, I'd have to admit that not every kid excels at something, or is special, including my own. That decision seems like it would need to happen as the child is growing up. If they exhibit signs of being fast learners where the education system is actually slowing them down. Then yes, I'd probably advise them not to go. Or if they want to go, to try their best to get at a top-tier school (i.e. MIT.) Certainly things like Devry and Phoneix university I would consider a joke.
However, if they exhibit signs of being average then I would push them to get a degree. Because at least they'll know how to follow some sort of procedure and get a decent job without really needing to excel beyond their peers.
In reality though, I'm sure it won't be such a black and white problem.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#34I agree with you on a lot of points, especially the following two: 1. College doesn't guarantee success. 2. Not everyone should go to college. But here's where we diverge: I believe we'll never get to the point where everyone will "succeed". We all want our kids to succeed, but our definition of success is usually based on things like "have a high-paying job", "be important", "be powerful" or "be famous". This is bec…
While I agree that striving for happiness is a totally acceptable goal in live, I think it's a bit egoistic. I would not teach my children to seek power or riches, but to work to "better themselves and the rest of humanity". If the can't leave their own footprints, they can at least try to help others in doing that. I want humans to achieve cool things -- build AIs, end disease and death, and settle on other planets.…
I'm not sure how to say this without attracting a wave of descent, so I'll simply say that your comment made me smile.
I truely hope you are sucessful in instilling among your children the ideal that the advancement of the human race is more important than advancement of self.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#35First a bit of criticism - I don't like this way of presenting. 193 slides? Each with one sentence? This is borderline maddening and if this wasn't a topic I was interested in I wouldn't have made it even 30 slides in. A tl:dr would just tell you to skip to slide 160. Not only that but the parts about Skillshare itself are so disguised that I still don't have a firm grasp of why should I go there and what can I do th…
I actually presented all 193 slides in less than 15 minutes. The format was a huge hit with the audience.
I liked every single of my clicks.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#36I didn't finish my college degree after I got into programming professionally and I honestly am disappointed I didn't. I can write software but I feel a lot of times I know how things go together the way they do, but not the why. There are times when I wish I knew the theory behind things instead of just knowing the syntax. I think the takeaway is that unless you're going to a really expensive school for the alumni n…
I am graduating from a University of London college in a few days and I can guarantee you it's not worth it.
Whatever you are interested in, pick a book and study about it. If you are having trouble, go online and ask. What more can a college give you?
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on what your feelings are on your own children's educations. Will you advise them to drop out of highschool and start working? Are you expecting them to go to university?
Forgot to mention something. One of the other side effects of not going to university is that I wasn't exposed to the "pop culture of education" as I call it. That is to say, I wasn't exposed to common classical literary works, authors, composers, music, etc. Often times I find myself in the middle of a conversation about greek philosophy with some coworkers, for example. Mind you none of these people are anywhere ex…
I have a BS degree and was not exposed to any of that at university. Not to say it wasn't available, I just chose other courses.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#38I never even finished High School, and now I earn more/do less than my college degree holding co-workers. I have the advantage of being a programmer though, where skill is at least measurable to some degree and college education isn't as important. It's actually taboo, but we now assume that someone who graduated from college probably sucks but is willing to do boring tasks.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on what your feelings are on your own children's educations. Will you advise them to drop out of highschool and start working? Are you expecting them to go to university?
I told my kids to stay out of IT. All of them were capable of working in the industry but that last ten years has ruined IT and programming as a profession. This country has ruined it as a profession by letting too many unqualified people into this country as H1Bs. Before you scream racist, there are way too many people with EE degrees are here as programmers without any chops to make a difference. It cheapens the profession.
My oldest is an Athletic Trainer and will never be outsourced. The twins are totally different. One is in textbook editing and the other will end up as a college soccer coach. At least they won't have to worry about this country undercutting what should be a professional wage.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#39I agree with you on a lot of points, especially the following two: 1. College doesn't guarantee success. 2. Not everyone should go to college. But here's where we diverge: I believe we'll never get to the point where everyone will "succeed". We all want our kids to succeed, but our definition of success is usually based on things like "have a high-paying job", "be important", "be powerful" or "be famous". This is bec…
> That said, I believe that we should define "success" differently for our kids. Interestingly coming from another country to US I had a little bit of a different understanding of "success". It meant something like a general "good luck", or "happiness". Here (in US) it seems to a code word for "lots of money" and "power over people". One wouldn't refer to someone who decides to live in a remote hut in the woods, fish…
>One wouldn't refer to someone who decides to live in a remote hut in the woods, fishing and hunting but having 0 income and not managing anyone as "successful".
Would you refer to someone like that as successful?
I think some, unspoken, element of the definition of success is "more successful than others" . This is usually related to accomplishing some difficult task or solving a difficult problem others have failed to solve. There needs to be a relevant reference point for comparison.
Otherwise, we are all incredibly successful compared to our ancestors(and many less lucky people in other parts of the world) at obtaining food and water, having a long lifespan, etc.
Re: Not Everyone has to go to College
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That said, I believe that we should define "success" differently for our kids. Interestingly coming from another country to US I had a little bit of a different understanding of "success". It meant something like a general "good luck", or "happiness". Here (in US) it seems to a code word for "lots of money" and "power over people". One wouldn't refer to someone who decides to live in a remote hut in the woods, fish…
>One wouldn't refer to someone who decides to live in a remote hut in the woods, fishing and hunting but having 0 income and not managing anyone as "successful". Would you refer to someone like that as successful? I think some, unspoken, element of the definition of success is "more successful than others" . This is usually related to accomplishing some difficult task or solving a difficult problem others have failed…
> Would you refer to someone like that as successful?
It depends if they define themselves as successful. That is the distinction. Being judged by others as successful vs setting personal goals and begin successful at accomplishing those goals. If those goals are to live in nature, hunt, fish then they are perhaps very successful (in my sense of the word) but certainly not in the traditionally American sense.