31–40 of 50 posts
People should be apprenticed at 13, and should enter professions at about 18. Only jobs requiring memorization of a large body of prior work (medicine or science) need more than that.
Yeah, I'm glad we haven't formalized that system in the US.
Let me propose the radical idea that a college education is not solely justified by it's monetary value.
This article includes one of the most misleading statistics concerning higher education: "People with bachelor's degrees... still earn an average of about $1.2M more than high school graduates over a 40-year career". Yes, there is a correlation between higher education and higher salaries -- no, this does not imply causation! There are many confounding factors: People who are more intelligent, have parent(s) who purs…
As noted, these influences can be very disentangle from any real-world analysis. There was an interesting study a few years back that looked at the "outcomes" of a cohort of people who had all been admitted to an Ivy League school. Part of the study group attended and graduated from the Ivy League school they were admitted to. The control group ended up matriculating elsewhere for whatever reason. Past studies showed…
Take it from someone who quit. If you want to climb the corporate ladder than definitely go to college and sell your parents house to finance it. It will be worth it. I've seen it work. If you want to build your own ladder (as what I am doing now), then I suggest you check that college thing again. I look around and I see my friends who graduated from school and they all make 1.5 to twice what I make a year, but not…
Good god you're friends dream small...
People should be apprenticed at 13, and should enter professions at about 18. Only jobs requiring memorization of a large body of prior work (medicine or science) need more than that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's another cost, some jobs you just won't be able to do when you have a wife, kids, and lots of loans to pay every month. At college age is part of the very short time in your life where you are free from all this and can easily focus on something harder than virtually anyone else. Of course, the majority of people will never consider even performing at this potential. But could it be different if college as we…
Shotgun weddings and medical emergencies aside, nobody's going to force anybody to get married, have kids, and take on a heavy debt burden. Screw the Joneses. And this isn't to say you should be a bachelor for life; I'm sure there are women out there who value freedom and a man who's willing to make sacrifices and go his own way in search of that freedom.
I hear that worked out great for hans reiser.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As noted, these influences can be very disentangle from any real-world analysis. There was an interesting study a few years back that looked at the "outcomes" of a cohort of people who had all been admitted to an Ivy League school. Part of the study group attended and graduated from the Ivy League school they were admitted to. The control group ended up matriculating elsewhere for whatever reason. Past studies showed…
Do you have a reference for this study?
For technical and engineering pursuits, a good college is a great place to get a fast and wide overview of theory, competing technologies (or philosophies), and different specializations/tech aspects (database, programmer, ...). (I think this is why I'm more of a generalist as opposed to java or php master...)
More importantly, (a good) college puts a lot of smart, driven people in the same place and time. Going to college allows you to form important relationships with these people that can strongly affect both your personal and professional life both now and in the future. I think both Apple and Microsoft are great examples of my last point.
Finally (assuming you got a useful degree), in case all your entreprenuerial endeavors fail in the short term; a degree can net you a high paying job with a lot of free cycles to relax/regroup and get ready to start that next idea you have =)
People should be apprenticed at 13, and should enter professions at about 18. Only jobs requiring memorization of a large body of prior work (medicine or science) need more than that.