51–60 of 65 posts
He wanted to pay off his school loans so he could "feel like a free person." Now his entire life revolves around being a slave to his debt (living in a van in remote Alaksa, etc). To each their own. But to me, this doesn't seem more free.
"Plus, I was graduating with a degree in English and history, which, though valuable to me, is more or less monetarily worthless." I can't imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that is monetarily worthless just because it is of personal value to me. That seems incredibly self indulgent.
incredibly self indulgent How? There are people who spend thousands of dollars on shoes, clothes etc. Heck, how many of us here spend tons of money on the latest gadget? Compared to these, spending money learning something just because he wanted to, is way better. And in any case, it is his money (well, it was a loan, still..), so he can spend however he wants (same goes for people who spend tons of money on the late…
He wanted to pay off his school loans so he could "feel like a free person." Now his entire life revolves around being a slave to his debt (living in a van in remote Alaksa, etc). To each their own. But to me, this doesn't seem more free.
Consider the fact that his degrees are in fields that can be learned for free on the Internet and at the library. $100k in debt for History and English? Ridiculous!
"Plus, I was graduating with a degree in English and history, which, though valuable to me, is more or less monetarily worthless." I can't imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that is monetarily worthless just because it is of personal value to me. That seems incredibly self indulgent.
Really? When I hear self-indulgent I tend to think of your average American couch-potato lifestyle. This type of self-indulgence where you engage your love of learning for learning's sake doesn't really seem so bad in the grand scheme of things.
He wanted to pay off his school loans so he could "feel like a free person." Now his entire life revolves around being a slave to his debt (living in a van in remote Alaksa, etc). To each their own. But to me, this doesn't seem more free.
Consider the fact that his degrees are in fields that can be learned for free on the Internet and at the library. $100k in debt for History and English? Ridiculous!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the fact that his degrees are in fields that can be learned for free on the Internet and at the library. $100k in debt for History and English? Ridiculous!
You are missing the point. Face to face relationships are invaluable and are the most important part of a good education. In liberal arts, there aren't dozens of high-quality, responsible IRC chatrooms, say, devoted to the intricacies of Nietzsche like there are rooms devoted to a single programming framework.
"Plus, I was graduating with a degree in English and history, which, though valuable to me, is more or less monetarily worthless." I can't imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that is monetarily worthless just because it is of personal value to me. That seems incredibly self indulgent.
So uh. What do you eat? Any hobbies? Pay more than a couple grand for a car? Underwear, do you own any?
I don't spend tens of thousands of dollars on my hobbies - they're near free.
I sold my car last year and don't plan on buying one again. But when I purchased it, I definitely made a self indulgent choice. I don't claim to be immune to temptation. But more to the point, it was never monetarily worthless and didn't put me tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
Underwear? I'm not sure what kind of fancy underwear would cost tens of thousands of dollars, but I'd definitely like to know more about that.
"Plus, I was graduating with a degree in English and history, which, though valuable to me, is more or less monetarily worthless." I can't imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that is monetarily worthless just because it is of personal value to me. That seems incredibly self indulgent.
I'm pretty sure food falls into that category. :P Edge cases aside, surely 'learning how to think' or indeed just learning is tremendously valuable - surely the ultimate value that all other kinds are implicitly converted to (cf. heat in thermodynamics[1]) is 'personal value' such as satisfaction? [1]: A simplistic view, please don't flame me. :/
A lot of things are personally valuable but you don't necessarily spend tens of thousands of dollars on them - especially when they have no monetary value. And you have no real income.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are missing the point. Face to face relationships are invaluable and are the most important part of a good education. In liberal arts, there aren't dozens of high-quality, responsible IRC chatrooms, say, devoted to the intricacies of Nietzsche like there are rooms devoted to a single programming framework.
No, I'm not. Face to face relationships don't cost $30k+ a year. You don't have to go to school to meet people. If you're going into debt just to meet people then something is deeply flawed.
"Plus, I was graduating with a degree in English and history, which, though valuable to me, is more or less monetarily worthless." I can't imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that is monetarily worthless just because it is of personal value to me. That seems incredibly self indulgent.
And, as for myself, rather than questioning the value of such an education in the first place, I consider it a problem that this it's as expensive as it is.
I also consider myself lucky that my passions and desires happen to align with -- or are at least complimentary with -- my economic interests.