Is college pointless?

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

Its a very complex area, what do you want the vast majority of 18 year old's to do? ( as they the vast majority won't be going to university in the system you are proposing )

I don't know about vast majority, but they could work? Do trades? Other non-uni courses? It is a problem if we are assuming uni should be the default option for everyone

There is a strong correlation between your level of education and how much you earn, how long you live, and your health,... in other words if you go to college you will have a better quality of life over your whole life.

Doesn't have to be at 18 though does it

Nolanger

bluewolf wrote: »

I don't know about vast majority, but they could work? Do trades? Other non-uni courses? It is a problem if we are assuming uni should be the default option for everyone

Also, you don't need to emigrate to set up a website for e-business?

Permabear

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Permabear I am not saying you don't have a point but I think you are taking it too far...college is not just about an academic education is much more that that.

locked_out

mariaalice wrote: »

Permabear I am not saying you don't have a point but I think you are taking it too far...college is not just about an academic education is much more that that.

What the hell are you going to college for then? It's all about the "dugree" at the end of the day. People don't give a **** about anything else. You are talking crap, dear sir.

More than that my fat arse...

johnnyskeleton

Permabear wrote: »

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There was a time when if you wanted to be a doctor/lawyer/accountant etc you didn't need a college degree, you simply apprenticed into it and figured it out on the job.

There is an argument that modern college degrees in medicine/law/business are too academic and are divorced from the reality of practice in those professions. There is much weight behind this.

However, I think that a well rounded professional person will benefit from experience on the job but also from a well grounded academic background. Working familiarises you with what is, academic training introduces you to what could be.

Mr. Loverman

I am currently in Japan and foreigners are required to have a college degree before they can get a job here, even in McDonalds. So if you want to live and work in certain parts of Asia a degree is a necessity.

Bukit Timah

College is pointless if you do a pointless course

Blisterman

There's some major generalisation about college students here.

Speaking for myself and nearly everyone in my graduating class of architecture, we put in at least 80 hours of coursework a week, and I know I certainly learned a lot in terms of knowledge, skills and creative thinking. Not so much from the tutors, but because I was in such a competitive environment, that I was compelled to push myself to learn.

At the time, the only use I saw for being enrolled on the course was to get the necessary degree, the tutors certaintly didn't teach me much. But thinking about it honestly, if I had been left to my own devices with no deadlines or assessments, I wouldn't have pushed myself nearly as hard to learn. So I think despite the numerous major issues I've found with the university system: bias, beurocracy, apathy, favouritism etc., I think there's definitely some value to the university experience.

Permabear

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Blisterman

Yeah, 9 to 9.30 was my usual schedule. Half an hour for lunch, with the odd few hours off for sports etc. Longer hours approaching deadlines, and I was pretty relaxed compared to many others on my course. Still managed to go out 2 or 3 nights a week, and I mostly enjoyed the work, so it wasn't a problem.

But yeah, Architecture is unusally hard. My ex's law course seemed like a holiday by comparison. The last year we had to work through the summer.

Geekness1234

It really depends on where your skills are.If you like fooling around with test-tubes then a chemistry degree would be nice.Then again if you like tinkering with cars trade school would be good.

doopa

Interesting post via irishscience blog:

http://cmpo.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/is-it-worth-going-to-university-part-i/

Basically doing the economics of higher education for students.

For what its worth I think it really depends on what course you do. Personally I can't see the point in a degree if you do business, media etc. A traditional liberal arts degree and then a specialisation, work experience internship would be a more productive use of your time. I would question the academic aspects of many of these type of business or generic training courses. When I talk about liberal arts in Europe I guess I mean courses like PPE in Oxbridge (don't know about equivalents here - but classics things like that).

Its worth looking at what people who excel in the field your interesting in did originally - take advertising, Saatchi and Saatchi one of them studied at LSE. However most graduates entering it except to suceed having taken relatively easier courses.

Villette

A popular opinion seems to be that if you study a so-called 'useless' degree then college is pointless and that college should be about getting a job. I completely disagree. I don't think college is pointless if you're not qualified to do anything straight after graduation. In fact, I think that the point of education generally shouldn't be considered as solely to do with getting a job. This is the problem with education in Ireland, where the focus is on points in the leaving cert, and getting into a course that will get you the highest paid job.
I think that going to college is beneficial in a number of areas - and of course getting a job in a preferred area is one of these benefits. However, I think the most important aspect of college is getting an education that opens the mind. The so-called pointless degrees (the most obvious being the mocked Arts degree) are important because they teach you to think and question, and they open you up to new ideas.
I actually think that the degrees that educate rather than train are more important. You should come out of a college degree asking more questions than you had on entering.

Geekness1234

Considering american parents don't see much change out of $200000 it can be viewed as pointless if lil'jimmy is getting sh!t faced every second day and hung over other day instead giving it a lash for a while.