Interesting that you fail to mention what either you or your wife are majoring in and that you are feeling pressure from your friends and peers. My thoughts are that you go to college for two reasons. To acquire skills that others may find desirable, and therefore you are in demand, or you go to school to learn things you want to learn. The two may or may not be mutually compatible. One of the Occupy Richmond protestors was interviewed and her complaint was that she had graduated college and could not find a job. Her major, Women's studies. OHTH, if you acquire skills in an in demand field, it will most certainly help and may be a requirement. There are still jobs out there where starting pay is in the high five figures and up.
having at least a BA in something, seems to be the minimum requirement for most non-manual jobs in the USA.
but is that right? Why go and spend 4 years studying history ( for example) and then sit in an office selling insurance for the next years.
right? what does this have to do with morality?
for many people, having a college degree means that someone is minimally intelligent. and many folks want a minimal amount of intelligence for their workforce.
im not not in college, my wife is majoring in intelligence studies. You cant learn things you want to learn by reading books?
but is that right? Why go and spend 4 years studying history ( for example) and then sit in an office selling insurance for the next years.
I can tell you that the postal service does not require college degrees to be successful. The district manager of the Cincinnati District has 13,000 people working under her and she is an immigrant with no degree. IN fact some of the top executives in the area don't have college.
now that is not rule for most management positions but the USPS gives lots of preferences to veterans though I believe you noted you served in the UK?
I wanted to get your thoughts on how important you think going to University is?
My wife is about to finish her masters and is hopefully going to get a half decent job too reward her hard work, her coming to a finish as got me thinking should I go and get my degree? I got good grades at school but decided to join the army instead of going to uni, I used my experience in the Army and my good school grades to land myself a pretty decent job. However I feel a lot of pressure to go and get my degree because most of my freinds and peers have theirs and in todays society it is almost expected that you have a degree. I look at a lot of my freinds who have degrees and I would say 70% of them have done nothing with them and it makes me wonder " why all this expectation"?
Is the fact we are almsot forcing out kids to go to college playing a big factor in our ineffective workforce and is it costing us thousands of blue collar jobs? Obviously for some professions you need the degree doctor etc, but are the rest of us going to college for all the wrong reasons?
Your thoughts?
im not not in college, my wife is majoring in intelligence studies. You cant learn things you want to learn by reading books?
Makes sense. But, obviously this path is what you find rewarding (whether financially, intellectually, emotionally, etc.) I try to tell my students that it is much more important to find your "niche" and to make yourself "marketable" in order to fill that place. It seems that we've attached "independent wealth" indiscriminantly to the idea of "success" in our society. There are many, many great paying jobs that don't require a higher degree, but rather, require specialized skills, training, and/or work experience. My Dad is a classic example. He NEVER attended a college. He was trained as an electrician in the US Navy. Upon leaving the military at age 26, he began working as a commercial electrician's apprentice where he broadened his skills in the trade and gained valuable work experence. By age 36 he started his own Electrical Service Company. By age 40, he was making over $300,000 a year and had a crew of 6 electricians working under him. By age 45 he'd had at least one year where he'd cleared half-a-million, and was routinely bidding, $10 million to $50 million construction projects. By age 50 he'd worked all over the world, from helping to design and wire water purification plants in Egypt to rennovating power and communication grids in Diego Garcia and South Korea.I'm wanting to be in academia, so for me it is a natural fit.
im not not in college, my wife is majoring in intelligence studies. You cant learn things you want to learn by reading books?
Makes sense. But, obviously this path is what you find rewarding (whether financially, intellectually, emotionally, etc.) I try to tell my students that it is much more important to find your "niche" and to make yourself "marketable" in order to fill that place. It seems that we've attached "independent wealth" indiscriminantly to the idea of "success" in our society. There are many, many great paying jobs that don't require a higher degree, but rather, require specialized skills, training, and/or work experience. My Dad is a classic example. He NEVER attended a college. He was trained as an electrician in the US Navy. Upon leaving the military at age 26, he began working as a commercial electrician's apprentice where he broadened his skills in the trade and gained valuable work experence. By age 36 he started his own Electrical Service Company. By age 40, he was making over $300,000 a year and had a crew of 6 electricians working under him. By age 45 he'd had at least one year where he'd cleared half-a-million, and was routinely bidding, $10 million to $50 million construction projects. By age 50 he'd worked all over the world, from helping to design and wire water purification plants in Egypt to rennovating power and communication grids in Diego Garcia and South Korea.
He loved his work. He was good at it. He made some pretty good money doing it. He accomplished a great deal in his field, gained a great deal of experience and respect and......................did it all without a college degree. Funny thing is.......come hail or high water, he was bound and determined that I, his oldest son, would get a college degree. In retrospect, I suppose I'm glad he pushed me to do it.
Sarcasm noted.:thumbs: I don't ever remember "guilt" being one of his strongest emotions. :lol:so sad that your father is an evil rich person - doesn't he feel guilty for all the poverty he created by being productive?
Your thoughts?
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