<p>But the motive of going to college and learning in order to have a better career and future is not entirely evil, or shallow in the sense that these people care only for themselves. I’m pretty sure many people want to go to college for both (some magnitude of) the love of learning and for a better future. The only way to totally exclude the “shallow” reason is to be sure that one will always be financially secure. I mean, it take $$ to go to college, right?</p>
<p>I agree with yunhai. If college didn’t cost any money, maybe I’d be more willing to say that you should only go to school for intellectual and emotional growth. But education is expensive. Even a relatively cheap education is now valued at around $20000 per year. I think growth is a great thing to gain along the way, but I went to school so that I can get a job when I leave and be able to afford to continue living a comfortable lifestyle. I understand that college isn’t the only way to do this, but for me it was. Now I do think people should choose majors that they enjoy and take advantage of all the college has to offer while they’re there, but for me this wasn’t my primary purpose for attending. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to leave with a degree capable of opening doors to interviews for jobs (notice I said interviewing, eventually you have to have the skills for the job on your own). College is an investment and I intend to get something in return.</p>
<p>I agree with jptoor. The kids who top my class are’nt the really smart kids- theyre the ones who squirmed through the ropes. The truly intelligent, orignal kids can’t really be identified by their numbers. </p>
<p>I think its a combination of two things- We have to learn to live with the system. Due to human nature, and nature in general, things must be structured (at a high school level atleast) But that should’nt stop a person from caring or wanting, or having the intellectual thirst to know more and explore. A lot of people do go to college to have a good lauchpad for a bright career. but while you’re there (or even when ure still in high school), make the most of it- dont let the GPAs bog you down, explore and learn!</p>
<p>Though I never tried to influence my kids’ choices of majors, I did try to help them see what part of their educations would single them out and make them more qualified than the next guy. For S it was his cartography/GIS skills, for D her ability to speak Spanish. Would they have discovered these skills elsewhere (cc, etc.)? Perhaps, but in reality it was being in exciting programs at college that first brought these subjects to their attention, along with professors and opportunities they may not have experienced otherwise.</p>
<p>I’m in for both. Lets face it, at the end of the day, you’re going to need to have money to pay back your loans. And this is especially a problem with going to top colleges which tend to be quite expensive. After all, how is one going to pay off those Harvard loans being a high school teacher? But if one can pay back his loans comfortably with his job, then all the power to him.</p>
<p>I think it all comes down to survival. If you can study whatever you enjoy for four years and become financially stable, then consider yourself very lucky. Today’s economy makes everything look depressing and it’s within this state that all negatives are shown. Should college be strictly vocational? Does one opt for a community college and learn a trade? What if a kid wants to study the humanities in a tech. driven world? You’re neither a star athlete or a brilliant student – how are you going to attend that private college you’ve been dreaming about? Take me for example, I’m liberal arts major going to a third tier university. I’m screwed. I want to become a playwright but how many young writers survive and find financial success? </p>
<p>These are tough questions with no easy solution. Life is a tollway, you pay as you go. Sometimes you have to give up your dreams in order to survive and one day maybe your kids will have such an opportunity to study what they love, but wait, isn’t that what our parents did for us? Didn’t they work two or three jobs in order for us to live a better life? Today’s reality is extremely sad and pathetic. I think America’s priorities are so skewed due to $$. $$ corrupts all, but what do I know, I’m religious and a writer. Two things that aren’t looked highly on. I guess I’ll take the “I rather live life than be a corporate clone” (no offense to those in corporate).</p>
<p>Its the classic question Friedrich Nietszche vs. Rheinhold Niebuhr. </p>
<p>We are seeing that unfold on WallStreet today before our eyes. Historic stuff.</p>
<p>Who is paying attention? Who knows how we got to this juncture?</p>
<p>I’m going to college to get a degree and get a job I like. I know I probably won’t end up rich and probably middle class at most since I want to be a teacher, but it’s not like I don’t enjoy learning. However, more than learning, I want to be able to do what I like with the rest of my life, which is my main reason for going to school.</p>
<p>Why go to college? To be given the chance to lead a financially comfortable life. Without a BA, I couldn’t get a JD. And a JD from a top school provides an exceptionally lucrative career path. </p>
<p>Now, obviously there were many other factors influencing where I chose to enroll that had nothing to do with long term earning potential. But really, if I would be making the same amount of money in the long term, there’s no way I’d delay the start of life with several extra years of irrelevant education. After all, I’m a Political Science major. And I really don’t expect my knowledge of anarchy in Africa or the illegal creation of Kosovo to matter in my line of work. Sure, they interest me, hence the choice in major. And I can still get into law school with such a useless set of knowledge. But is it really worth the four years of undergraduate studies? If not for monetary considerations, I’d say it wasn’t.</p>
<p>dont see myelf getting many good jobs without college</p>
<p>I’m not going to pay $51,000 a year for the sake of just learning. As much as I love books and learning, just knowledge in itself isn’t worth $51,000 a year for me. I have to know this will help me in life somehow. The job opportunities are worth the money and time I’ll spend.</p>
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<p>Just curious, but which period in the past, as opposed to today’s sad and pathetic reality, was it in that you could basically do whatever you felt like doing and still earn money to make a decent living? I guess I’m having trouble with the concept that one should do exactly what one enjoys doing and somehow be well-paid to do so, or else our society has skewed priorities. Seems extremely selfish. I somehow doubt you’ll be looking upon all the corporate drones with such contempt soon when you have to start paying the bills or facing the consequences.</p>
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<p>Who says that there are bills that need to be paid? I intend never to buy a home, never to make extravagant purchases, never to allow money to bind me to a location and take away my freedom. I will always look at corporate drones with complete contempt.</p>
<p>There are <em>always</em> bills to pay unless you’re homeless and even then there’s always something to pay, otherwise they wouldn’t be begging for money. You have to pay for food, clothing, shelter, etc. Basic needs. Even if you don’t own a home, you’ll end up needing to pay for a place to stay unless you plan on sleeping on park benches. And while it’s true if you lived like a nomad the amount of bills you’d have to pay would be considerably less than home owners, if you aren’t making money, you will end up taking a job you hate. If the “do what you like” approach to a career isn’t paying that week, then maybe you’ll get a job at 7-11 or Burger King for a while. You have to make money to live it seems</p>
<p>I’m doing it so I can have a career that consists primarily of learning. (Yay for academic/research careers!)</p>
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<p>I could just camp out in Yellowstone. There’s a surfer dude who publishes mathematics papers while travelling from beach to beach.</p>
<p>I’m going to be a professor hopefully, but work as a high school teacher as I put myself through graduate school.</p>
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<p>I wrote that statement without thinking rationally. You’re right, I won’t be looking at corporate clones with contempt since one day I’ll be one; I’m not talented enough to go into writing, so I have decided to give up on a pipe dream and take my place in a white collared shirt.</p>
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<p>In answer to that, I am going because after leaving school at 14 due to medical reasons, I was smart enough to get well paying jobs, and got my Nursing assistant license and GED at 16 and could very well have lived off that (though not as well as I had with my parents) I just felt unfulfilled. I love learning, and the part I felt unfulfilled on was not that I missed out on the whole social aspects of high school, I actually easily make friends with much older people due to my experiences in life and them making me be an adult very early, and I like it that way.</p>
<p>I attend college for personal fulfillment, it makes me feel good in my life, and makes me feel much more productive than working everyday full time did. I love it and it makes me happy. Since re starting my uphill battle to begin school again despite serious medical issues, I took a couple classes part time at my local college, and went on to full time non degree student, and now I’m a full time degree student getting her Associates this semester and moving on to a university in the fall for a bachelors in psych and pre-pharm education. I love school so much I am solid and happy in my choice of a career, picked because of my experience working in the pharmacy, and even the 6 years of school after my bachelors degree can’t deture me.</p>
<p>Only having my right to a basic education taken away after middle school allowed me to appreciate learning enough to see myself doing it for as long as possible, or as long as I find it fulfilling in my life. For me, college is great for my soul!</p>