<p>
</p>
<p>In response to this and the rest of your post, I don’t have a problem with authority, it is arbitrary authority that phases me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That might be a good thing, since those specific jobs might be just the jobs I would end up disliking. Leaving college could be the best thing to do for me-and trying to find a job that isn’t “safe” and doesn’t require credentials, something that is more fluid and dynamic.</p>
<p>You don’t need your college degree, and I don’t even recommend you get it now. Look for something you like to do, can do and work your way to a point where if you find a degree or just extra courses useful, you can then take them. Maybe you’ll never come to that point.</p>
<p>I’ve told a lot of college grads to take directed skill courses at community colleges. Certificate type programs just to get a job. That 's really what is needed these days to get one’s foot in the door. But the one with the degree rarely stays at that ground level in those positions. When some adminisitrative, managerial job at a place opens after they are there for a bit, they can snag it. They have the credentials as well as the specific skill and the experience. That’s when it can hurt not having that degree, when you are passed over for those opportunities that do prefer or require a bachelor’s.</p>
<p>Maybe leaving college is a blessing in disguise then, since I don’t want a managerial or administrative role. Unless after experiencing more of the real world all of a sudden I become very cynical and desperate and change my mind, administrative and managerial jobs aren’t appealing to me.</p>
<p>Do you know off the top of your head high-paying jobs that need a lot of creative thinking? I was thinking marketing or real estate or something in hospitality.</p>
<p>Yes, there are good jobs and careers that you can do without a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>However, they generally require some sort of education and training beyond what a high school education includes, whether it is some type of school, apprenticeship, or self-education.</p>
<p>For example, to become a real estate agent, you need to either go to school for or self-educate the material in the real estate license exam. It also involves some level of sales skills, which are often self-educated by the top salespeople (of any type of good or service), but which others find hard to learn.</p>
<p>There is a lot out there where you do not need a degree. If you don’t want to go to college, give it a break. Maybe you’ll find something that’ll take off and you saved yourself the misery of going to college. Or you may do very well, and still want to go back with a more focused purpose. </p>
<p>All I am saying is that there are options that are lost without that degree. But they may be options you don’t want anyway.</p>
<p>loserman- your immaturity is showing. You are blaming the world for not making your life. You do not understand the value of any education- it is always what you make of it. College is much more than the grades received on any tests. There is no test that covers all that is taught or learned. Part of growing up includes accepting responsibility for yourself. This means not expecting the world to entertain you and spoonfeed you. You do not have the knowledge/expertise or life experience to know what is relevant in any class. Also- there is learning for the sake of learning- material/ideas which have no meaning outside of existing. The world will never conform to what you want it to be- you need to adapt to it to survive/succeed. All of the questions will never move you forward if you do not listen to any answers given. So many wise words have gone completely past you.</p>
<p>On a practical note. Having or not having a college degree is not what makes a person happy or successful. That is determined by what the person does with themselves. Philosophizing instead of tackling self issues sounds grand but does nothing. Be practical. You are not receptive to a college education at this time. You need to support yourself. Therefore you need to inventory your job skills and interests. You then need to match them to a job. Later you will have more skills- just from proving you can show up to work every day- and can find something more interesting to you. The day may come when you choose to return to a classroom or decide the work involved isn’t worth it to you.</p>
<p>Whatever you do in life realize that attitude counts for a lot. You can look for the good or bad in anything. You will do better if you look at the positive side of things instead of wasting time over the world’s- and your life’s- imperfections.</p>
<p>PS- most of live a mundane existance, regardless of our education or job. The exciting/novel becomes mundane with repetition.</p>
<p>Loserman, you will always be subordinate to someone. Always. And, quite often, it’s arbitrary subordination, as you call it. Get used to it or get over it, your choice.</p>
<p>If you really insist on quitting school, then go ahead. But you may just be trading one type of malcontent for another. The grass is rarely greener when you have fewer choices and less money.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>The answer to your question about the differences between having a degree or not can be found in this article. There’s a great divide between those who have a college education and those who don’t. Please read the article and figure out what makes sense for you:
</a></p>
<p>
Previous posters have mentioned Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as people who succeed without college. And yes, they did. But they never once asked “So what can I do without a degree to make a lot of money?” They had a passion for what they were doing and did it without much concern about the money they’d make.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a particular skill, and aren’t interested in a particular field, you’re going to have a tough time. Use some of your “creativity” to find something that you love to do, and do it.</p>
<p>@wis75: There’s being positive then there’s being realistic. And there are a lot of positive things I would like to talk to you about. Education isn’t one of them, but at least I have gotten that out of the way and know education isn’t a part of my future. Good to know it won’t make or break me or decide whether I will be fulfilled in life. I am very responsible, now so more than ever. Instead of being dependent on the system and riding the conveyor belt of life, I’m finally waking up to make my own decisions. You can call my discontent selfishness, laziness, or incompetence, but if you do you need to first make sure you’re not arguing for the sake of arguing and get your ego out of the way and then we can start to have an adult conversation about the flaws in the higher educational system.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s fine. I’ll take the risk of being unemployed than having my most marketable trait be subordination. And you’re right, I’ll have to examine my strengths to find my path.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help. LOSERMAN peace out homies.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You are unlikely to go very far without education[1]. If you do not wish to do it within the existing educational systems, then you must self-educate to do something that people will buy from you to earn your living. With many occupations gated by licensing or other requirements that depend on some sort of formal education, you are more likely to need to do something entrepreneurial. Easier to say than do…</p>
<p>[1] In this context, not limited to university education, but including all types of education including vocational education and apprenticeships for skilled trades, police and fire academy, job training in military service, etc…</p>
<p>You are not quoting me. </p>
<p>You need to work to feed and shelter yourself- society is unwilling to care for your needs forever. Working the food service scrape room wasn’t my idea of a fun job, but it was the entry level for Res Halls back when- but it helped pay bills. A friend had the value of a college education reenforced when she worked in a plastics factory one summer- made P Chem much more palatable…</p>
<p>My best advice is to stop posting on message boards and start seriously looking for job. After a couple of months you will have the answers to your own questions - good, bad or otherwise. </p>
<p>What is acceptable for one person won’t be for another, so the only way to find out is to discover on your own.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I guess the OP changed his mind about “replying”.</p>
<p>Anyway…not having a college degree does not necessarily translate into a “mundane existance”…and having a college degree doesn’t prevent a “mundane existance”.</p>
<p>I am one of four daughters and the only one with a college degree. My sisters are fabulous, have wonderful careers, and have worked very hard to accomplish what they have done. They have great families and friends…and very full lives. They are anything BUT mundane.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to say education in the general form, I meant structured formal education. </p>
<p>I could on one hand feel like I am lazy or not smart since I dropped out but history is on my side when most of the great thinkers were auto-dictacts. Most formal education conflicts with my personality, whether it’s because I am anti-establishment or not, I am not sure why, but that is not my ideal learning environment and after 15 years of it I have a lot of criticism and hatred toward the system. On the other hand, I somewhat understand the cliche that [the average person] will never have any success or never get anywhere without a formal education. But for me it is really a spiritual thing I am doing…it just isn’t in me to continue college, it’s more like I wasn’t born to sit in a classroom than anything. There’s a fear I won’t get a safe decent paying job, but my decision that I made when I withdrew was based on pre-calculated thoughts- the main two being that I’d be much more “spiritually” and emotionally happy if I did drop out since I was far from satisfied then and far from satisfied before then, and two that even if I did drop out, I could find some form of work that wouldn’t be absolutely mundane, torturous, and menial. I think one of the keys to the second part was that, subconsciously, I knew that even though it would be safer to get a degree and get a safe desk job with benefits, there is ALWAYS a market if a person has talent and ambition, and in the back of my mind I made that calculation. So I think the point of this post was more or less for me to assess whether my prediction was correct and to my current knowledge I was, even with all of the discouraging cliches being thrown around saying to stay in college.</p>
<p>“…you need to first make sure you’re not arguing for the sake of arguing and get your ego out of the way and then we can start to have an adult conversation about the flaws in the higher educational system.”</p>
<p>Your lack of self-awareness has allowed you to sum up the situation pretty well.</p>
<p>Why don’t you get a job & advance in it, then post and let us know how you’re doing and whether education has any place in your future. I know people who are excellent in many respects but are closed from many opportunities without a credential or degree, while others go on to lead perfectly satisfying lives w/o degrees.</p>
<p>One book you may wish to read is “Nickel and Dimed: not making it in America,” about a reporter who went around the country getting what jobs she could and the insights she gained from the various jobs she held. I skimmed it at the bookstore.</p>
<p>Agree with above post. As we say, quityurb*tchin and go get a job. Then come back later and report back. Or better yet, start your own business- like computer repair or something. You can make a lot at that if you are good at it.</p>
<p>You can choose to live without a lot of expenses for now, and even into your thirties. Once you have a family, things can get tough, but as an unencumbered young adult, you can share housing in the city or country, be thrifty, and get by without a lot of funds. You have plenty of time to try to make things work out.</p>
<p>There are educational options that you might like better than traditional college. Look at low residency programs like Goddard or Union Institute, or online programs, for instance. Look at schools like Hampshire or Bennington, where the curriculum is more self-directed, grades are not an issue, and much of the work is independent.</p>
<p>Look at trade schools, community colleges, apprentice programs, and the like. You can start off as a vet tech., a physical therapy assistant, or a computer technician, with just a few courses at CC. There are also schools like North Bennett Street School in Boston, that teach crafts like furniture building or book binding or jewelry making.</p>
<p>You can get a basic job now, and explore interests. The hard thing for someone who is young is keeping that long-term perspective and not feeling trapped in that cafeteria job. As you mature, things will get better, degree or no degree.</p>
<p>Also, and this is not meant unkindly, try not to judge others so much. It is okay to make the choices you are making, and you do not need to defend them by criticizing others.</p>
<p>Like you, I have trouble being in formal education, and freedom is important to me. In my life, and I am almost 60 now, I have had to take responsibility for those qualities, and while I have suffered the consequences, it is also true that,over time, I have learned to reap the benefits, particularly in terms of being an entrepreneur and initiator.</p>
<p>I haven’t read all of this thread, so what I am going to say has probably already been said:</p>
<p>Go find a job and get some experience. If you don’t like what you find, go back to school. If you are satisfied, or happy, with what you find, and it appears that your future options are satisfactory for you, then don’t go back for a degree. It is that simple; that is the beauty of the American system.</p>