What do you think of all this college bashing nowadays?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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<p>The point of getting readership is writing something controversial, against the mainstream thinking. Everyone’s pushing their kids to go to college, so you write about the uselessness of higher education. By the time all the news outlets join the outcry against college attendance, I guess we’ll be hearing something like how college is so essential that it’s a crime we don’t make it mandatory?</p>

<p>The trend already seems to be reversing. In today’s paper:
[Even</a> for Cashiers, College Pays Off](<a href=“College Degrees Are Valuable Even for Careers That Don’t Require Them - The New York Times”>College Degrees Are Valuable Even for Careers That Don’t Require Them - The New York Times)</p>

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<p>^^^ Thanks for the article…</p>

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<p>I think the problem is that a lot of these commentators (who really don’t know much about college) are looking at three somewhat disconnected things:

  1. The trend of pushing everyone into college, even those who aren’t prepared.
  2. The rising costs at many colleges.
  3. The decreasing <em>average</em> value of a college education.</p>

<p>The problem is that (1) almost completely causes (2) and (3). Greater demand means prices go up. But it also means that many people who aren’t qualified attend college anyways, and consequently don’t learn much—if you only have a basic grasp of critical thinking, you’re not going to get much out of college.</p>

<p>However, this entire discussion is mostly irrelevant to people on CC, who aim for top colleges. A degree from any of these top universities is just as valuable as it was 50 years ago, and you’ll still learn as much, if not more (since students are even more qualified).</p>

<p>What I absolutely hate is when commentators look at things like the CLA and then castigate people for chasing Ivy. The two are almost totally unrelated: CLA is dragged down by idiots at non-selective institutions, while learning at top colleges is probably increasing. If anything, it’s all the more reason to pursue an excellent university—you won’t be surrounded by a bunch of people with no actual interest in learning.</p>

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<p>COol. Interesting Points all round</p>

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<p>I say that a college education is never something to put down cuz no matter what, you’re gonna need a college education if you want a steady job that will get you a lot of money cuz although people like Bill Gates made it w/o college, they are just lucky success stories because most people dont end up nearly as great as them. Therefore, with college, you can guarantee urself better luck in the workforce.</p>

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<p>

You have a very limited life. Why waste great swathes of it doing things you don’t like?</p>