I am curious what book set off the nihilism. “Notes from the Underground”?
Some of us suffered some nihilism in the late 60’s out of despair for what was happening around us. This is serious business. I can say from decades of experience that at your age, you can make a mistake and get off on a tangent that you may regret-meaning willfully refusing to see value in education and skipping out.
That said, there are kids- and one of mine is like this-who don’t fit the box and find another way. She may take 10 years to finish in a “degree completion” program started at age 23, but has accumulated work habits and skills that enable her to work at a decent wage. It wasn’t easy and there were a lot of bumps. I admire her.
If you are depressed, or have trouble focusing, see someone and get help. Seriously, that is the best darn way to avoid going off on the aforementioned tangent.
Often we react to books in very personal ways. Books can have significant effects on our lives. That is why educated parents in the late 19th century forbade their kids from reading novels- much as some parents now limit screens. Maintain a healthy skepticism with everything you read.
You do not need to go to college right now. In fact, you can drop out of high school and get a GED. You can become an EMT, bartend, learn to fly a plane, work at a department store, train to teach yoga, train at an optometry store, apprentice with a carpenter, work as a nurses’ aide…and later go to school if you want to.
You have many options and life is long and more forgiving than some think.
That quoted post is more disturbing than this latest post. There is absolutely no point in raising a score of 2250-2300. Perhaps the “nihilism” comes from the emptiness of these short term goals.
Agree…this thread does not align with this student’s other threads. If a college education is meaningless, why doesn’t he get a job in either a fast food place, or in retail as a stock boy?
My alma mater offers one-week summer courses for adults. You can live in a dorm and eat in a dining hall if you like (although you can also avoid it and stay in a hotel), and you do have to cope with the huge, hilly campus, but it’s lots of fun and there are no exams. https://www.sce.cornell.edu/cau/on_campus/index.php
Part of what the poster could be missing is that education is more then about learning facts which I agree is often useless. It is also about learning how to analyze, how to approach and solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively and work with others. All of these are critical life skills. College is just one path to learn these skills.
An excellent question and good for you to question rather than just follow the herd. My younger son has been asking me this question since he was in 2nd grade. Now in middle school, he is already sick of school thanks to all the busy work. He is acing his classes easily but like you, thinks he’s not learning anything. Our K-12 schools are not designed for the highly gifted.
College is an expensive endeavor. Unless your parents are rich and don’t mind you wasting a couple of hundred thousand dollars partying for 4 years, or you know what you want out of it(like becoming a doctor or lawyer), consider taking a gap year after high school, work/travel, then maybe go to college, but only when you are ready(you will know). I know of many people who never went to college who nevertheless went on to successful careers in corporate America. Some people learn by reading/being taught, others learn by doing. If you are one of those hands on people who like to learn by doing (did you like workshop in middle/high school?), then you should really consider a gap year. Take a temp position in a large corporation that does what you might be interested in, IT, finance, design, media, entertainment…anything, be the guy who brings coffee to the guy who brings coffee to the boss, keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities, work hard, be diligent and conscientious, use good manners, and you can become very successful without ever going to college.
In your free time, continue to educate yourself in whatever subject you are interested in by becoming an avid reader - read widely from many sources - on the internet(MOOCs are a great source), books from your local library. Knowledge need not be confined to a classroom. Once you have a basic education, a lot can be self-taught, especially in today’s world with so many free online sources.
I came from a poor, uneducated family, and the OP smacks of entitled navel gazing to me. I didn’t have the time or the resources to wonder what the point of it all was because I was too busy working my *ss off to make a better life for myself.
I just want to grind my teeth in frustration when I see these kinds of posts. Go join the Peace Corps and get a taste of the true misery of the real world for a while.
Even knowing what the term “nihilism” means and being able to discuss it online, is a privilege that many, many people, even in this country, do not have.
OP is a prime candidate for a gap year. Volunteer, get a full-time job, but whatever you do, do it without living at home with your parents. Look at Americorps for volunteer options…
You could use some time on your own, figuring out how to survive, day to day. That’s not meaningless. Or maybe it is…
That’s what college is partly for, btw… helping you figure out if that’s meaningless or not.
I think many of us have been through this idealistic phase in our young adult-hood - i don’t want to discount it - while I think the OP comes off a bit arrogant and know-it-all, I also chalk that up to being young and naive - and there are worse things than being overly idealistic. Better to be reasonably idealistic, though.
Go get a job/volunteer, or both; maybe travel - meet some folks who did not go to college, and never will because they CANNOT due to SES… get away from academics for a bit, then after a year - maybe two - you will have a clearer picture of why people go to college. Then you can decide whether or not it’s the right choice for yourself. Maybe it will be, maybe not.
Go find your place in the world. But make sure it’s not easy, because the answers lie in how you sort out the mundane difficulties of day-to-day living.
And take this time off to help others who don’t have the luxury of pondering life’s questions, because life itself takes up too much of their time…
@GMTplus7. I’m not being disingenious. I read Fathers and Sons this year and just recently started acting like Bazarov, a bit arrogant but whatever. Too everyone who responded, I think I’m just confused about life. And I wanted to know how to stop being confused.
Some days I’m really good at conversation. Other days I’m terrible. Some days I feel great. Other days I feel terrible. Some days I am really efficient. Other days I am so inefficient it makes me worried. It doesn’t help that I think too much in my head-I think I’m INTJ or INFP. Life is just weird.
OP,
" So what’s the point of the grind?..I don’t want to do busy work and boring stuff for the rest of my life. Help! "
A lot of it depends on your personal goal. Also, it depends if you have a goal or not.
What is your goal? If you want to be a janitor, construction worker, a hamburger maker, a hairdresser, many other careers that inspire good number of people, there is not need to attend the college. My employer will not hire a person to my position who do not have a 4 year college degree. This is their official policy. I love my job and I would be out of luck if I did not have a 4 year degree. One cannot attend a Med. School, Law School, other Grad. School without a 4 year college degree. So, I completely agree with you that if you do not see any reason for attending the college, if you feel that it is not within the scope of your goal, do not bother.
All in my family have at least 4 year college degree with several having Masters and PhD. None of us, not a single one were bored at college. Everybody had very meaningful and challenging classes and were excited about learning in these classes. But all of us had a clear goal of what we wanted to do. None of us would be able to achieve our personal goals without college education.
It is very personal question that could be answered only by you. Nobody can tell you if you personally need a college education or not.
“Too everyone who responded, I think I’m just confused about life. And I wanted to know how to stop being confused.”
Although others have made comments in good faith, maybe talking to someone other than internet strangers (eg psychologist, clergy, etc) and laying all your cards on table would be more helpful.
“Too everyone who responded, I think I’m just confused about life. And I wanted to know how to stop being confused.”
it is a very good idea to leave all pre-judgments behind, stop labeling things before having any experience with them and just plunge and try. That is what young age is for. There is no reward at the end of the tunnel,…if one never dare to step into this tunnel of un-known. There is a risk in everything, but the greatest risk of them all is to never take a risk. You may choose something that will not work out for you. I have changed my career in my mid. 30s. If I never tried, how in a world I would know what is right for me and what is wrong? Nobody has a crystal ball. I am sorry to tell you, that you are just like everybody else, you will never have it either. Being confused is part of young life, please, do not stop being confused, it is a tiny step between being confused and being curious and then leap to something that your curiosity inspire you to do, and, yes, possibly, fall very hard on the wrong and hard surface. But think about it, what if you will fly and not fall and you reach that star that you were just curios about… you got to believe that the sky is the only limit you have now, take advantage of all opportunities that is offered to you. Not everybody out there is as lucky. College is what your family is offering to you, why not to take such a wonderful gift ?
My kid was also debating in the HS. She did not have any question about going or not to college. She was not given this choice, everybody went to college in our family, she did not even questioned it. However, she was inspired to attend a med. school later and was questioning if this extremely hard road is for her. I just told her what I told you: " You have your family’s support, you have what it takes, I meant a hard working attitude, so why to pass by such a wonderful opportunity?" If I only knew how incredibly hard it was and how risky to put so much effort and resources and having possibility at the end not to come even close to your dream. Well, good thing that I did not know, none of us did!! D. is a first year resident, the hardest time in her life, very stressful, but extremely satisfied that she is where she belongs.
If you want to be satisfied with your life, there is no other way to get there, but to try, to plunge into un-known, all of us did just that at some point of our lives.
