Why do people go to college?

Parents Forum
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<p>Before saying "You have to go to college in order to be successful", stop and think about the real cause and effect here.</p>

<p>It used to be that you go to college for the love of learning and intellectual stimulation. Now it's more aligned to getting a corporate white-collar job. Call me stupid, but you could say that most, if not all, students are in college for the sole reason of getting a job afterward. What baffles me is that this is even the case at the top schools. Professors don't want to teach, and students don't want to learn (but DO want to party).</p>

<p>It seems to me that college has become almost entirely paradoxical. It used to be that the college degree signaled to employers that you are smart or at least were interested in deep, stimulating problems. Then someone decided that everyone should go to college, regardless of whether they were really interested or not, and the college degree "pool" became "diluted". Essentially then, there are a bunch of people in college who aren't interested in being there other than to party and to hang out, and for no reason, because the market has been so diluted with diploma mill degrees that it has become worthless!</p>

<p>So it is like, everyone is scrambling and paying huge amounts of money for nothing! It's like...you see hoards of people playing the lottery and you want to scream at them that they're not going to win! It's like you just want to shake them and tell them to wake up! Stop being stupid, you, stupid head!</p>

<p>Anyway, my theory is...that the ONLY thing that matters today is WHERE you went to school not THAT you went to school. Reason has entirely to do with admission standards. Starting in Kindergarten, people are slowly but surely separated into groups. In elementary school there isn't much separation. Then the honors classes start and then the gifted. Then in high school there is a wide separation into different groups. The only separation that really matters,though, is during college admissions, because SATs and GPA does have a correlation to intelligence and motivation. Or at least a certain standard of capability. You could lock up all those smart students for four years, and they'd be JUST as employable than if they were doing anything else!</p>

<p>Colleges, then, are "pools" of potential employees, and the only reason anyone should go is for the signal that the name of the degree will give to employers. Anyone agree?</p>

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<p>"It used to be that you go to college for the love of learning and intellectual stimulation. "</p>

<p>Um, no … </p>

<p>Try this … “You got something better to do kid?”</p>

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<p>You’re generalizing a lot. In reality there’s a cross section of reasons people have in attending college and people will get out of it what they want - even if they don’t attend the tippy top college with the famous name (or even if they do it’s up to the student to get out of it what they want). Some people will slack, as you indicated and focus on partying and taking the easiest major and easiest courses and minimum they can get away with but some others will challenge themselves, take difficult courses, try to expand their knowledge, etc. - again, even if they don’t attend the tippy top college. </p>

<p>People actually do learn skills at college - not all of the people, but many of them. The skills might be in the areas of critical reading, writing abilities, learning a field like the various engineering disciplines, the sciences, the arts, languages, cultures, and the list goes on and on. </p>

<p>Look at it objectively from all angles and realize again that not everyone’s experience is the same.</p>

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<p>There are as many reasons to go to college now as there were a generation and more ago- many, many reasons. Perhaps the percentages choosing the most common stated reasons has changed but the underlying reasons are the same. There always were, are, and always will be those who go for knowledge, go for jobs and because they don’t know what else to do along with other reasons of all sorts.</p>

<p>Once in college the experience can radically change the reasons for going- usc…'s post touches on that. Forget your theory. You are mixing far too many concepts and trying for a unifying theory that doesn’t exist and just doesn’t make sense from your points or any other data one can provide.</p>

<p>You can’t distill everything down to one single, final answer. Reasons for college is one subject in “everything”. Think multifactorial. Stated reasons, real reasons, subconscience reasons, practical reasons, changing reasons- and so much more. Enough said.</p>

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<p>That is simply incorrect. </p>

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<p>Have you been job hunting lately? There are a whole lot of jobs that require college degrees and the employer doesn’t really care where that degree came from so long as it is accredited. </p>

<p>Think of how few people graduate from the most well known schools. Employers cannot possibly be expected to keep track of the rankings of hundreds of colleges. Plus, the longer you work, the less where you went to school matters. Employers will be far more interested in your work history.</p>

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<p>People go to college because it’s the default choice for what a young person is going to do after high school.</p>

<p>It’s the path of least resistance.</p>

<p>The unusual kids are the ones who make the choice NOT to go to college.</p>

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<p>How far back do we have to go before this statement is true. Not true in the early 70s…sorry to say.</p>

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<p>Definitely not true in the early 70s. I was there.</p>

<p>Love of marijuana, maybe. Or the relative freedom of getting away from your parents. Or the prestige of going to college – especially if your parents and others in their generation did not. Or maybe – though not very often in those years – for the chance of getting a better job.</p>

<p>But love of learning? No.</p>

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<p>Prothero, I for one agree with a lot of what you are saying, and found your post both interesting and articulate. Ironically, some of these changes come from the democratization of education, increased financial aid, and efforts to bring universal access. </p>

<p>In 1969, I was one of the “unusual ones” who chose not to go. I preferred to read on my own, after many years of a high pressure school, where I did well, but got disenchanted. Over time I have done fine, and had some great jobs, but my 20’s were difficult.</p>

<p>I wish there were better options for many of the students who really do not want to be at college, but have no other path provided for them.</p>

<p>While politicians talk about everyone having the “right to go to college,” I think people should have the right not to go!</p>

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Honestly, I attend college because I love learning, as do most of the other people at my college. These places do exist.</p>

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<p>Actually, many of us love learning & enjoyed doing it in the comfort of college, yes, even in the 70s and even today. Some folks go to college for parties or other reasons, but there are many places to do so without the cost and structure of college if partying is the primary focus.</p>

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<p>Actually, the percentage of Americans age 25 to 29 with a bachelor’s degree is around 30%, only slightly higher than it was in the late 1970s (though significantly higher than in 1950, when it was under 10%). However, if you count those who have “some college”, a little over half of Americans have that (though that would include those who took a course or few at the local community college).</p>

<p>The percentage of Americans age 25 to 29 with high school diplomas increased from about 50% in 1950 to about 85% in the late 1970s and has stayed around that since then.</p>

<p>However, most of the better jobs do require some post-high-school education. This need not be university, but could include training and apprenticeships for the skilled trades, police and fire academy, self education, etc…</p>

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<p>I love learning, and still do–but I attended college so that I could get a degree, get a good job, move away from home to a city with pro sports teams, and live comfortably on my own. Did I learn a lot in college? Sure–but I had an agenda.</p>

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<p>Honestly, my main reason for going to college—and the college I currently attend specifically—is to learn. Would it be nice to have a job after I finish with school? Sure, but that’s not my main motivation.</p>

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<p>For many of our state jobs, a bachelor’s is required to be hired; for other state jobs, you need to have an advanced degree (masters or higher). These are not elite jobs–mainly administrative & pay about $40-60K/year plus benefits. This is the pay our state also offers folks with PhDs, which is why morale for many of the state jobs is not high. Even tho the benefits are pretty good, our cost of living is quite high.</p>

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<p>Because when they go in . . . they are 18 . . . . when they come out . . . . they are 22.</p>

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<p>Up until WWII, there were generally three reasons that Americans went to college. The upper class went to elite schools in order to maintain and claim their place in the social class status quo. The agrarian class went to land-grant schools to study agriculture and prepare for trades and professions. And a whole genre of small liberal arts colleges existed largely for the purpose of preparing clergy.</p>

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<p>You’re talking to someone who lived at home and commuted to college for financial reasons. Lots of reasons for my agenda! LOL…</p>

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<p>A job will (hopefully) be the result of my education; it is not my motivation to receive an education.</p>

<p>However, I was simply pointing out that your statement is incorrect: some of us do indeed go to college because we genuinely love learning.</p>

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<p>In some areas, that’s no doubt true. However, as a blanket statement, it is false. In many rural and smaller areas, there are many schools where the default is that formal education has finished.</p>