Visit from the kids father.

[timvp]

Interesting thread.

My parents followed the "college is a must" mindset and it worked out for me ... but not in the most obvious of manners. I liked high school for the social interaction aspect but I hated actual school work. I gave about as little effort as possible and was basically a teacher's nightmare because I wouldn't pay attention, I'd sleep or I'd get in trouble for being disruptive ... but I'd end up with good grades. Any actual work I'd be doing would be homework that was due for an upcoming class. I've always been good at tests so I'd usually just ace those and then that would be good enough for at least A's and B's in the advanced classes I took.

But I hated (and still hate) classwork. I actually really like learning but doing tedious classwork for the sake of doing classwork never appealed to me. Anyways, yeah, my parents pushed me toward college. With my good enough grades and high standardized test scores, I got a academic scholarship that paid for about 50% of my college.

By that time, I was already making my own money so I paid cash for my own college tuition. But I hated college classwork even more. It was pointless and when you are paying your own money that you worked hard for, you quickly get a good grasp of whether or not college is worth it for you. My time in college came to an end when I had a check of my own money in my hand and realized how much of a waste it was for myself.

Since then, I've used my college experience in that I know I'd never want to go back. That has been enough motivation to succeed in the real world. I haven't had to work for someone else since I was 16 working at Albertson's ... so in that way college was a success for me.

What is interesting to me is my three younger brothers are all built for college. My parents continue to push for college ... but it makes a lot of sense because they are all damn smart, they like school and it'd be a waste if they didn't further their education. My younger brothers make timvp look like ducks posting drunk from a contaminated pond.

But my brothers won't have any of the financial burden I had. I paid for most everything on my own ... they will pay for next to nothing. Oddly enough I think I had the advantage in that aspect because it's almost impossible to value a dollar until you have to spend your own. It seems to me like the people who don't succeed in college or take it for granted are most likely the ones who think it's some sort of God given right and not something that costs actually money.

I do agree that college isn't for everyone, though. Some people just aren't cut out for furthering their eduction. Sometimes a person is ready to enter the business world right out of high school and sometimes a person is more cut out to enter a trade school to get a solid yet unspectacular job.

(Oh and I don't get the sentiment that everyone should go to college because it's the funnest time of your life. Instead of living in a small dorm, being broke and bogged down by school, try living in a nice place and having money while hanging out with people while in college. Not bad at all.

)

The factor I'd look at to determine if someone should go to college is whether or not they like school. Intelligence isn't even close to the number one factor. I know plenty of stupid people who have flourished in college. If you can stay motivated to do classwork, average or even below average intelligence is enough to go as far as the person wishes to go. I know people who have become physicians who I wouldn't even classify as average intelligence.

The worthlessness of a bachelor's degree turned out to be even more than I realized when I saw one of my brothers who graduated from Yale get job offers that weren't much different than those entering the workforce right out of high school. That's just crazy and it reinforces the point that you better at least get your master's if you want to get good value out of your college education. But even that doesn't guarantee anything nowadays.

Bottomline is that simply going to college doesn't promise anything. Having a goal and having the ambition to reach that goal is much more important. College, if done incorrectly, is a money waste of gargantuan proportions.

[PM5K]

Eh, I don't know.

I think I'd almost rather encourage my kids to go to college and have them wind up like TimVP than to not encourage them at all.

[Kamnik]

Interesting thread.

My parents followed the "college is a must" mindset and it worked out for me ... but not in the most obvious of manners. I liked high school for the social interaction aspect but I hated actual school work. I gave about as little effort as possible and was basically a teacher's nightmare because I wouldn't pay attention, I'd sleep or I'd get in trouble for being disruptive ... but I'd end up with good grades. Any actual work I'd be doing would be homework that was due for an upcoming class. I've always been good at tests so I'd usually just ace those and then that would be good enough for at least A's and B's in the advanced classes I took.

But I hated (and still hate) classwork. I actually really like learning but doing tedious classwork for the sake of doing classwork never appealed to me. Anyways, yeah, my parents pushed me toward college. With my good enough grades and high standardized test scores, I got a academic scholarship that paid for about 50% of my college.

By that time, I was already making my own money so I paid cash for my own college tuition. But I hated college classwork even more. It was pointless and when you are paying your own money that you worked hard for, you quickly get a good grasp of whether or not college is worth it for you. My time in college came to an end when I had a check of my own money in my hand and realized how much of a waste it was for myself.

Since then, I've used my college experience in that I know I'd never want to go back. That has been enough motivation to succeed in the real world. I haven't had to work for someone else since I was 16 working at Albertson's ... so in that way college was a success for me.

What is interesting to me is my three younger brothers are all built for college. My parents continue to push for college ... but it makes a lot of sense because they are all damn smart, they like school and it'd be a waste if they didn't further their education. My younger brothers make timvp look like ducks posting drunk from a contaminated pond.

But my brothers won't have any of the financial burden I had. I paid for most everything on my own ... they will pay for next to nothing. Oddly enough I think I had the advantage in that aspect because it's almost impossible to value a dollar until you have to spend your own. It seems to me like the people who don't succeed in college or take it for granted are most likely the ones who think it's some sort of God given right and not something that costs actually money.

I do agree that college isn't for everyone, though. Some people just aren't cut out for furthering their eduction. Sometimes a person is ready to enter the business world right out of high school and sometimes a person is more cut out to enter a trade school to get a solid yet unspectacular job.

(Oh and I don't get the sentiment that everyone should go to college because it's the funnest time of your life. Instead of living in a small dorm, being broke and bogged down by school, try living in a nice place and having money while hanging out with people while in college. Not bad at all.

)

The factor I'd look at to determine if someone should go to college is whether or not they like school. Intelligence isn't even close to the number one factor. I know plenty of stupid people who have flourished in college. If you can stay motivated to do classwork, average or even below average intelligence is enough to go as far as the person wishes to go. I know people who have become physicians who I wouldn't even classify as average intelligence.

The worthlessness of a bachelor's degree turned out to be even more than I realized when I saw one of my brothers who graduated from Yale get job offers that weren't much different than those entering the workforce right out of high school. That's just crazy and it reinforces the point that you better at least get your master's if you want to get good value out of your college education. But even that doesn't guarantee anything nowadays.

Bottomline is that simply going to college doesn't promise anything. Having a goal and having the ambition to reach that goal is much more important. College, if done incorrectly, is a money waste of gargantuan proportions.

Beautifully written. Our point of view considering education is basically identical.

The only big difference betwen us is I will actually finish college even though i hate all the school work and profesors with noses high in the air. (got to work hard 1 more year and i omver with this ) Sence of duty or something i guess... (towards my parents mostly-not to disapoint them)

[Man Mountain]

If teens aren't pressured to go to college, most will go to the path of least resistance and not work until they reach an age where they realize being broke is not something to aspire to....