This Is Why I’m Not Going Back To College (And Neither Should You)

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Your degree is worthless.  Trees have better things to be turned into than to give you a pat on the back.  That’s what college degrees have turned into.  It has been decreed that the only way to have a rewarding life is to get a degree and that is what allows you to have a good job.  Now, though, there are so many degrees out there that we’re swimming in Bachelors degrees and they cost more to get than they’re worth.  That’s right, your degree has the cost benefit ratio of a penny at best. Well, I’m done. This Is Why I’m Not Going Back To College (And Neither Should You).

sad pig because education costs so darn much

This Is Why I’m Not Going Back To College (And Neither Should You)

Oh I can hear you now, But you can’t just go do things you don’t know how to do! That would be ridiculous! Aha! Kind of a narrow-minded thing to say, don’t you think? Yes, if you get a job, you need to learn how to do said job, but there are a whole lot of jobs that require degrees for no reason. Seriously, does an administrative assistant really need a degree? If he or she wants it, fine, but that’s a whole lot of debt they are strapping into, and chances are it’ll never be paid back for the pay that person will make.

Plus, there’s this thing called YouTube. Maybe you’ve heard of it? You can find lectures from almost every college imaginable right online. Want to learn what one of the philosophy professors at Harvard teaches? You can watch a video. Want to study science or mathematics taught by someone at MIT, it’s online. There are also places like Codecademy and Khan Academy. Go to Duolingo if you want to habla español or even esparanza. You can learn how to sew or do computer repairs on YouTube. You can talk with people of any profession and learn from them how to do what they do.  If you think you can’t find something, you probably just haven’t looked hard enough.

The only reason college is necessary is to get a piece of paper that tells other people you’re willing to put up with a load of crap. That’s what gets you in the door and into a cubicle. They just want to know that you can conform to a set of rules laid out to make sure that you stay in line while you put up with their brand of bullshit.  You know what else teaches you how to put up with crap and show that you can conform to rules?  Food and customer service jobs.  They also teach you to be a better human being to others no matter how stupid they are. There’s nothing in this world that says you need to have that piece of paper except for us. If you get a job that requires knowledge that they can’t afford to teach you when you get there, they’ll ask for a portfolio or some other evidence to show work you’ve already done. Many places require a degree and experience anyway, so why not just skip to experience?

So really, the only reason to get a college degree is that we’ve put a false sense  of matter into it. Sure, there are some jobs that still need a degree…teachers, doctors, attorneys – well, maybe not attorneys, but other than a very small number of exceptions, we really learn everything we need on the job.

Forget the idea of professions, even. Find a different way. Go out and find things you can do. Things that you want to do. Don’t tether yourself to this idea that working at a single place all day for forty hours a week for the rest of your life is the only way to live. Instead, maybe work several smaller jobs. Save time for your passions. Save time for your family, or what you want to learn, or hobbies you want to master. A degree will cost money that you’ll inevitably have to pay back, so instead of going into debt, why not start life  number of smaller streams of revenue that only take you five to ten hours a week to do and do several of them. Oh, and stop telling people they need to drown in debt for the life their parents lived. It’s time to decide who YOU are and live the life you WANT – No Degree Required.

why you shouldn't go back to college

EDITOR’S NOTE::

I loved college. I loved studying, and socializing, and spending time figuring out who I wanted to be once I graduated. What I didn’t love, and what I most agree with about this post, was the cost of education. We tell students they have to go into lifelong debt for the sake of every job, and I don’t believe in that. If ever we come to a point as a country where college education is provided for all at a reasonable cost, I absolutely believe it can be the thing that helps many young people transition from being children to adults.

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One Comment

  1. “Higher education is a sick callus of modern society. Choosing a university in which a person is going to learn, he determines his fate, at least for five years, and perhaps for life. But more often people still focus on their mental abilities and think only about how to act, disaccustom and get a diploma. And it doesnt matter that the whole process of so-called learning is more like a fiction.
    For some reason, we believe that with higher education , we immediately have great job. But is there any guarantees? here is no guarantee that you will be accepted with pleasure. And what are the chances of getting settled somewhere without education? Even less. That is why so called homework doer are very popular today I want to say that education and employment are two different processes. Yes, one depends partly on the other, but it is important to understand that getting an education does not mean getting a job. As in the case of education, and without it, in order to find a good place, you need to work hard, make efforts.