Comments on: Is College Worth it? http://simplisticthoughts.com/2009/01/22/is-college-worth-it/ Finding Happiness by Living Outside the Norm Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:53:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Nick http://simplisticthoughts.com/2009/01/22/is-college-worth-it/comment-page-1/#comment-1876 Nick Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:53:45 +0000 http://simplisticthoughts.com/?p=808#comment-1876 @ Mark-I think you hit on a key point. That kids are not getting the education they need in K-12, and colleges need to spend the first year or two just getting them to that level. And while we have devalued jobs that require skills, the cost to gain these skills has consistently increased. Parents, schools, and the rest of society push kids into going to college as the automatic choice, without considering if it is the best option for the child. @Stacy- I completely agree that most colleges don't prepare you for college and that most companies don't recognize the work you did outside of school as real experience. I think that with the exception of skill specific jobs, most jobs don't necessarily require a college education. Companies just use it as a method to narrow down the the list of potential employees. @ Mark-I think you hit on a key point. That kids are not getting the education they need in K-12, and colleges need to spend the first year or two just getting them to that level. And while we have devalued jobs that require skills, the cost to gain these skills has consistently increased. Parents, schools, and the rest of society push kids into going to college as the automatic choice, without considering if it is the best option for the child.

@Stacy- I completely agree that most colleges don’t prepare you for college and that most companies don’t recognize the work you did outside of school as real experience. I think that with the exception of skill specific jobs, most jobs don’t necessarily require a college education. Companies just use it as a method to narrow down the the list of potential employees.

]]> By: Stacy http://simplisticthoughts.com/2009/01/22/is-college-worth-it/comment-page-1/#comment-1873 Stacy Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:56:57 +0000 http://simplisticthoughts.com/?p=808#comment-1873 After graduating college and looking for a job, I asked myself the same question. Is college worth it? I thought finding a job would be simple, but I found a lot of companies wanted experience and could almost care less that I had a degree. I have been working since I was 16 years old. I have worked at 4 restaurants, a sporting goods store, and I worked sales for <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/companies/vector-marketing" rel="nofollow"> Vector Marketing</a>. I am a hard worker and have a strong work ethic. I did learn a lot in college, but still don't think I was completely prepared for finding a job after college. It's very true that tuition is being raised year after year but students are not getting improved education. Things need to step up and get better. After graduating college and looking for a job, I asked myself the same question. Is college worth it? I thought finding a job would be simple, but I found a lot of companies wanted experience and could almost care less that I had a degree. I have been working since I was 16 years old. I have worked at 4 restaurants, a sporting goods store, and I worked sales for Vector Marketing. I am a hard worker and have a strong work ethic. I did learn a lot in college, but still don’t think I was completely prepared for finding a job after college. It’s very true that tuition is being raised year after year but students are not getting improved education. Things need to step up and get better.

]]> By: Mark Montgomery http://simplisticthoughts.com/2009/01/22/is-college-worth-it/comment-page-1/#comment-1865 Mark Montgomery Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:01:38 +0000 http://simplisticthoughts.com/?p=808#comment-1865 Excellent post about a topic that too many of us are unwilling to tackle. The mantra in K-12 public education today is that we need more of our kids to go to college. So we push kids who need remedial work to take out massive student loans to get education that should have acquired in our free public school system. We create the illusion that all kids will make a million dollars more over their lifetime if they graduate from college, when the fact is that the statistics used to make that argument are misleading--and when we haven't taught our kids what the word "average" means. Further, we as a society have devalued good jobs that require skills and smarts that are going to be helpful in our 21st century economy. Despite the fact that I make my living helping kids get into college, I wholeheartedly agree with you that we should end this patent and glib assumption that a college education is necessary and right for all Americans to succeed in the new economy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Excellent post about a topic that too many of us are unwilling to tackle. The mantra in K-12 public education today is that we need more of our kids to go to college. So we push kids who need remedial work to take out massive student loans to get education that should have acquired in our free public school system. We create the illusion that all kids will make a million dollars more over their lifetime if they graduate from college, when the fact is that the statistics used to make that argument are misleading–and when we haven’t taught our kids what the word “average” means. Further, we as a society have devalued good jobs that require skills and smarts that are going to be helpful in our 21st century economy.

Despite the fact that I make my living helping kids get into college, I wholeheartedly agree with you that we should end this patent and glib assumption that a college education is necessary and right for all Americans to succeed in the new economy.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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