College Education
By Aeval39
@Aeval39 (773)
United States
November 14, 2006 10:50pm CST
Do you look down on people who do not go to college? Do you think you need to go to college to succeed in today's world and society, and in the US specifically? Do you think people are not as smart if they don't go to college?
I ask because it's very upsetting to see people look down on others who don't go to college as "inferior" and "stupid." My boyfriend went to college for a semester and decided it wasn't for him. He has a great job and is the most intelligent person I've met in a long time. And yet there are still some people who give me disapproving looks when I tell them that he doesn't go to college. I don't let it bother me, but as a whole, what does that say about our society and the way we judge people?
What do you guys think?
4 responses
@bhchy1 (6047)
• United States
15 Nov 06
I don't think college education has anything to do with what a person knows..some life experiences are more valuable than a textbook education...sometimes you have to have walked in another persons shoes to know what they have gone through and help them succeed..For some it's books for others in's their ingenuity.
@illusivegod (98)
• India
15 Nov 06
yes college education is a must its tough for a mediocre to succeed without it, but if you have the talent and you have the guts the world is all yours. you will see examples like Bill Gates and many other most successful man in todays world are college dropouts.(like your boyfriend:) )
@Aeval39 (773)
• United States
15 Nov 06
lol Aw thanks! I'll tell my boyfriend that he's the next Bill Gates. xD You're right, it is a bit difficult to succeed in society today because so many ask for a college degree, but a lot is also how good you are at what you do, and how much experience you have. And I believe that you can learn a lot more through experience.
@cikedo (3483)
• United States
15 Nov 06
I don't look down on those who don't go to college or think of them as being inferior. Sometimes I just wonder why they don't go. Most high paying jobs require something above a high school education. There are so many scholarships out there that not being able to afford college is not really a good excuse for not going.
@Aeval39 (773)
• United States
15 Nov 06
I guess it's more of a... not wanting to do something that is not relevant to you, in order to please others. With the amount of state-wide requirements that you have to take in college now, people like me, who are majoring in English Education, have to take useless subjects like Anthropology and Chemistry. Don't take me wrong, those classes were awesome, but I'm never going to need them again and it's sad to think I'm spending so much money on going through the motions of getting an education. I'm honestly only learning in two of my classes, and one of them is, again, something I'll never use in the future. Some people would argue that college is just something you have to 'go through the motions' of, and the time you spend there could be spent doing something... more productive. And I go to NYU, a univ. that's considered really good. o_O
@rawpoet (2046)
• United States
15 Nov 06
Great topic, Aeval39!
I used to think I needed to go to college to be "somebody" or to make my family proud. At 31 years old I got my GED, and was going to go to business school for all the wrong reasons. One was to make my children proud.
When I was 18, I became a certified nurses aid and was making some excellent money. If I made house calls, I was making 10.50 an hour back then. Now I'm 34 and can imagine what the income could be today. I just can't do it because I have a disability.
I just deleted a whole bunch of writing, but I think you get my idea.
No one should down anyone or make them feel guilty for not going to college. It's not that they're smarter than you. It's just means they learned something new, and spent lots of money doing it.
:-)
@Aeval39 (773)
• United States
15 Nov 06
Exactly! I know just what you mean. My mother's a home attendant, she's making a little under $10 an hour, but it's a hard job. She went to college, but in Russia so it's useless here. You don't need a college education to make something of yourself, or to be proud of yourself!
