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I used to hear that ALL THE TIME when I accepted a scholarship to a university in 1977. At the time, some of my high school graduate friends were making $35k turning bolts at the local GM plant.
However, ten years later, I was well established in my field making good money. My friends were dealing with GM's decision to close the Norwood, OH Fisher Body plant.
In fairness, I have friends who are running plumbing businesses they started that make more than a lot of my CPA buddies. It is more of what value you create than your education background.
Certainly, I know a lot of folks who make more money than I do in all types of careers or business enterprises. But I wouldn't want to be doing what a lot of them are doing for a living. And again I've never had anyone tell me I shouldn't have gone to school and should have gone into a trade or something else.
I don't have people iRL giving me flack about getting a degree, but I do have people IRL giving me flack about going back to school at my age. Way too many people telling me that a degree at my age (45) is kinda useless.
I graduated with an Accounting degree, and actually spent more time in school to accumulate the credit hours/coursework required to qualify for the Uniform CPA exam. My degree and qualification has afforded me a decent standard of living, a nice salary, great benefits, and an exciting job. Yet, I still run into people who say "Why waste your time in college? Some people make more without a degree." I agree that you may be able to make more money without a degree, but it seems that most I know who chose post-secondary education aspired more than to just make money...some of us dreamed of engaging in specific occupations.
I went to a catholic prep high school...most of my peers wanted to go into careers in medicine, law, business, aviation, natural sciences, the arts, etc. If someone told us "but you might be able to make more money running a plumbing company", we would have probably agreed, but it wasn't what most of us wanted to do with our lives. There is absolutely nothing wrong with running a plumbing company, mind you...it's a valuable and necessary occupation. But I would hope that only those who want to spend the rest of their lives doing that particular thing would enter into it.
This is what bugs me about the criticism of post-secondary education. Of course there are no guarantees. However, for those of us who wanted to enter into a particular profession or occupation, it is often required. While I also agree that it is insane to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with no prospect of a financial return, it certainly can be done in a smart way.
Is anyone else tired of the criticism?
Sounds as if you hang out with knuckle-dragging halfwits. I'd seriously rethink my circle of friends.
For some reason I thought the OP was talking about real people. When I realized the OP was talking about "random internet people" I gave up on this thread.
Aren't the members of this board real people? Also, I have heard it from real people.
Aren't the members of this board real people? Also, I have heard it from real people.
People on the internet will write things that they would never say in day to day social situations. So no I don't consider people on message boards real people. I consider them caricatures of real people.
I find City Data to be enormously useful but I take everything people write with a grain of salt.
I graduated with an Accounting degree, and actually spent more time in school to accumulate the credit hours/coursework required to qualify for the Uniform CPA exam. My degree and qualification has afforded me a decent standard of living, a nice salary, great benefits, and an exciting job. Yet, I still run into people who say "Why waste your time in college? Some people make more without a degree." I agree that you may be able to make more money without a degree, but it seems that most I know who chose post-secondary education aspired more than to just make money...some of us dreamed of engaging in specific occupations.
I went to a catholic prep high school...most of my peers wanted to go into careers in medicine, law, business, aviation, natural sciences, the arts, etc. If someone told us "but you might be able to make more money running a plumbing company", we would have probably agreed, but it wasn't what most of us wanted to do with our lives. There is absolutely nothing wrong with running a plumbing company, mind you...it's a valuable and necessary occupation. But I would hope that only those who want to spend the rest of their lives doing that particular thing would enter into it.
This is what bugs me about the criticism of post-secondary education. Of course there are no guarantees. However, for those of us who wanted to enter into a particular profession or occupation, it is often required. While I also agree that it is insane to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with no prospect of a financial return, it certainly can be done in a smart way.
Is anyone else tired of the criticism?
I grew up among a lot of depression era babies and used to hear this alot - is it coming from folks for an older generation? Those were different times back then, not as many people went to college and many went on to get a trade??
People on the internet will write things that they would never say in day to day social situations. So no I don't consider people on message boards real people. I consider them caricatures of real people.
I find City Data to be enormously useful but I take everything people write with a grain of salt.
Actually, I would think the people on the internet are being more real then in person, because they can hide behind the screen and say whatever they want. Unfortunately, many do not understand that you can be tracked via your IP address, and that it is truly "a small world" afterall...
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