Should the United States do away with student loans?

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by shiphead

Absolutely. You mean treat everyone like they have a function in society instead of "oh, they'll figure it out."

My school was more concerned with my next semester classes instead of career development.

That's the issue. Too many think that we need things figured out at 18. We know which college we want we want to do, what we have to major in, what schools are options, which schools are the best option and if we have the grades to do it. I got told time and time again because I doodled roller coaster and flat ride designs on graph paper and played roller coaster tycoon, that being an engineer maybe a good job for me. However the sciences wouldn't help me because while I got math and some science, combine the two and it turns from English into say Latin for me.

My high school wasn't even that inspired to help with college, they just assumed you would go. Most of my graduating class did even if it was community college and only one went into the military. My college at least was a little better but they just assume that you would not fall through the cracks which by doing that, it causes people to do just that.

[krmb]

Originally Posted by smalltownblues

Right, but my point is that you made random, haphazard decisions. You didn't research the teaching market, you didn't think about what to major in, you went to college -- your words -- for a roof over your head.

Shame on me for staying longer than it took to find a job, I guess, but I, too, bought into the idea that going to college would lead to a successful career. I didn't have any idea that the market really was full of qualified educators, and the colleges were just trying to increase admission in programs like Education, so they told us that teachers were needed. I honestly thought the colleges were telling us the truth and only suspected differently after I graduated and spent several months searching for work in my chosen field.