People who didn't go to college-Your thoughts? (health care, Walmart, Las Vegas)
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I have worked fast food. Mastered that in about a week...as a 15 year old. Cash, prep, cooking, doing all three at the same time sometimes, etc. Gimme a break about 'Oh, it's such a tough environment!'
I have dug ditches through mountain rock with a spade and iron bar, and I've done construction work at high altitudes...and I'm a woman. Please spare me how 'hard' that job is...manual labor is physically demanding, but you can turn your mind off quickly and it does not require much discipline.
I've worked at an auto dealership in the body shop. I've done paperwork in a cubicle, entering data and making phone calls. I've done door-to-door sales.
NONE of these jobs was nearly as challenging, both mentally and physically, than my college and medical school education. Not even close. The amount of discipline and competition is another level entirely. The level of responsibility at a post-graduate level is something most people can't comprehend.
So please spare me the "manual labor is way more tough and challenging than breezing through school." B.S. There's a reason high school kids get a lot of those jobs. There's a reason illegal immigrants who can barely string together a sentence in their own language get these jobs.
On another note, I've spent a bit of time with mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and master builders. There is a striking difference in those who go through the motions and those who have created a master craft...it's amazing the intuition, skill, and innovative thought processes that emerge. Those people who pass up great trades like these and bemoan their inability to go to college (and blame that for all their current career woes) are completely ignorant.
Another ignorant comment goes something along the lines of "People who have education lack common sense." Really? Really? That's why so many educated people do so much better both socially and economically throughout their lives? People who make comments like that have met the few idiots that populate any demographic and use it as a balm to make themselves feel better about what they've missed out on. Gimme a break already.
The days of college being the key to a decent job are long gone.
Kids now have few real choices: learning a trade that cannot be sent overseas, like fixing boat or car engines, or starting a business (very risky nowadays).
Or moving overseas to a country with a rising Middle Class and growing economy, of course, which is what I'd do if I were young now.
College is a dead end for a lot of people too. If you know how to make or fix things, you can become a carpenter, a plumber, an auto mechanic, etc., and make just as much if not more money than the average college graduate.
College is a dead end for a lot of people too. If you know how to make or fix things, you can become a carpenter, a plumber, an auto mechanic, etc., and make just as much if not more money than the average college graduate.
Exactly. You can't go to college and go through the motions and then come out and say, "Ok, gimme my good job now!" It's a tool. It's a means to an end. It can also be a giant waste of time if you don't know why you are there or what you're pursuing. It's not supposed to be some post-high school babysitting program.
Anything you have a passion for and work your arse off for (be it a career that requires a college education or not) will be what pays off for you in the end. Passion, commitment, strategy, hard work, and common sense...no matter where you start, you will almost always wind up a success.
It can also be a giant waste of time if you don't know why you are there or what you're pursuing. It's not supposed to be some post-high school babysitting program.
Well said!
Quote:
Anything you have a passion for and work your arse off for (be it a career that requires a college education or not) will be what pays off for you in the end. Passion, commitment, strategy, hard work, and common sense...no matter where you start, you will almost always wind up a success...
Well, well, here is where the fairy tale starts...As someone who spent years living in other countries, I find this legend stronger in America then anywhere else on the globe.
Well, well, here is where the fairy tale starts...As someone who spent years living in other countries, I find this legend stronger in America then anywhere else on the globe.
I did say 'almost' and you'd have to define 'success.'
I think if you do good work, you make what you consider a decent living, and you are happy with the service you provide to your community, you're a success.
I've lived overseas, too...I think a lot of people have the same dream. Then again, some people only dream of getting food on their table. In this country, most people have gotten past that stage in the triangle of needs and have moved on to personal fulfillment.
I just wrote a check for several thousand dollars to a young fellow who probably did not finish high school to do some sheetrock and tile work in my Texas farm house. I have a good education yet that advanced education did not give me the knowledge and confidence to do this particular construction work. Now if the sheetrock fellow ever has the need to identify to genus and species the rodents in his garage, I suppose I will be in the position to have him write me a small check. As Willie Nelson sings, "To Each His Own."
It depends really. College isn't for everyone. Some colleges offer more debt than anything only to get you a job that pays you what you would have gotten out of high school with the right skill training. I don't think more or less of a person for not going to college. Heck, my degree has nothing to do with my job, and if anything just shows the interviewer that I can learn. Success requires hard work, but after getting in the real world, I think it's more based on luck and who you know anyways.
Last edited by LetMePost; 11-28-2010 at 12:10 AM..
People who did not go to college make good Tea Party members Well, I have a degree in Economics and studying Economics had a significant impact on who I am today, and it also helped me develop my analytical skills, I would say my degree is worth millions of dollars and I definitely recommend going to college, education is a powerful thing!
College or university is not the only place to get an education.
I earned a good liiving while learning my trade. Best money I never spent.
Let me straighten you up on a few things. Many people do not have the academic aptitude to go to college. And you are in luck because I am one such person. I just lectured someone yesterday concerning his going to college. I told the person that he could do so much more with his academic abilities. I said to him that he never had any trouble scholastically going to college whereas I never could have dreamed to do much beyond high school.
I was lecturing him because I'm the guy who seems to have a measure of determination and willpower, not him. But yet I wasn't the one who had a chance at a college education.
If you want to take your analysis a bit more, you could say that these days us non-college guys have fewer chances at things like auto or steel manufacturing. We can't even get jobs for $11 an hour as landscapers because illegal immigrants are doing those jobs for $7.50. Hence, many of us are working at McDonalds for $8. But the answer was not, and never could be college.
I think college shouldn't be the only salary with dignity. College education is great, don't get me wrong I've got a few degrees that more than a little came in handy but it didn't solve everything.
I think talents that aren't formally recognized are the problem in this hack paradigm business climate. Look around and ask yourself what exactly gets rewarded in America today. It's pretty ugly. That same trend is even creeping over hallowed ground of military like mossy slime.
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Well, I have a degree in Economics and studying Economics had a significant impact on who I am today, and it also helped me develop my analytical skills, I would say my degree is worth millions of dollars and I definitely recommend going to college, education is a powerful thing!
