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I've used my education to improve my life in very basic ways. Did you know how negative and positive ions can make you feel irritable or relaxed? Humidity levels can cause changes in the melatonin production in your body, did you know that? Did you know some people have two sleeps a night instead of just one long sleep? What about taking colloidal minerals because vitamins can't properly be used in by your body without them, did you know that? I've applied a lot of good things to my life I learned from my study of ancient and modern cultures, science, history, health education and more. My education taught me that it's important to keep learning and applying helpful things to my life.
This is just another absurdist round of reactionary anti-intellectualism. Smart people are the enemy. Listen to us. We are not the smart people. Do not become a smart person. Right.
Hate to break your simple bubble but not all students are intellectual material.
Most of the hostility is directed to those who attempt to indoctrinate via their personal views as opposed to actually teach and promote civil discourse and looking at all sides of an issue.
The disgraced professor Ward Churchill and others like him pi$$ed in the intellectual punch bowl when they became indoctrinators as opposed to teachers.
Haven't you witnessed over the many years of what happens when someone with a conservative bent gets invited to speak on a campus? Violence and suppression of speech by rabid progressives.
If not, where have you been?
That ain't intellectual behavior.
Oh, and the sheer number of so-called "hate crime" hoaxes. How did those get a foothold in the institutions of higher learning?
I admire your dedication to self-education. I agree that it is important to be a life long learner and agree that learning doesn't happen just in the classroom. Kudos to you for that!
But, if you've never actually attended college how do you know with certainty that you've received a better education simply by doing research for freelance writing projects than many of your peers received in college?
I went to college, dropped out, worked in an office, had children, traveled, started my own business, volunteered, and am back in college. I'm in it for the degree because I'm ineligible to take on some clients due to a lack of the piece of paper, even though I've been doing this for a decade and can handle the actual jobs. While I'm learning some different material in my courses, I can't say that it's anything more valuable than what I've learned on my own. I enjoy learning and pursue knowledge vigorously on my own, so I don't need ideas spoonfed to me. Others are not as self-motivated and that's fine.
My kids (teens who have been homeschooled except for one year and, in the case of my son, one month of high school) have always been encouraged to follow their own paths. My son has an entrepreneurial spirit and never wants to work for someone else. He's learning coding and has an eBay hobby/business that he uses to pay for travel. My daughter is an artist and wants to go to a very pricey art school for animation. We will see what happens. At this point, neither wants to go to a traditional university and I'm fine with that. There's always time later in life if that's what they want to do.
I get you feel strongly but the reality is even you wouldn’t go to a surgeon who had no formal training right?
How about a divorce lawyer who only read books and watched movies with no formal education?
Someone can be well read in a subject area without a formal education but the fact that you think that is the same thing as a formal education is telling.
I also disagree. Had you said "The best way to become a formally educated person," I wouldn't. I am extremely well educated in several subjects, but I don't have a degree or a background in college. I do, however, enjoy learning and have an extensive collection of books, a library card, and several extremely intelligent and educated friends. I've probably received a better education simply doing research for freelance writing projects than many of my peers received by going to college.
Again, you might be well read in subject areas but that is not the same thing as well educated.
I also disagree. Had you said "The best way to become a formally educated person," I wouldn't. I am extremely well educated in several subjects, but I don't have a degree or a background in college. I do, however, enjoy learning and have an extensive collection of books, a library card, and several extremely intelligent and educated friends. I've probably received a better education simply doing research for freelance writing projects than many of my peers received by going to college.
Again, you might be well read in subject areas but that is not the same thing as well educated.
And to be clear not everyone who graduates from every program is well educated either, but the fact that you think reading and having smart friends makes up for learning how to research, defend, etc. shows one of the things that cannot be learned from books and smart friends alone.
I agree there should be hints. We should have had a National Recommended Reading List decades ago.
90% of everything is crud. - Theodore Sturgeon
Maybe 5,000 of the 55,000 books in PG are worth the time.
So why don't we have such a list after all these decades if we really want to educate everyone? With explanations of why each book qualifies.
I apologize for my typing errors as I am typing on a phone, instead of a computer and forgot my reading glasses. Traveling with students frequently makes me forget my own things trying to remember theirs.
But to be clear typos are mistakes peoplea t all levels of education make. Shall I find some of yours to prove the point?
I agree there should be hints. We should have had a National Recommended Reading List decades ago.
90% of everything is crud. - Theodore Sturgeon
Maybe 5,000 of the 55,000 books in PG are worth the time.
So why don't we have such a list after all these decades if we really want to educate everyone? With explanations of why each book qualifies.
I apologize for my typing errors as I am typing on a phone, instead of a computer and forgot my reading glasses. Traveling with students frequently makes me forget my own things trying to remember theirs.
But to be clear typos are mistakes peoplea t all levels of education make. Shall I find some of yours to prove the point?
As for your supposition, I am sure you think you are qualified to determine what books everyone should have to read but that isn’t how many fields work. Mine for example. Science is constantly changing and a textbook is out of date for decades before the copyright allows it to be distributed for freee and even then books are only really used for undergraduate studies. Published research appears in journals, which are not typically free, and is the major source for the debates, critiques, research and lit reviews vital to being considered educated in the sciences.
I wouldn't expect a plumber to give me a detailed synopsis of the Great Game and how it's still affecting regional security in Central Asia, nor would I expect an expert on Afghani foreign policy to know the code for drain pipe slope. Everyone has expertise outside of their chosen field, but generally not to the level of someone in that field.
Both plumbing and foreign policy can be useful in the right context. Just as there is a tendency among some who are highly educated to discount the importance of or skill required to be successful in the trades, there is a similar backlash from some in the trades to discount the importance, relevance, or difficulty in the liberal arts. Especially those liberal arts outside of science and math.
Again, too bad. Putting people in boxes because of their trade puts you at the disadvantage of missing out on interesting conversations and diverse friend/acquaintances.
Unless you are training for a trade, college is absolutely worth it. For everyone. Jobs that even just a decade or two ago didn't require a degree now require one.
The trick is not to pay too much for it. The only colleges people should be going into debt for are the top top top tier...basically Harvard and the like. If you can't get into those, which 99.9999% won't, then your goal should be paying the least for the most useful degree you can buy.
One thing that causes middle-class families a lot of hardship is this idea we have that you have to "go away to college" to get the full college experience. Hogwash. Living at home is a great way to cut the cost in half.
People should also look into the community college route into a four-year school.
The goal should be to avoid student debt at all costs for undergraduate! Graduate school like law and med school is a different story...some debt for that is ok with the understanding that you are taking on basically a mortgage for a long time.
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