Where is my book of answers?
December 19, 2014
“What do you mean you’re not going to college?!”
“You have to! It’s your future!”
My question is, do I absolutely have to go to college?
For some maybe, but is college really for everybody? You grow up thinking you just absolutely have to go. Stanford, Yale, Juilliard… we all had dreams. But is a community college worth the thousand dollars of debt you’ll be in after graduation day?
If I want to be a brain surgeon or a mathematician, yeah, college has to happen. But if I want to do free lance writing and photography for the rest of my life, do I need a fancy degree so I can be in debt up to my neck for the rest of my life?
As for those big dreams that we all had as a kid, anything from astronauts to brain surgeons, is that really what’s going to happen in two years when the junior class graduates? Or even the seniors now, are you going for that big shot, pent house, office job? Or are you settling?
Now, I’m not saying you should settle for anything, but are your extravagant dreams of being a multi-millionaire going to work out for you? Or are you going to graduate and take classes while you work, eventually find a spouse, and have office jobs while you build a family and own a decent house, because that sounds like reality for most of us.
Can we have a normal life without feeling like we’re letting ourselves down? Or do we have to follow the trend of going to college, getting a nice fancy car, and having the cookie cutter life that generations before have invented?
What if I go to college for two years, spend thousands of dollars on college and then I decide I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life? I have then instead just wasted my life savings and I’m in debt.
But how do we avoid that? Nobody has answers for us.
If I don’t go to college, I will be debt free. I can travel and educate my self. I can learn life lessons that I need to know instead of the things I learned in high school photography classes. I will be able to make a name for myself with my writing and photography business I want to own someday.
Now don’t get me wrong, a degree would help with getting a job at The New York Times or Huffington Post, but for my dream of life is college the right decision for me? Or can I just have a freelance job where I can raise kids and set my schedule around theirs and my husbands? Because that sounds good enough to me.
Joseph Toubes • Dec 19, 2014 at 1:21 PM
College isn’t for everyone. Although I have two degrees, I have found out over the years, not everyone belongs in college.
I mean, going to college involves a huge commitment of money, time, giving up a social life and hard, hard study. Many students who go to college with the concept that it is party time, away from the sharp eyes of their parents and to let loose and run wild with the visions that some company will hire them away to a million dollar job, soon find out the truth, it ain’t that way, kiddo.
Going to college involves being prepared, lookie if a student has low grades in high school, they won’t make it in college. Professors are not like high school teachers. Many are of the opinion that you are there and you have all the skills to begin to learn their classes. No late work or extra credit to pull you through . You are on your own.
I taught at Drake University Qualitative Analysis. Class met on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Lab was Tuesday and Thursday . We took attendance in Lecture, a class of 200 students, Dr. Joe Woods taught that, I took attendance for him, I taught the lab as I said. The lab was 50 % of the final course grade. I had mostly pre-med and pharmacy students. Those who were prepared and did what was needed did fine, others who missed classes for whatever reason or those who were in college to “find themselves” were few and flunked out.
What to be is the biggest thing. Most students have a good idea what they want to do when they head off. That isn’t to say that they don’t change their mind and change majors after a couple of years. We know students who have come from North and gone to Iowa State to major in engineering and then have the decision of what branch of engineering . Where you go
My recommendation is to take off two years before going to college. Get a job that you can work 40 hours a week at. Something you’ll be able to survive with. During that time save 25% of the money you earn for your college account or whatever.. Get a real feel what it is like and then make a choice of what you want to do with the rest of your life, talk to people and then if you are ready, go to college. You will find yourself invigorated ready to take on whatever comes your way, because you worked first, partied and studied .
Let me leave you with the Dr. Seuss poem “Oh the places you’ll go”
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
by
Dr. Seuss
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D20mMbEB0OhA&ei=i_izVNXUPIj5yQSGt4DQBw&usg=AFQjCNH6FEHh9BRTVtTYRQucj7Fnau-5Ow&bvm=bv.83339334,d.aWw