Formal education isnt the end all be all

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I am college educated (BS in Geology) but I think its very unfortunate the stigma that our society puts on people who don't finish formal schooling, be it high school or college. Formal schooling is like a first stepping stone. I am largely self educated in the sciences and only got my degree because it was the only way to find work in a field I love. College today, at least in the US, is also more of a multi billion dollar enterprise than anything else, and puts making a profit far ahead of anything, including student welfare and the usefulness of the courses post school.
There are some for whom formal schooling isn't the right path either. Look at Bill Gates--college drop out and doing fine thanks.

OK, don't get me wrong, if you want to be a brain surgeon, you need to learn that from the best. But I call BS on the stigma usually attached to not finishing formal schooling, and the idea that its the only or best way to learn everything.

I'm a Career and Technical Education teacher. As a chef instructor, I teach Culinary Arts.

I'm familiar with this stigma you mentioned but feel that this is more of an "old school" way of looking at things. The traditional approach to public education has been to prep all students to attend college. The sad reality is that college isn't for anyone and depending upon your interests, college might not even be necessary.

There are many skilled occupations that don't require a college education. Off the type of my head ... welding ... auto mechanics ... carpentry ... dry walling ... plumbing ... electrician etc.

Rainbow union

Yes and in the United States, a lot of college gradates work in restaurants, retail, and sales

Unemployed and underemployed college graduates

Granted college serves a function

Doctors, lawyers and engineers must go to college to get those jobs

Society acts like college is the panacea

I agree. Some college degrees are also considerably overpriced given the cost of four years of tuition.

Business degrees, engineering, education ... yes I get all that ... but philosophy? Art history? Political science? What can you do with these degrees in the real world unless you plan to teach, to curate a museum, or to enter government service or possibly law school?



I don't think it's as much as panacea as it was the perception that a college degree was a guaranteed path to middle class security if not better.

With the global economy being the way it is, more and more manufacturers have relocated overseas where labor costs are just a small fraction of what they are in the United States. The old days have having a job for life have been supplanted with a more mobile work force who often work under short term contracts.

In the dwindling U.S. manufacturing sector, American employees expect a decent wage or salary along with retirement, paid vacation days, and health benefits. How can our labor market compete with Sri Lankans (skilled labor no less) who earn 7,500 rupees or just $47 per month?

Someone told me that he got a Master's degree in Math. Then he worked as a tenured community college instructor

For seventeen years he worked as a Software engineer. At Oracle

He told me his whole department got eliminated. For one year he had to go stock shelves at Trader Joe's

Someone told me that he got a BS in Aerospace engineering. Uc Davis. Ten years later he still lives at home


Someone told me that she got an undergrad degree in civil engineering. Then she moved to United States. She had to be a waiter

Especially after the 2008 recession

Plenty of unemployed and underemployed college graduates

So whatever

Totally affirm that. Technically, I never finish anything. I love to fix things and study for months until I discover it didn't truly entail what I starting learning it for to begin with. I take 100 units of college, only to drop from 4 different schools because I feel like a bunch of horrorifing people pressure me into goals with claustrophobic suffocation, and for reasons beyond me or simply that can't look at the teacher's face because of how ugly they are. I am 44 and had had as many jobs in my life. Therapists don't Do anything but lock you in a room with them and give you neurotypical solutions and them tell you to see a neurologist. I am done, I never want a class or employment again. Only work for myself and learn on my own.

Some posts claim a lot of autistics have a harder time getting jobs, even when they have the same education as neurotypicals

Social network appears harder for autistics than neurotypicals

Getting along with coworkers likewise

We also don't do as well with interviews due to our social & anxiety issues

All of these negative comments seem very strange ... I've been working as an electrical engineer at the same company for over two decades. In all that time, the only college grads that I've seen lose their jobs were the ones who actually did something wrong (i.e., assault, embezzlement, harassment, et cetera). It has always been the non-grads who were at greater risk for losing their jobs through some random action like layoffs, their bosses didn't like them, they had bad attitudes, et cetera.

While a university degree is no guarantee of employment, it does seem to provide some insurance against arbitrary dismissal.

It's not the "end-all"----but I think much of it is pretty cool.

My God, how I hate university/college - the constant time limits, needing to get up at a certain time and switch between subjects, study groups, and definitely the conventionalism - 'tis rare for people to actually want to talk about the subject itself, instead of marks and what we have to do. But at the same time I can't really see myself successfully learning my subject, without talking to specialists and experts, like some of the teachers at University - only they can answer my questions. Sometimes, I wish there was this place, where you could already start working on some projects you like (like prime number research, or designing a game ,for example) and reading up on those subjects that connect with them. Wouldn't people be so much more productive this way?

Just wait until you get a job...

Yeah, I learned a lot studing Agriculture in college, but I learned far more growing up on an apple farm in New York. I think that a better solution for many people would be an internship.

Different people learn best in different ways. For instance, I didn't fully understand Trigonometry until I bought my first calculator with Trig functions. I also didn't fully appreciate a well-designed communications system until I earned my first Amateur Radio license. And I didn't learn the intrinsic value of keeping my bedroom clean and orderly until I got my first apartment.