university is a waste of time

Discussion in 'Higher Ed' started by sunflowerpower, Jun 20, 2012.

  1. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    It can be lots more but I guess that depends on the students perspective.
     
  2. MamaPeace

    MamaPeace Senior Member

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    I do wish I could do a degree.. unfortunatley my best friend David Cameron and his humble and so very loyal conservative party fucked that up for me.. 9k a year? No thanks! Id rather not be in 40 grands worth of debt by the age of 21! Education shouldn't be a privilege..

    But I wish I could do a degree, not for the job at the end (which really is unlikely anyway) but for myself, to expand my knowledge, there is only so much google can do...

    I do agree, in the sense that its a waste of time if your looking for a job, but in this day and age taking any oppurtunity to do something you enjoy and/or could personally grow and benefit from is worth it (apart from when it costs 40k, lol) but money excluded, I'd go for it.
     
  3. machinist

    machinist Banned Lifetime Supporter

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    OP is a dumbass. i went the vocational route and a lot of trades ppl say they wish they went to school. SO... i'm doing BOTH.. haha fuck all a yall

    also don't use the word "deserve" you dont deserve shit
     
  4. relaxxx

    relaxxx Senior Member

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    University is important if you're goal is a cushy job with great pay. It's not about education and hard work. University is about cheating the system, having fun partying and making long term bonds with other cheaters and party people. Establishing a network of future powerful people that know how to get other people to do all your hard work while you go golfing and snort coke in the executive bathrooms. You could even become the president of the United States!
     
  5. Dancing til Dawn

    Dancing til Dawn Senior Member

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    mwhaaaa! well said ...:hurray:
     
  6. swoosh

    swoosh Member

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    go to a library
     
  7. PhotoDude

    PhotoDude Member

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    I'm not going to say that I agree with you, but I do feel that it's not for everybody. My sister went for a year, and she's still being bent over and raped up the ass with paying back her student loan. I have friends who went and can't find a job, or are stuck working shit jobs. There are a few I know that are working in the field they went to school for, but not many. I never went, but I've never felt that I truly missed out on anything.
     
  8. -Yggdrasil-

    -Yggdrasil- Einherjar

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    All you need is cushy little static security job and you're all set. You'll be so bored there'll be nothing to do other than study and self teach yourself. It took me until I got out of school to want to learn things and by that time I wasn't going to go back to school. Finished a trade though but it ruined my eyesight so I tried security and had so much free time and every second person was always studying while working.
    I didn't study anything to benefit my life at all, just researched random shit for a few years.
    I now work in a management team for a national telco company. You just don't need college or Uni in Australia at all, unless like said previously, you intend to be a rocket scientist or something.
     
  9. Still Kicking

    Still Kicking Members

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    Education is where you find it. Having gotten kicked out of high school (they thought I was too "independent") I turned to the trades. Got into construction as a laborer and made better money than most of people I knew at the time. One job I had the superintendent, who went to college for 4 years, was always mad when the pay checks came out as all us drop outs made more money than he did.
    I think the Amish have the right idea, they feel that school is just a place to learn how to learn, and then you spend the rest of your life learning new things on your own.
    An alternative to regular college is getting a decent paying job and taking online courses for something better. Even though many organizations don't think online courses are the best, if you hunt around you can find some that have great courses, and really, all any school is is a place to share knowledge, and you can get that anywhere, the internet is the greatest library ever, you just have to know what is bullshit and what is not, a little rational thinking helps there.
    I read an article in Utne, I think it was Utne, not long ago about Phd's working at McDonalds. The long and short of the article was that a college degree does not guarantee a good job, a good paying job, or any job at all.
    Personally, I fall asleep listening to some twit drone on for hours. I like the idea of the old apprentice type learning. You get paid while you learn. Mostly, you have hands on things to do, so you have practical application of what you are trying to learn, instead of theory from a book and a drone.
    My wife recently found an alternative school, in Spokane, WA, USA, where the learning is mostly hands on, and they are having great success. Maybe the school systems are finally learning that the old way of boring kids to death is not a good way to learn.
     
  10. rak

    rak Senior Member

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    That is the only reason why I still go to University apart from the fact that having an academic goal in life is better than to take some boring, low pay, job, which just frustrates you with time because there is little hope of finding a better job or of some kind of change in your daily routine.


    As much as I hate University sometimes I like waking up at midday, knowing I can do whatever I want to do with my day.
     
  11. mugwande

    mugwande Member

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    Actualy where i come from we have a saying that "luck of education can only hate you when you grow up" we don't go to universty to get jobs but to get knowedge a know that you can you use to do something good in your life. There many things that someone can do if you don't focus on your qualifications but instead to do something better of your self.
     
  12. Karen_J

    Karen_J Visitor

    If you go there wanting nothing but job skills, there's a good chance you will leave there without much else to show for your time. But it's also possible that you will encounter a professor or two who will open your mind to quite a bit more, in spite of your best efforts to resist. It's much better to show up without so many specific expectations, and see what develops.

    Unfortunately, more and more students are having to work a lot of hours at a job and/or commute to class from home, due to financial necessity. That reduces your chances of getting more out of college than the basics. They aren't getting the complete experience.

    I find it sad but not surprising that so many people who haven't been to college think they know so many reasons why it is worthless. This is a logical "catch 22" situation. If it was possible for everyone to fully understand the value of it without going there, then nobody would need to go there.

    Sometimes, it is years later when you are able to look back on a particular educational experience and see what you gained from it.

    Professors in various departments do have their own distinct perspectives, agendas, and biases. That's one of several reasons why you're required to take classes in a lot of different subject areas. Successful people have to learn how to deal with that kind of conflict and complexity. You learn that by doing it, not by reading about it. Also, the whole body of knowledge you come away with is greater than the sum of its parts.

    This is a hard subject to talk about, because it's easy for some people to have the reaction, "You're saying that you're better than me, because I haven't been to college." And if I say to them, "No, I'm not better than you", then they can respond, "Then you didn't learn anything worthwhile in school." That isn't a useful conversation. It leads away from the main point.

    Most importantly, what education gives you is a better mental tool box. I like that analogy, because everybody knows a tool of any kind can be used for something good or something bad, but you can always do more with better tools. Travel and work experience add more tools to your box. You can never have too many.
     
  13. Grainpsilo

    Grainpsilo Member

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    Society is obsessed with paper


    You need a piece of paper to prove you were born, a paper to prove you can drive a car, to prove you are smart.

    It is all meaningless but society dictates it and you cant change it.

    You can fight the current your whole life and try to walk up stream facing constant resistance for no reason but your pride. Or you can play the game... lift up your feet and let the current carry you and shit will be alot easier.
     
  14. Eye Contact

    Eye Contact Member

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    I kept throwing myself against the brickwall of higher eduction until, one day, I wanted to learn something. Stopped fighting it: took the required classes, read the required texts, wrote the required papers . . . And, by god, I learned stuff. Everytime something happens, I wish I was back in class discussing it.
     
  15. Mr.Writer

    Mr.Writer Senior Member

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    I went to university because it was expected of me. I drifted, lacked motivation, did not feel passionately about my program (or anything really) and it took me 8 years to complete a 4 year program, with a pretty average GPA. When I finished, it still didn't help me get a job. I worked minimum wage for 1 more year before I realized if I didn't change something soon, this would be my lot forever. I did NOT want to rise up through the corporate ladder in some retail chain.

    I enrolled myself in college, am almost done my first semester, am near top of my class, have already made a name for myself among my peers, and have found my calling in life. 2 years ago I could have never predicted this would have happened, I thought I was going to either go into a life of crime or a life of mediocrity. Now I have purpose, vision, 1 year goals, 5 year goals, 20 year goals, life time goals . . . it just takes time. What really helped me was a loving girlfriend who sat my ass down and made me brainstorm til it hurt. What emerged from a dark cloud of "society sucks and I want no part in it" was actually, "society sucks and I possess exactly the skillset and motivation to fix it up a little". Never would have seen that coming.

    I don't regret my university degree, as now it will put me above my peers when I search for a job after college. It also gave me a lot of background theoretical knowledge and prepared me for research papers and tests, something which again sets me above my peers in college.

    Ultimately it will be combination of both which will fuel me into my professional life.
     
  16. Eye Contact

    Eye Contact Member

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    Oh, yeah, forgot to mention: I like telling the clueless (not you . . .) that I went to college so that when they come to take us away, I want to be with the educated . . . who will be killed first before the others are put to slave labor.
     
  17. NatureDude

    NatureDude Member

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    My thoughts exactly
     
  18. Just_a_woman

    Just_a_woman Member

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    I'm very positive about University, but it isn't for everybody. Many who come aren't made for it and get frustrated. There are other ways to work towards a good life, mainly if one lives in a wealthy country.

    In my particular case and those of most people I know, a formal education made a big positive difference.

    I do find it a shame some countries demand so much money of their students. I did uni for free, with library books and all. For postgraduate studies, I was paid to do them. From my third year at uni on, I was making a living out of it, doing research in parallel with my studies. Only good memories.

    Students should demand free education.
     
  19. Omnibook

    Omnibook Guest

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    It is unfortunate that so many people in this thread are yelling "Do what I did! You will have the same results" or "Don't do what I did! You will make the same mistakes!"

    Whether university is a good choice for an individual is a complex choice. There is always risk involved. My humble suggestion is to take whatever results you encounter and make the best of them, because nobody can predict what will happen in another's life.
     
  20. Sparkle155

    Sparkle155 Member

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    If you want to work in healthcare it is not useless. I found a CNA job right away. But alas, I hated working with bodily fluids.
     

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