Is Education A Big Scam?

I was thinking of going back to school for a college degree but working at my call centre job has opened my eyes. Many of the employees have college degrees and are making minimum wage at a call centre.

So is the education system a big giant scam that just eats up 20 years of your life and leaves you a mountain of debt?

If I want to learn about a topic I can just make use of the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXpwAOHJsxg

 

Depends on what you go to school for......................

 

if you don't understand how your field works before you decide to sign up for classes you are making a huge mistake.

i have 2 family members who graduated from good 4 year colleges and are making $15 an hour with no real likelihood of a raise, that is before transport cost and taxes in NYC. one of them took out a loan of several thousand dollars to pay off college debt.

if you prepare for a job in the medical field that is your best bet these days, but not everyone(myself included) finds that field very appealing

 

One of my coworkers told me he has a master's degree in biotechnology.

 

yeah, one of the people i mentioned works as a lab tech in a DNA processing facility. i recommend something more along the lines of any discipline that will actually be used inside a hospital on a daily basis. for example:

dental anything
nurse
sonography
radiology tech
etc.

besides the obvious MDs

 

Yeah but schools don't teach you any of that. In fact just the opposite.

If you want to learn something you're far better off making use of internet resources. It's far more cost effective. It might not lead to a job but neither do most university degrees.

 

this is not the primary reason most people dish out tens of thousands of dollars in education for. people go to these schools so that they can get a job and pay off their bills, move out of their parent's home and become independent, not to circle jerk about how smart and "intellectual" they've become.

 

Does the job you want require a degree?

 

Yes.

 

well yea, that's kinda the point the op was making and the purpose of the thread. the general public is purposely lead to believe that if you go to school you will get a economically stable job in your chosen field soon after graduating. this is the lie we are addressing.

it's almost as if you're trying to make that sound like a bad thing. yes poets are in fact the true heroes of our societies, and tattoos are in fact worth a lot more than most of the crap universities force their students to buy in order to pass their classes.

 

it's a broad statement, but in the modern western social context you know exactly what he is referring to.

De gustibus non est disputandum as u would say, in your esteemed latin

 

I understand where you're coming from as I've always thought the purpose of school should be education purely for the sake and love of education.

Uunfortunately it appears the majority of my generation believed this as well and now they're massively in debt and working at Starbucks.

I don't think the OP was pursuing an anti intellectualism line of thinking. I think he was merely asking if the money put into school will be worth the return when he graduates.

Anyways, my advice to the OP - yes, school is absolutely worth it, without a degree you'll just be turning your wheels. But to avoid doing the same with a degree carefully research the job market of any field you pursue. And if you're more interested in the eventual career path and salary rather than the education it might be worth looking into two year degrees and apprenticeships as Meagain suggested.

 

A couple of points - there are some talented lyricists in the hip/hop rap world
And, tattoos are a different medium than Grapes of Wrath, but some tattoo artists truly do create works of art. But this is a bit off topic.

Arguing the artistic merit of one art form versus another is silly though.

 

Well, if you want the opportunity to learn about a topic that fascinates you at a high level, with excellent resources and in an environment that exists solely to pursue that knowledge, surrounded by some of the greatest minds in that field as well as (at least) hundreds of people who will work with you towards the same end, then I'd say it's worth it.

 

Well, "educated" people generally don't think for themselves. They instead believe whatever experts tell them to think.

 

So yes, I do believe education (as in institutionalized education) is a joke, and a ridiculously expensive one at that. Colleges do not teach logic or critical thinking skills, hence the reason we live in a world of repeaters as opposed to thinkers and people who have original ideas. More people go to college than ever before, yet look at the world around us. People go into massive debt because they are told that college is the most important thing in the world, yet so many people graduate and are unable to find work yet still have a huge amount of debt to pay off. It is a fucking scam, but if someone wants to go to college, that's their choice and I am not going to try to dissuade them from doing so. Just don't try to persuade me that college is what it's cracked up to be, because it's not.