The world needs college so respect it

In America now there is a divide. People see college as a waste of time and money and think you only need a trade. It's usualy a right wing vs. left wing thing. The right wing is offended and feels the left wing looks down on them for their blue collar work. Real men fix a water heater or diesel truck they don't waste time in an office where they don't even get their hands dirty in debt. They don't like college. It's a place of loans and hearing things they don't like. It challenges their small town view. I had plenty of right wing teachers on that subject.

I kind of agree the student loan system is fucked. You need a scholarship or a commitment to get a high paying job. These do exist. I hear some much shit talking that college only has women's studies and theater so again work for snowflakes with no pay. It's simply not true. There are numerous six figure jobs offered in college. It's more likely you will make good money for easier work if you commit to college. The paycheck as an electrician is good when you are 20 and all your friends have debt and you have a new truck but at what cost? At 30 you don't make as much and you work twice as hard for half the pay in general. People pass you by if you see the short term. Most important you are going to get old and your body will fade when that is all you have. College is for the mind. A 13 hour day is hard when you are 45 and have done those days since you left high school at 17. Your value is taken by nature. Nature also takes the mind to be fair.

Even in the 50's and 60's when one did not need need school nearly as much as now the cars and other things needed a college education so the consumer can use them safely and efficiently for long periods of time. The union pays $30 an hour to assemble it that work has value just not as much ultimate value.

The design vs maintenance dynamic exists in many industries that also require college no matter what such as computers. The IT guy fixes your email he did not code the software for example. It's a classic rivalry where the builders say all the creator does is push pencils and he has no real understanding of how to work it. This is why things are pain in the ass to fix in my truck example. Someone only thought of how to make it work right, not how to fix it fast. It's a harmless fun if you have the right work environment.

I'm not saying we don't need maintenance but they have such an issue with education they are not educated on how much they depend on it.

But here is the thing: someone who went to college designed that semi truck you are fixing. Oh nice you can change the oil and shocks with trade school but can you design the engine so it runs a million miles? No, you can not. So without someone going to college you have no job. And honestly if that college person who designed it had to he could also fix it. He has all the knowladge you do and you have none of his. You only have so many hours in the day so one can't do it all. You need a team and each person focuses on something they are very good at. But you also work everyday in your job so it's not like you have no value or knowladge.

I think if college was affordable poor people would not feel so isolated and angry towered those who manage college. Not even poor, average middle class and many "rich" can not afford college now too. It's a system we need to change. No more free market, free education which makes us all great again.

 

This is true, but for one thing. When will it really matter to you if you have all the nicer things? I'm almost reluctant to post about it lest I encourage some young people to take out loans to finance their homes/cars & whatever else. I think that it's beneficial to a certain degree to have the things that you want when you're that age (25 or thereabouts). To have that truck at that age could be meaningful.

But don't get me wrong. College is my life! I can't think of something more important than that. I understand that not everybody has that opportunity, but for those who do I think it makes a substantial difference in your outlook and esteem in general.

I pretty much agree with you though.

 

I don't know what world you're living in where rightards don't go to college. Virtually everyone goes to college. 99% of my graduating class went to college, and I live in a staunchly Republican town. And we weren't even the private school that all the rich kids attended.

I know a lot of Republicans, and they all insist their kids go to college as well. Though you're right, a lot of them didn't go to college themselves. They do a variety of different things. The guy (a Republican) I work for started two businesses. He tells his kids not to work where I work, and tells them nobody wants to be doing the job I'm doing.

My parents ultimately did not give two shits what happened to me, though. I mean, my mom did, but she was guileless. She didn't know college from a goddamned hole in the ground. My dad on the other hand, yeah, he only cared about me in so much as it effected how he was perceived in the eyes of others. But I digress.

I don't see why you have to make it a competition between those who went to college and those who do not go. "Well you didn't invent the engine! We did!" Yeah, yeah. You will still run into work-a-day people who actually know more about the engines you're designing than you ever will, even having designed them. People just have different skills, and no one is ever going to be better or more valuable than anyone else.

As for college, like I said, almost everyone goes to college. People are a little down on it right now because they're graduating hugely in debt and can't even find a goddamned job that they went to school for. But I don't think the number of college attendees is decreasing all that dramatically.

If anything, college gets too much respect. When it gets to the point where everyone abuses the poor dishwasher. A lot of people who go to college have zero respect for the working class.

 

anakin, i think you pay too much attention to what the news outlets that are paid to divide us are saying.

in the real world, i pretty much agree with what neon said, and i'm too tired to expand on it at the moment.

 

Don’t send your kids to college.

 

English major/philosophy minor or diesel mechanic, which should I choose? Well, I enjoy eating which means I'll need money which means I'll need a job. So diesel mechanic it is.

 

I love college, but you make a point there: The job factor.

When I decided my first major, I wanted to make sure I would have money. I wanted to be able to make it rain until the cows came home!

I looked into the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the U.S. government's job outlooks/predictions etc. This was around the time of the crash 2008 or 9. I found that Accounting would work out to that end. There would be a job with regularity. And so, I majored in it and went only to schools that provided degrees/majors in it; Humboldt, Riverside, etc. and finally settling at National University (I know... how shameful. It's all good though). Well, I cheated and passed and got one online. I worked for a couple years in accounts payable, but it wasn't my thing.

Now I realize that though money is important you've got to allow for the imagination and perception to feed off of something. What I mean by that is seize the day/follow your dreams no matter where they lead and let that be a motivation for you. Your inspiration is vital to your success!

I liked Sociology for awhile. Right now I'm taking a break from it and just doing Spanish. And I love Spanish. Can't understand the videos from the textbook's website at McGraw Hill, but meh... I'll figure it out somehow.