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Dropping Out
2012-10-22 22:44:45
edited 2012-10-22 22:44:45 in Meatspace
Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!
So, how do you guys feel about dropping out of college?
Do you think EVERYONE should get that education, at least in America maybe, or what?
Comments
The only experience I have with this is a friend who had an emotional breakdown less than 24 hours into his stay, and is currently working things out back at home. With any luck, this won't be a permanent thing, though, because he wants to be a biochemist, and he's gonna need a college education for that.
With that said, I don't think the education should be forced on everyone, because not every professions needs it, and not everyone is someone who belongs in college.
Find something you love, regardless of whether or not it seems "practical," and pursue it like a mad dog.
All I can suggest.
They should withdraw voluntarily when possible instead of flunking out if they can. But honestly I don't think there should be as much stigma against it as there is. Some people aren't suited for a university style education and pick up skills in other ways.
I dropped out of high school in the twelfth grade, and never went back.
Then again, I am currently pursuing tertiary education to get qualified as a librarian, so... I dunno.
I thought everyone graduated high school here, so I assumed this was about post-secondary education.
Well, I left my first college after a year and a half, and am currently seeking out a new one.
I dunno how I feel about whether everyone should go, though.
I feel that college is an aged concept that really needs to be retooled and re-evaluated. As it is right now, we're at a dissonance between a highly "necessary" service that allows you to enter the competitivity of today's world and also a highly inaccessible one. And even when it's accessible, it can easily screw with your finances later down the line.
This reminds me of a quotation from a speech I watched once on the flaws in the current educational system (probably paraphrased): "if you were an alien coming to Earth and unfamiliar with how humans think, and if you looked at our educational system, you would conclude that our goal as a civilization is to create as many university professors as possible."
I edited this out of my previous post, but the thing that probably needs to change the most (depending on where you live) is the cost. Considering how essential it is to entering certain fields of work, I'd go as far as to call it criminal that it costs as much as it does, in some places.
>_>
<_<
It was probably this guy, he's pretty cool.
Oh, hey, that's him!
The speech, I think, is the one linked at the top-right there.
Oh, hey, this guy?
Yeah... The only thing college is really good for these days is networking and making new friends.
As far as dropping out goes some of my best friends left university and are among the nicest people i know. And while their career prospects aren't great at the moment I'm sure they'll find some niche that they will enjoy and can support them and that in the long run it is ultimately motivation and real world intelligence that determines success.
There are highly successful people who have no postsecondary education, who have only a bachelor's degree, who have a terminal master's degree, who have a PhD, who have JDs or MDs, etc..
The economic statistics are that you're more likely to have a higher salary if you do have a postsecondary degree versus none. That said, with 7 billion people you can find anecdotes of pretty much anything, from bums with phuds to Bill Gates.
Granted, how many of those seven billion people are too young to be in college and irrelevant to the topic? Like seriously, I'm genuinely curious what the ballpark is for what percentage of the world is 18 years or younger.
That's why I said "necessary" with question marks. It's not really necessary, but we're raised to believe it is and in most cases pursue it because it is necessary in order to work in a particular field of our interest.
It isn't necessarily necessary for me (since I'm studying to be an artist), but:
1) I seem to have issues holding a job so post secondary of any kind is a help
2) It's relatively cheap here to go to school to be an artist
3) I'm learning a crap ton that helps improve my art
4) It helps me achieve a life goal of mine (you need a bachelors - doesn't matter the field - to go teach English abroad. Since I want to see the world, well, it seems like a decent way to start that)
What is this school called?
Personally, for me, college is more about an opportunity to improve myself than something that will directly help me get a job -- though it won't hurt in that regard, certainly.
I think if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher or anything like that, college is a must.
Besides that I'm not sure. I'm thinking about dropping out, after the spring semester. We'll see how it goes.
Ninjaclown: Who is that question aimed at?
@Saturn So what's your continuation plan after dropping out? Such a thing is pretty important.
The plan is basically to write a very good screenplay (or 3) that will win me the Nicholl fellowship. I would use the money to move to LA and many production companies and agencies will want to read my stuff from winning the Nicholl, so ill have the time and money to pursue that, hopefully get repped and become a professional.
Low chances, though. That's why school is the fallback.
Don't forget the opportunities college offers outside of the education itself: committee and board stuff offer low-entry positions to pick up skills with a pretty broad range of applications, and are often have a small pool to select from(the same shit was a popularity contest in highschool, and after uni they want to have people who already have at least some skill in the field). Helps that it's plenty of fun too.
The only reason I'm going to college (or at least, I want to go to college) is that the career I want (broadcasting) is taught at one.
I don't understand why, exactly, college is considered a must. Tertiary education in general? I can sort of see that, but even then, if you're getting into a manual labor profession and are alright with that than that doesn't matter either.
I think there's also a big mistake in correlating people who never had much formal education with people who aren't educated. Some people are very good at self-learning.
I wish there was a more structured system for self-teaching. That would be interesting. Like, you could possibly get a job based on those merits.
Probably not unless you know somebody at the company who is really impressed with you. Self teaching is all well and good, but certification at skills or a degree will be what folks want to see to prove you know your stuff.
Right, I know.
That's why I'm saying it would be interesting if you could get some kind of certification for self-teaching and practicing on your own.
Not likely. Most certification programs require a set number of schooling and practice hours. And really, that's a good thing. You need some outside verification that the person has listened to all the stuff necessary for the certification and actually practiced out in the field. Because otherwise you can get some folks who managed to test well and get lucky in the exam, but have some pretty big gaps in their knowledge.