We can't accept people who never went to college saying college doesn't matter, because how would they know never having experienced it?
And we can't accept people who have been to college saying college doesn't matter, because their revealed preferences are different and/or they're hypocrites.
I personally can't remember anyone that didn't go to college tell me that its not worth it. Either they say its not for them, they don't like sitting in a classroom, or they were faced extraordinary circumstances where they decided to pursue an opportunity.
> And we can't accept people who have been to college saying college doesn't matter, because their revealed preferences are different and/or they're hypocrites
I would accept the argument of a college educated individual if they actively discouraged their children from attending university. Telling strangers on the internet is easy, but with your own children you have skin in the game. To me that's more telling of their true beliefs
That mirrors my college experience, but I'll also point out that people who don't go to college usually don't just sit around on the couch all day doing nothing. They have experiences too, and meet other people that they would never have come into contact with had they gone to college, and often have jobs or other experiences that are much more varied than their college-educated peers.
I think the bottom line is that it doesn't actually matter whether you go, it matters that you make a decision and follow through on it, and that you make a decision based on your life and not the desires of your parents, teachers, the Internet, or society at large. Yes, not going may shut off some opportunities and experiences that you could have, but there will be other opportunities and experiences that fill that void.
I'm pretty sure most/all the people who think that college gives you a unique social experience that you can't get elsewhere are just suffering from confirmation bias, and also perhaps want to justify why they spent so much money.
I went to a top-tier 4-year university, and did develop several life-long friendships, many of which have led to introductions to other people, which have further increased my social and professional circles. It'd be easy to say if I hadn't gone to college, I wouldn't have that now, and, well, that's actually true... but it's missing the point. I'd still be me, and I'd still have the same drive to meet people and take advantage of opportunities. My life would be different, certainly, but I doubt it'd be less socially fulfilling.
1. I don't believe that everyone needs to go to college.
2. I don't believe college is a day care where students should be coddled. If they can't pass a basic philosophy course, they have no business being in college. That's not to say they are worthless, just that college isn't right for them.
I assume this is related to my point, though, that most people aren't going to college because they care about something but rather because they are expected to. They then wind up picking something easier somewhat at random and can't get a job because of it.
I don't buy it. Looking at college-educated versus high-school educated people is the wrong comparison when advising people whether to go to college or not. The relevant populations are people like you who went to college and people like you who decided against college.
Why attend college at all? By going to college, she's implying that people who haven't gone to college don't have exactly the same opportunities and security as anyone else. She's the real snob.
Not arguing for or against, but just to echo a good point Peter made about this criticism:
If he didn't have any college experience and made the argument that college is a waste of time, people would challenge that with "well, what do you know? you never went to college."
What better way to realize college is a waste, then to give two solid tries and still receive little value. It could be argued that that would be the only way one could be qualified to cast that judgement.
Do you ever wonder how many assumptions you're making about those who've not completed college? I don't mean this in an insulting way, but I feel it should be noted that it is quite degrading. Your comment assumes:
1) This writer is not self-aware. They haven't taken stock of the full impact of college.
2) Other writers, who also write similar posts, are also not self-aware. This trend is not that college is in fact bad, but that many people who leave college fail at recognizing the true benefits. This is an epidemic.
3) That most people who don't attend college are unable to write well.
4) On top of the items above, that you feel you know more than this person about their own life.
This all feels to me like hefty cognitive bias to me.
tl;dr: The author didn't enjoy his college experience, so he believes no one else will or can or should even try.
For me, college was an important stepping stone to personal responsibility and a real career. The cliched (if not actually all that typical) four-year away-from-home college degree can serve as a transitional period from complete dependence to independence. That's not how the political sphere talks about higher education, and the author denigrates that idea as "extended childhood", but I think it serves a valuable purpose for those lucky enough to experience it. Yes, it's outrageously expensive, yes student loans are a growing drag on the economy, and yes far too many people are excluded, and yes it's not for everyone. But it's a core part of our society, and it can't just be dismissed as unimportant because you had a bad personal experience.
And we can't accept people who have been to college saying college doesn't matter, because their revealed preferences are different and/or they're hypocrites.
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