PhD Programs
Well, I have some tough decisions to make…or not.
It looks like I got rejected by all ten of the programs I applied to, which doesn’t make that seem like a giant waste of time and money at all. It also does wonders for the self-esteem when even your safety net schools don’t want you. Grand.
So, once I complete my master’s degree in August, my most lucrative career option will still be the one that I didn’t even need to graduate high school to secure (being a manager at a shitty retail job). I certainly don’t feel cheated or like I was lied to since I was a child.
Parents, don’t lie to your children: do not encourage them to go to college. It is a waste of time. Unless they just really treasure the inherent value of an education, they will be digging themselves into a hole. The cost of college inflates dramatically more than general inflation, making it less and less affordable each year. Your average liberal arts major (a basically useless degree at this point, due to the fact that capitalism has very clearly won the battle) ends up about $30,000+ in debt from student loans (and they’ll be lucky if they can land a job making that kind of annual salary).
If you really love your children, your first step is to not have them. Not giving life to a child is the most caring, unselfish, nurturing, giving, and thoughtful thing you can do for someone. If you are currently pregnant, abort the baby: it doesn’t want to live here, it didn’t ask for this, and your kid’s life is going to be as much of a pain in the ass as yours has been.
Supposing that you find the above view too cynical (or in the event that you’ve already had the child and it is now illegal to stop the kid’s heartbeat), the next best thing you can do is to encourage your kid to go to some sort of trade/vocation school or technical college. Tell them to learn how to master some sort of really specific and technical skill (like underwater welding). They will make a ton more money in the end, they will be in school for less time, and their debt will be much lower upon graduation.
Regarding education, get your kid a library card. They can learn about the things they want to learn about for free and they might just give a shit about education in the process–as opposed to the groans that standardized public education and college core courses evince from students now.
So, in summation:
1) I think it’s time we stop lying to our children.
a) Stop telling them that a college degree is the key to success
because the KIND of degree matters far more.
b) Cancel Sesame Street. Your child is not special. Face it.
2) So long as the program accepts me, I’m moving to Korea to teach high school students.
I am appalled.
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I totally know how you feel and agree. I realized this immediately after graduating with my bachelors. I really am debating even moving to a masters. I really really wish it was different in society and education was worth more. But the truth is, everyone has degrees now. And the people who don’t, don’t really need them. Trade school/vocational school is under appreciated.
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Ugh ugh ugh ugh. I felt like college was a huge waste of time and money, too. I graduated in 2009 with a modest amount of debt and I owe more now than I did when I graduated, due in part to graduating with a relatively useless degree and graduating during the worst point of the recession. My last semester of college I took useless classes, just “buying” my degree.
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Granted, you never know when you might need to use “Geography of North America.” Together my fiance and I pay about $1,400 a month in minimum payments on our loans. We both make about $30,000 a year. We can’t afford to buy cars, furniture, a house, or start a family. At least not until we get out from some of the debt, in 7-17 years, which will put us optimistically in our early to mid thirties
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I would gladly trade my B.S. degree back if the school would take my student loan debt, too, and just consider those four years a total loss.
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Then, I hope you’ve had a vasectomy or plan to keep your pants zipped so you do not reproduce. It is sounds like if you had any children that you would certainly raise them to have a very low self esteem and know how much you did not want to have them.
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I totally agree with this entry for many reasons…mainly, if you are going to have kids, it is what you said…you have to now guide them into reality and say…well, you need to focus your attention on somewhere else instead of college. It’s sad that the days of trying to make money with your liberal arts education is gone….
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I understand your view point. Education does not necessarily translate into a job (I got to experience the same thing), however, I would still recommend that people go to college. If nothing else it teaches people how to think, to think more abstractly, logically and overall, the more educated a person is, the are better off they are in the long run.
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Instead of saying don’t to go university I think more people should be shaking down the government demanding they take some of the supplements they give to big oil companies and put that money into supporting the universities and colleges. Not only that but if the government were actually interested in producing job growth we’d see a lot more use out of our degrees.
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I agree with most everything except “not having kids” – the problem is is that everyone thinks there kids so the “best” but the truth is there not.Not every child is an honor roll child.College use to mean something now it dosn’t so much.I am a reg.pharm.tech…whoopee.Got laid off and now I am going to school for free thru unemployment to be a mos specialist. Is it really worth being $25,000 in debt to have crappy credit so you can never ever get ahead with your “degree”? You can’t even apply for a job if your credit is shit and all because of student loans? Good entry by the way ~ Lola Falana
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I understand and agree. College was a huge waste of time for me. At this point I’m nearly 50,000 in debt (because of interest) and my degree is basically useless unless I spend 4x that much more getting a PhD (assuming I even get in… I’m rather certain no program would accept me). I graduated in 2009 and I have yet to find a job since then. Yes, I’ve been job hunting for 3 years, and in all thattime I’ve gotten 1 interview. One. And that’s because my father set it up for me at his bank. Places like Cub and Target won’t even hire me, partially *because* I have a college degree. I feel lied to as well. I’m angry that my parents and society in general raised me to believe that college would be this wonderful thing that would make my life better, and I admit I’ve more than once found myself thinking that I would not want to bring children into this crappy world.
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And by the way, the person who said that college teaches you how to think is wrong. Studies have shown that learning stagnates after the first year of college, and most of that “learning” is just social interaction type of stuff, which you would learn anyway. College actually does practically nothing for education or critical thinking.
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While I agree in large part, I don’t absolutely. College for me led to a high paying, good job that I would not have been able to get without it, but I went to school for Engineering. We do need more vocation/trade education, though; they are respectable and lucrative. ~
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To each their own. Personally, I’d rather not be so negative. There’s obviously something you could have done differently along the way. Choose a different major. Don’t go to school if -you- don’t like it. Anyway, this entry is bullshit, but congratulations for letting a few losses kill seven plus years of dedication.
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It’s funny, the difference between the reaction of the people who have read you before and the folks brought by due to the RC. I’d be disillusioned, too.
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In a pseudo-response to all of this (which isn’t my usual routine, but I feel weird about writing a response entry): I find it encouraging that so many people are still willing to argue over the “value of education,” and while I certainly appreciate scholarship, education, etc., I think there are better financial options out there for obtaining an education (e.g., a library card).
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Also, fun fact: Americans tend to have both higher self-esteem and less abilities (which would warrant said higher self-esteem) than citizens of other industrialized countries.
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