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College can be a good idea
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thewake Offline
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Post: #1
College can be a good idea

It's a given that most of the people on here hate school and will continue to hate school for the foreseeable future. This loathing probably extends to college, for many of you. You've heard horror stories about people coming out of college and not being able to find work. You've heard about degrees being useless. However, what we find is that it matters what degree you get.

According to the Wall Street Journal (http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/NILF1111/#term=), people who get degrees in Nursing, Pharmacology, and Astronomy all have very low unemployment rates. On the other hand, people who major in things like the Fine Arts, US History, and the Humanities have awful job prospects. Clinical Psychology majors have an unemployment rate of almost 20%. So it really depends on what you major in whether you get a job.

So college isn't stupid, but some majors are.

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02-05-2013 08:39 AM
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PlagueMeister Offline
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Post: #2
College can be a good idea

I'm glad you brought this up. It's smart to get majors in something that is in demand, so that it's easier to find work afterwards.

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know." ~Socrates
02-05-2013 09:11 AM
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no Offline
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Post: #3
College can be a good idea

Do you know what's NOT smart? Going into a career you will hate and have to endure for the rest of your life just because "it's in demand."

Hello, traveler.

This is an ancient account I have not used in a long time. My views have changed much in the intervening months and years.

Nonetheless, I refuse to clean it up. Pretending that I've held my current views since the beginning of time is what we in the industry call a lie. Asking people to do so contributes to moralistic self-loathing. "See, those people have nothing damning! I do! I'm truly vile!"

Because you can never be a good person with a single blemish on the moral record, I thought that simply entertaining some thoughts made me irredeemable. Though I don't care for his writing style, William Faulkner presents a good counterexample. He went from being a typical Southern racist to supporting the civil rights movement. These days we'd yell at him for that, probably.

People are allowed to change their views.

Nevertheless, this period of my life has informed some of how I am today. In good ways and bad ways. To purge it would be to do a disservice to history. Perhaps it will not make anyone sympathetic, but it may help someone understand.

If, after reading all this, you still decide to use the post above as evidence that I am evil today, ask yourself if you have never disagreed with the moral code you now follow. In all likelihood you did, at some point. If some questions are verboten, and the answer is "how dare you ask that," don't expect your ideological opponents to ever change their minds.
02-05-2013 11:26 AM
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PlagueMeister Offline
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Post: #4
RE: College can be a good idea

(02-05-2013 11:26 AM)planetfall666 Wrote:  Do you know what's NOT smart? Going into a career you will hate and have to endure for the rest of your life just because "it's in demand."

You don't have to go into a profession that you know that you will hate. You can pick and choose majors based on your interests, and if you can get a career doing something you enjoy, and people need your service, that's great. Yes, it doesn't work out for everyone. But it doesn't hurt to feel out options for the future.

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know." ~Socrates
02-05-2013 12:06 PM
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Slick Offline
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Post: #5
College can be a good idea

Yeah, a good idea to not go.

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02-05-2013 12:34 PM
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Thought Criminal Offline
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Post: #6
RE: College can be a good idea

I think most everyone here would really enjoy college. I know I do. It's nice to take classes you are actually interested in with professors who give a damn and have the freedom to teach how they see fit.
I had an American Government class last semester and it was the most amazing course ever. My professor was this black dude from Chicago and he was a riot, reminded me of David Chappellel. He was funny, loved to make fun of history and showed us the good the bad and the ugly of American government from an unbiased viewpoint. He was like a walking talking version of "The Peoples History of the United States" or "Lies My History Teacher Told Me"
The funniest thing all semester was when he went to the Republican National Convention when it came to town. God damn that shit was hilarious.
(This post was last modified: 02-05-2013 12:58 PM by Thought Criminal.)
02-05-2013 12:57 PM
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Absnt Offline
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Post: #7
RE: College can be a good idea

Grocery store jobs sure are fun.


I work in one, I should know! Full time is just blueberry's and grapes.


Fuck this shit. If you have a plan for after high school then by all means, pursue that, but if you don't GL getting a job. I know a number of grown-ass men living at their parents houses or working two or more grocery / retail jobs. At least go to like, a technical school or something to get yourself a better job than this shit, cuz this shit fucking blows and the pay is fucking ass.

I'm going for computer science which I'm pretty interested in, but I'm much more interested in philosophy. I'll probably dual major or stay an extra year or two to get a BA in philosphy, and if I like it enough i'll just pursue that, but Comp. Sci. is where the jobs are at, and since I'm interested in it, I'm going for it. I'm not about to live out of my parents house and work in grocery stores or as some shitty low-level-writing job for a company because I figured philosphy was a great idea...


Sure, it's great for learning and thinking and discovering interesting concepts about life, but for a job? Yeah, bad idea. And assuming I did get a job while as a philosphy major, it almost definitely won't be a philosophy-based-job.... SO meh.

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Edfreedom.org -- An organization for more freedom in education.
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02-05-2013 12:58 PM
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thewake Offline
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Post: #8
RE: College can be a good idea

(02-05-2013 12:34 PM)Slick Wrote:  Yeah, a good idea to not go.

Nice coherent argument. You've changed my whole perspective on the issue.

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02-05-2013 04:30 PM
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SoulRiser Offline
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Post: #9
College can be a good idea

Okay, sure, so get a degree in something that's in demand, whether you're interested in it or not. Then get a job and decide after a few years that you don't really like it at all, then slowly work your way up to doing something you actually do enjoy.

A lot of people already do that. It's easier than trying to get into something you enjoy right from the start. Still, degrees aren't exactly cheap, and you could end up in debt for a long time and that could get messy, especially considering you don't even want to continue working in that field. That's even if you have the guts to admit to yourself you want to quit... it's a funny psychological thing, the more effort required to get something, the higher people "value" it. So people defend things they otherwise wouldn't...

So yeah, if you actually enjoy those topics, by all means go for it. But I really think degrees are overrated (and very overpriced).

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02-06-2013 10:49 PM
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