Why go to College?
This is going to be the beginning of a two part series on the topic of what to get from an undergraduate education. In this first section, I’m going to suggest that most people don’t think hard enough about what they want from their education. In the second section I’m going to give specific advice for a) the student who has a good record after high school and b) for the student who has a bad record after high school.Most people are told to go to college for one simple reason—money. Lots of statistic will be shown to indicate the a college education will put you on to a path of being rich, powerful and happy, while failing to attend college will force you to live out of the back seat of a Ford Pinto. Students are told that a paycheck will follow college, and high school is necessary for college. Follow the rules and get rich!
First, I’d ask how much money do you want and how badly do you want it? It’s not uncommon for driven people to work 80 hours of their week. Is it worth it to you to spend all your time doing a job you hate in order to have a few more bucks the couple hours a week you actually get to enjoy it?
Second, if you really want to be super rich following all the rules is probably not going to get you there. Your college education is likely to matter very little, so there is no need to be fancy about it. You are going to need lots of luck, lots of ambition, and a willingness to take big risks. That includes dropping out of school when the opportunity presents itself.
But is there some other reason to go to college? Yes. You could go to college to get an education! I know it sounds strange, but in college they have people called professors and things called books. These are designed to impart knowledge. The unexamined life…
I can honestly say that the education I received has absolutely changed my view of reality. There is a whole world of thought out there just waiting for eager minds to tap it. Going to school as a hurdle to future success is unlikely to help you discover this world. Rather, it’s likely to make you view every class as a game to be defeated towards a slip of paper. You will spend your early twenties, postponing your life rather than living it. That’s a bad position to be in.
But, if you go to school to learn, nearly every assignment will be engaging and interesting. The challenges will be their own rewards. I encourage you to think hard about what it is you want from life. Knowledge isn’t everything, but neither is money.
posted by Michael Benson @ 5:17 PM
2 Comments:
The questionable hard value of a college education is something that I have pondered before myself (unless one's career goal demands it, for example, getting an MD).
I have a BA in History (USC, 1982), yet have been a software developer ever since graduation. I could have forgone the college education for all the good it did me in this career.
However, I have had two experiences over the years which I thought were valuable, in and of themselves, simply for having done them.
One was 3 years I spent in the Army. I strongly disliked the Army, but think that it was a worthwhile experience nonetheless. Under no other circumstances would I have come in daily contact with the different kinds of people that I did; it was an eye opener to interact with people from different economic classes and regions, and find that they had entirely different worldviews simply based on the difference in our upbringing.
The other was my time in college. At its best, it broadens ones mind. No other environment I've experienced allowed to the same extent the interaction between people's different ideas. The workplace is not conducive to the free exchange of ideas unrelated to work. Clubs and other associations that people belong to attract members of similar minds, so also tend to exclude contrary opinions.
My current friends, co-workers and neighbors tend, for socio-economic reasons, to be more homogenous than my friends in college and the military. I think this natural and that, before one has a mortgage to pay, it is a great idea to see what else there is in the world.
I'm planning on both of my kids going to a university, and living there, as much for the possible benefits that might accrue career-wise, but also for the experience itself.
Ross
i'm a reedie. good to be commenting on your page. good to see that you appreciate the time you spent at reed.
i know its not the best time to be asking these questions (because, as you know, reed is difficult, and it demands focus and discipline) but every day i wonder if i'm not wasting my time simply because i often can't feel like i'm here to learn. sometimes i'm not interested in anything, and so every assignment or bite of data becomes, as you say, a chore from which i am unlikely to gain anything of real value. but there are moments when i become hyper-involved and in which there is no place i'd rather be.
it's so hard to be here for the "right" reasons. when it comes to your education and your future, no matter what your reasons are, they go so deep as to be almost inaccessible to inward eyes. i'm not that kind of genius.
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