I understand what you are saying, however, for my child I will not be telling him that the entire college industry and other educational schools (trade/tech/etc) are BS. Its it impossible to get a decent job without a formal education? No. Can you start your own business without one? Of course. But why am I going to put an undue burden on him?
Hey, if he turns out be another bill gates or elon musk ill direct him away from all that. But short of that I still feel an education is important. That education has to be built on a solid foundation as @SawleMill@lake said. Thats my job. But as far as trigonometry and physics, I leave that to the professionals to teach him.
We have a local person here who likes to pontificate at the end of city council meetingsā¦
And introduces himself as Pastor ABCā¦and is THE BIGGEST LIAR here in town.
Followed by Rev and Retired Army Major XYZ, add some lettersā¦and came to the meeting in full camoflauge uniform with his hair down to his rear end (like really not allowed ā if you put on the unform, you do it right, not half a$$ed)ā¦ and lies right behind the other liar.
When grandkids grow up, Iāll advise their highly educated parents to send 'em to tech school. The world, stuffed full of folks who know how to use computers, need good plumbers/someone who can work w/ their hands; use a hammer or chisel/ trustworthy auto mechanics-a good one can barely call their soul their own!!
Spend the funds on setting them up in business-not AMAZON or on-line selling.
Will they listen to me? Probably not. Iāll be so decrepit, will believe Iāve gone gagaā¦
Graduated High School and went straight to JU (Jarhead University). Went to UHK (University of Hard Knocks) for next 20 yearsā¦kinda graduated until I enrolled in Seller Uā¦ dropped out and enrolled in SASU and GoogleU.
Spent 250k sending my daughter to college and while she may not totally capitalize on her major, I am glad I was able to provide this for her without either of us going into debt and I am very proud of the outcome. She shows her gratitude on a frequent basis and the whole experience was priceless. I would never have chosen this path for myself but Iām grateful I could provide it for her. College has gotten ridiculously expensive and IMO is not the only path to success and happiness.
BS in Business Administration (Decision & Information Sciences). Got a job as a COBOL programmer after college. Did that for a few years, while teaching myself web programing (Cold Fusion, SQL Server, etc). Developed those skills working for a financial firm until I had two children under two and decided I wanted to work from home. I then started my first business over two decades ago and have been doing that ever since.
I have actually used what I learned in college, but donāt think college is needed in many cases. My oldest daughter (23) got her AA at the same time she got her high school degree and she has a great job without needing any further college. My second oldest (22) graduated college a year ago and she does use her degree as she is a research coordinator in a Neurology department and does a bunch of complicated science stuff I donāt understand at all. My third oldest (20) graduated high school during Covid and works at an Amazon fulfillment center . He makes good money there, so college for him has been a class here and there (which Amazon pays for) while he works on finishing up the AA he was working on during high school. My fourth oldest (19) lives at home with me and has taken a few college classes, but isnāt super motivated, so she is taking a break and just working for now. I think college is good for children if they have direction and motivation, but unless/until they are ready to do the work, it is way too expensive to just go because āthat is what you are supposed to doā.
I have a BS in Business Management from a college I went to right after high school. But the major I really wanted was Technical Writer because I had high grades in Science and English. It wasnāt available at the college my father wanted me to attend.
Earned my Masters in Creative Writing and Literature at age 56. That was pure joy to me, a selfish act and one I enjoyed immensely.
While earning the Masters I lived 50% of the time with my parents who lived 3 hours south of me and helped my father take care of my mother during her last 25 months. Ran the business out of my brothersā bedroom. Had a great assistant in the warehouse who was able to do all of the packing and shipping.
Life takes you in strange and wonderful places.
I told my son and all of his friends when they were in HS:
become a plumber or an electrician. Even during recessions those jobs do well.
Did anyone listen to me? NO!
We live in a weepy home.
With the money I spent on this house and plumbing, they could have retired early!
Not really. The national registry is a private entity. They have no power to actually license anyone. Itās become a tool to get a certification outside your home state without having to go through the course or take a test again.
BA in Advertising/Marketing Comm. I chose this path because I couldnāt pass basic math and Ad/MC didnāt require it, I focused on the production side instead of sales, even though I would have made much more money on the sales side. I chose to always work for small businesses because I didnāt want to work in the corporate environment.
I am the only immediate family member to graduate college. Other than my father, I am the only one who currently works, two jobs at that. I always say that I chose the wrong career path and wish I would have chosen Housewifeā¦but ya know independence, self-reliance and all that jazz.
I have also come to terms with the fact that I will be paying off student debt the rest of my life.
I do not regret my life choices, but when asked by younger generations about college, I always advise a trade school rather than Univ. I feel itās better to get a life skill and enjoy what you are going to be doing for the majority of your adult life, rather than getting a degree that you may or may not use in your future.
Yāknow how people always ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up? From the age of 5, my answer always was, āIām going to college.ā
I chose a college known for journalism. First year I got straight Aās and was so bored, I switched schools and majors. It was either art or math, and I chose art because I felt it would offer more freedom. Most of my major life decisions have been based on independence. I donāt like working for other people. Money was an afterthought, if I thought of it at all.
After 3 years, I disowned my parents because they were too controlling, and told them to keep their money. I dropped out of school for a year to work a succession of temp jobs. When I saved up enough to take a few more courses, I went back to school part time while working full-time.
I graduated after 9 years with a 5-year BFA in studio art. The joke among graduating seniors in the art department: āMacDonaldās hires on Tuesdays.ā
While I was still living in a university town, I made what I thought was good money writing papers for other students, including one technical dissertation and several publish-or-perish papers for faculty. Since then, Iāve mostly sold my own various art works and some of my creative writing.
In the past 10 years, I discovered online courses and took a few classes in math and physics for my own entertainment. I spend an hour every night reading all kinds of things. I wish I had more time to read and learn. I hate all the administrative time-sucks in running a business.
Growing up I wanted to be a Mechanical Engineer. Was never sure what exactly Iād be doing but that was the goal.
Although I applied and was accepted to Purdue and Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, I chose to live at home and go to the ācommuterā college that IUPUI was in the 90-00s. I got a Purdue degree in Mechanical Engineering and while doing so worked part time in the industry I am in now.
My frustration with college is that there are too many āfillerā classes required. I should not have had to take a bunch of unrelated to my major classes to make a āwell rounded studentā. Grade school and High School are for exposing kids to a wide variety of things so that they can decide what to focus on later. Instead of having to take art appreciation and religions of the world classes, my time would have been better spent learning how to weld, do machining, and other things related to applying the theory of engineering that was my major.
The tail end of GenX (where I fall) coming into adulthood (mid/late 90s) was the beginning of āeveryone should go to collegeā. It wasnāt true then and it still isnāt true now.
What āeveryoneā needs to do is find something that they are passionate about and willing to do for a long part of their life. For some that will require a 4 year degree, or a Masters, or PhD. For others that will require a technical program or apprenticeship. And some might need just to start working and learning on the job. There really isnāt a right or wrong answer but creating stigma and advertising is big business and highly lucrative.
OMGā¦this just reminded me of a class I took called Elvis & the Apocalypse. The professor had written a book about them correlating, but spent so much time on the Apocalypse portion, we never found out how they were related.
I assume he just wanted us all to purchase his book to find out, lolā¦I never did, so I am still left here pondering what it all meant.
My Econ 101 professor wrote the book(let) for his classā¦ and then he would read directly from it for ālectureā. Ask him a question? Heād quote from the book with no elaboration. It was the second most awful class I had to take.
The worst class was Thermodynamics. The professor was a guy that had been a NASA engineer, was an extremely introverted ānerdā, and from India so he had a thick accent. He was obviously at University to do research because āteachingā a class where every 3rd word was āahā or āumā was not his strong suit. I averaged a 32% on his testsā¦ the āhighā was 35% and the average was 25%. I got an A.
My worst class (science requirement) was Biology 101. 1000 students in a giant auditorium with small TV screens all around the room because you could barely see the professor on stage droning away behind his lectern. Half the time I fell asleep. The entire final was memorization and regurgitation of all the chemicals in the process of photosynthesis. It was the only class I ever failed.
Pretty sure it didnāt help in either my art or later life.
I was always going to be a librarian. I could think of nothing better than spending entire days in the library. It wasnāt until my 30ās that I was in a place where I was free to do whatever I wanted. But by then, one had to have a ācertificateā for it. And that meant two years living in Vancouver to get it, which I could not afford to do
So the work life took many paths before I finally could afford to open my own bookstore, and the history is still being made.
. He makes good money there, so college for him has been a class here and there (which Amazon pays for) while he works on finishing up the AA he was working on during high school. My fourth oldest (19) lives at home with me and has taken a few college classes, but isnāt super motivated, so she is taking a break and just working for now. I think college is good for children if they have direction and motivation, but unless/until they are ready to do the work, it is way too expensive to just go because āthat is what you are supposed to doā. 
