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Is a college degree important?

Yes 0.58024691358025 58.0% [ 47 ]
No 0.2716049382716 27.2% [ 22 ]
Indifferent 0.14814814814815 14.8% [ 12 ]
Total Votes:[ 81 ]
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Aged Gaian

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In America about 60% of jobs require higher education and over half of the current jobs are held by those who have some degree of college experience. Of all adults in America ~40% have some kind of college degree.

So the question is, do you really need college?

There's no question that (at least in America) your salary is closely associated with your education level :
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.

And yet we've all heard the stories of drop-outs who've made millions. I recently overheard a conversation in which both parties agreed that you didn't really need a degree because of what you learned, it was more of an arbitrary requirement set up by businesses. One person then proceeded to say that she believed college educations were a fad, and that rates would start to drop because of the apparent over-saturation experienced by the current generation.

Recent studies even show that college graduates are underemployed, "the unemployment rate for those with a college degree is roughly half of the national average. But a new report by the nonprofit Center for College Affordability and Productivity says that roughly half of those college graduates who have jobs are now working jobs that don't require a college degree."

So that raises the following questions:

Do you really need college?

Do you need college to be successful?

If you do need college to be successful, is it because of what college offers you, or is it because employers have set arbitrary requirements for degrees?

What do you gain from college?

Is attending college a "fad"?
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.

Aged Gaian

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Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?

Fanatical Zealot

College is important. Jobs aren't as important as the quality of jobs.

Is college that important? Honestly, if a person is interested in something, they're going to learn about it college or not.


Usually a person has some kind of interest or knowledge in something before pursuing studies.

In a lot of cases, college degrees are really just there for paper. To prove you did stuff. It's really important for formalities but college itself isn't necessarily learning.


Like Harvard is said to be a pretty sucky school if you want to learn, yet very prestigious.

It's worth it, but it's really hard and honestly I think the pay out should be better. Still, if you want a job at McDonalds, you need to get a college degree. xp

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Suicidesoldier#1
College is important. Jobs aren't as important as the quality of jobs.

Is college that important? Honestly, if a person is interested in something, they're going to learn about it college or not.


Usually a person has some kind of interest or knowledge in something before pursuing studies.

In a lot of cases, college degrees are really just there for paper. To prove you did stuff. It's really important for formalities but college itself isn't necessarily learning.


Like Harvard is said to be a pretty sucky school if you want to learn, yet very prestigious.

It's worth it, but it's really hard and honestly I think the pay out should be better. Still, if you want a job at McDonalds, you need to get a college degree. xp
You don't need a college degree to work at McDonalds.

Fanatical Zealot

frozen_water
Suicidesoldier#1
College is important. Jobs aren't as important as the quality of jobs.

Is college that important? Honestly, if a person is interested in something, they're going to learn about it college or not.


Usually a person has some kind of interest or knowledge in something before pursuing studies.

In a lot of cases, college degrees are really just there for paper. To prove you did stuff. It's really important for formalities but college itself isn't necessarily learning.


Like Harvard is said to be a pretty sucky school if you want to learn, yet very prestigious.

It's worth it, but it's really hard and honestly I think the pay out should be better. Still, if you want a job at McDonalds, you need to get a college degree. xp
You don't need a college degree to work at McDonalds.


You do in this economy. xp
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.

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Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.

Aged Gaian

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Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.
You can't get the same quality of education, college allows you to be taught by experts in the field and gives you access to materials you couldn't feasibly aquire on your own.
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
As has been said a million times, it depends on the degree you get.
I don't pay much creedance to the number of times something's been said.

And besides that, which degrees are better? Are you basing this on pay, educational value, something else?


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.
You can't get the same quality of education, college allows you to be taught by experts in the field and gives you access to materials you couldn't feasibly aquire on your own.


I disagree for the most part. Especially now that world renowned professors are posting free teaching videos. It is completely feasible to get the same quality of learning outside of college. Also, being taught by experts in the field really doesn't matter when you think about the fact that the vast majority of professors have no learning in education. I took far too many classes with a professor that was unable to teach properly and therefore I had to learn everything myself from the book and other resources.

Now there is one area where you are right about access of materials but that only applies to science which I already said was a subject a degree was needed in. See, most people do not have access to a lab so college is worth it then. But if you want to learn about lab science just for the sake of it I would suggest a community college or another cheap school.
It could land you more money depending on what you are going into and/or if it's technical college. It's proven you are more desirable if you have a degree rather than just your H.S Diploma. Not only that, but it's a good experience socially and give you time to adjust to living on your own and making your own decisions.

Aged Gaian

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Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.
You can't get the same quality of education, college allows you to be taught by experts in the field and gives you access to materials you couldn't feasibly aquire on your own.


I disagree for the most part. Especially now that world renowned professors are posting free teaching videos. It is completely feasible to get the same quality of learning outside of college. Also, being taught by experts in the field really doesn't matter when you think about the fact that the vast majority of professors have no learning in education. I took far too many classes with a professor that was unable to teach properly and therefore I had to learn everything myself from the book and other resources.

Now there is one area where you are right about access of materials but that only applies to science which I already said was a subject a degree was needed in. See, most people do not have access to a lab so college is worth it then. But if you want to learn about lab science just for the sake of it I would suggest a community college or another cheap school.
If you feel like you can get the same access from your home, you either went to a shitty college or didn't make good use of the one you were at.

Naturally lab materials are one of the benefits of college, but access extends far beyond that, my university alone pays over a million dollars (I believe a year) for access to scholarly journals and literature. The library alone is an amazing wealth of knowledge which still is not paralleled on the internet as of yet. (NOTE: I'll give the internet quantity of information any day, but quality is still to be found in hard copy.)

As to the online teacher comment, just because a few "world-renown" profs have posted some videos does not mean you can get college level education outside of a university. I believe the capabilities exist to provide such an education, but they have yet to be implemented to a point in which you can obtain them on par with a college education.

You seem to be applying merely the benefits of college as useful to a career, which is fine, but not what I'm getting at. If you're trying to address the practicality of college as a learning experience then there really isn't a comparison, aside from true world experience such as studying abroad.
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7


Art degrees are useless. Portfolio's are what are important. At most, taking a few classes is useful.

The various Sciences, Math and Engineering disciplines are where degrees matter. You have to have a degree to get a job in those fields, as it should be.

All other degrees fall in the middle. They can help but they also may not. And for some you can get by without a degree.

I base it on pay, jobs and my own experiences.
So degrees are valuable to the extent they help one get a job? College was initially education for education's sake. Is that no longer of value?


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.
You can't get the same quality of education, college allows you to be taught by experts in the field and gives you access to materials you couldn't feasibly aquire on your own.


I disagree for the most part. Especially now that world renowned professors are posting free teaching videos. It is completely feasible to get the same quality of learning outside of college. Also, being taught by experts in the field really doesn't matter when you think about the fact that the vast majority of professors have no learning in education. I took far too many classes with a professor that was unable to teach properly and therefore I had to learn everything myself from the book and other resources.

Now there is one area where you are right about access of materials but that only applies to science which I already said was a subject a degree was needed in. See, most people do not have access to a lab so college is worth it then. But if you want to learn about lab science just for the sake of it I would suggest a community college or another cheap school.
If you feel like you can get the same access from your home, you either went to a shitty college or didn't make good use of the one you were at.

Naturally lab materials are one of the benefits of college, but access extends far beyond that, my university alone pays over a million dollars (I believe a year) for access to scholarly journals and literature. The library alone is an amazing wealth of knowledge which still is not paralleled on the internet as of yet. (NOTE: I'll give the internet quantity of information any day, but quality is still to be found in hard copy.)

As to the online teacher comment, just because a few "world-renown" profs have posted some videos does not mean you can get college level education outside of a university. I believe the capabilities exist to provide such an education, but they have yet to be implemented to a point in which you can obtain them on par with a college education.

You seem to be applying merely the benefits of college as useful to a career, which is fine, but not what I'm getting at. If you're trying to address the practicality of college as a learning experience then there really isn't a comparison, aside from true world experience such as studying abroad.


I had a few really shitty professors. They were basically genius level people, they were physics professors, but they couldn't teach for s**t. There was one class I literally taught myself everything. Though I will say I am not an auditory learner so sitting in a class having someone talk at me doesn't help me learn at all.

I personally disagree with how stringent publishers are with access of their material honestly. I don't think you should have to pay for knowledge. You shouldn't have to pay for scholarly journals. BUT you still can get access to those journals on the internet. Legally you can pay for them. You can also get them illegally if you want as well. Isn't it better to just pay the fee for the papers you want to access rather than a university for access to all the papers, even ones you don't want?

You're not up to date with what's going on in the world of internet learning. I'm not talking about a few and I'm talking about professors from some of the top universities in the world. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.

And I say if you're just going to college as a learning experience it is not worth the money. I'm not saying it's not a special experience or that if people can afford it and want to they shouldn't go but just that people shouldn't be forced into debt they can never get out of just for that experience. If they want that type of learning experience go into the peace corp or another organization that either costs you far less or even nothing.

Magical Girl

Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7
frozen_water
Mei tsuki7


With the price of college now a days if you want to learn just for the sake of learning then you should do it on your own.
You can't get the same quality of education, college allows you to be taught by experts in the field and gives you access to materials you couldn't feasibly aquire on your own.


I disagree for the most part. Especially now that world renowned professors are posting free teaching videos. It is completely feasible to get the same quality of learning outside of college. Also, being taught by experts in the field really doesn't matter when you think about the fact that the vast majority of professors have no learning in education. I took far too many classes with a professor that was unable to teach properly and therefore I had to learn everything myself from the book and other resources.

Now there is one area where you are right about access of materials but that only applies to science which I already said was a subject a degree was needed in. See, most people do not have access to a lab so college is worth it then. But if you want to learn about lab science just for the sake of it I would suggest a community college or another cheap school.
If you feel like you can get the same access from your home, you either went to a shitty college or didn't make good use of the one you were at.

Naturally lab materials are one of the benefits of college, but access extends far beyond that, my university alone pays over a million dollars (I believe a year) for access to scholarly journals and literature. The library alone is an amazing wealth of knowledge which still is not paralleled on the internet as of yet. (NOTE: I'll give the internet quantity of information any day, but quality is still to be found in hard copy.)

As to the online teacher comment, just because a few "world-renown" profs have posted some videos does not mean you can get college level education outside of a university. I believe the capabilities exist to provide such an education, but they have yet to be implemented to a point in which you can obtain them on par with a college education.

You seem to be applying merely the benefits of college as useful to a career, which is fine, but not what I'm getting at. If you're trying to address the practicality of college as a learning experience then there really isn't a comparison, aside from true world experience such as studying abroad.


I had a few really shitty professors. They were basically genius level people, they were physics professors, but they couldn't teach for s**t. There was one class I literally taught myself everything. Though I will say I am not an auditory learner so sitting in a class having someone talk at me doesn't help me learn at all.

I personally disagree with how stringent publishers are with access of their material honestly. I don't think you should have to pay for knowledge. You shouldn't have to pay for scholarly journals. BUT you still can get access to those journals on the internet. Legally you can pay for them. You can also get them illegally if you want as well. Isn't it better to just pay the fee for the papers you want to access rather than a university for access to all the papers, even ones you don't want?

You're not up to date with what's going on in the world of internet learning. I'm not talking about a few and I'm talking about professors from some of the top universities in the world. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.

And I say if you're just going to college as a learning experience it is not worth the money. I'm not saying it's not a special experience or that if people can afford it and want to they shouldn't go but just that people shouldn't be forced into debt they can never get out of just for that experience. If they want that type of learning experience go into the peace corp or another organization that either costs you far less or even nothing.
[Informative]

Despite popular conception, the Peace Corps is not easy to join. Beyond desiring people with strong degrees and language experience, they prefer people with actual hands on experience in their fields, which someone fresh out of high school will almost invariably not have.

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