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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 ]
< 1 2 3 4 5 >

Distinct Poster

I specifically could do what takes most people to learn in 4 years at a college in 1 year or less, if I had the books.
College is more used for economic opportunity,which involves specialization.
Do you really need college?
It depends on what you want to do with your life, really.

Do you need college to be successful?
Not necessarily, but probably.
If you want to start a small business or get into real estate or something you could conceivably be successful at, you don't really need a degree in anything (though it might help in some cases). You do, however, need a good work ethic, which some might say is more important than education.

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?
Certain fields require you to have a degree. Sometimes in a specific field of study, and sometimes not.

Some will claim that college can help you learn to structure your life and the way you think as well as providing you with information. For example, an English major would probably be able to write all this better than I can.
More generally, some would claim that having the responsibility to balance your own workload help people be more responsible and independent. This point is clearly debatable and is hugely subjective, but it still is argued that gaining these qualities can help you be successful, just as much as the information that you would absorb.

What do you gain from college?
See above for one point.
For another, obviously, a job in your field of study. If you picked the right field of study.
With the prices of tuition in the US (Canada is still pretty reasonable), one can usually simply not afford to get an education for education's sake. It has to be a cost/payoff calculation, otherwise you end up like this lady who ought reasonably to have known that a PhD in medieval history would only net her a bare-bones teaching job, or these kids who ought reasonably to have known that their art degrees wouldn't get them very far. Both of these examples have people on welfare and food stamps who still have to pay off massive student loans that got them nowhere. Loans, which, by the way, are often not erased by personal bankruptcy proceedings.


Is attending college a "fad"?
If so it's been a fad for a long, long time.
Posties
I specifically could do what takes most people to learn in 4 years at a college in 1 year or less, if I had the books.
College is more used for economic opportunity,which involves specialization.

Fun fact: MIT, and probably other colleges, have their entire courseload available for free online.

Distinct Poster

Telor II
Posties
I specifically could do what takes most people to learn in 4 years at a college in 1 year or less, if I had the books.
College is more used for economic opportunity,which involves specialization.

Fun fact: MIT, and probably other colleges, have their entire courseload available for free online.
surprised
That made me really happy.

Heroic Phantom

The only thing I've seen from people with their so called "degree's" is just superiority complexes. Not everybody has the opportunity to go to college. I myself have only a high school education, yet make $48.50/hour. So saying that it's impossible for undereducated people is ridiculous. That being said, if university/college whatever were readily available and inexpensive I'd jump all over it.
Do you really need college?
No, it's not a 100% necessity. It will help a great portion of the people that attend and graduate, especially ones that don't wish to have a blue collar career.

Do you need college to be successful?
Once again no, but it will make life much tougher for the average person that chooses not to pursue additional education, whether academic or vocational.

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?
Both. Access to experts in your field of interest, good resources, and the ability to make contacts within the field of work you're looking for is something that will be much harder without going to college or vocational school. That being said, companies are always going to want to get access to those people that have the specialized skills if they can find them. Hence why they can place college degrees as a minimum, and can get college degree holders for jobs that may qualify as "underemployment."

What do you gain from college?
If done right, specialized knowledge in a field you enjoy, with contacts to help you gain employment, plus various life experiences that are less likely to be obtained if you had to go from high school to the "real world."

Is attending college a "fad"?
No. Most corporate employers are demanding that you at least went to college to prove you have what it takes to get through years of higher education. If it were a fad, the demand would have weakened for this considering colleges have been around for centuries.

Partying Genius

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frozen_water


I need to, because I'm taking up electronics engineering. I'll be missing out on a lot if I don't get formal education.

your big bro's Significant Otter

Icy Rogue

I need some semblance of an undergraduate education to get into medical school. And during the course of said undergraduate education, I will learn things, especially from lab classes.

However, that does not mean that there isn't something seriously wrong with the college education system.

I go to a top tier school and I am less than impressed by the teaching of pre-med classes. I essentially just end up learning everything in my own time. There is something seriously wrong about having to pay for a crappier education than I got for free in high school, in addition to textbooks--which were also free in high school.

But at the moment, there's no way out of this system for certain careers.

Tricky Conversationalist

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blackcyclamens
frozen_water


I need to, because I'm taking up electronics engineering. I'll be missing out on a lot if I don't get formal education.


Even formal education in electronics still lacks.

You'd be better off in software. I'm a hobbyist electronics technician and I do repairs on common appliances and equipment. There's hardly enough business to even have a name. Once in a while I'll remove some viruses or fix a microwave.....that's it.

Unless you can repair phones, that business is rocking right now.

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chainmailleman
blackcyclamens
frozen_water


I need to, because I'm taking up electronics engineering. I'll be missing out on a lot if I don't get formal education.


Even formal education in electronics still lacks.

You'd be better off in software. I'm a hobbyist electronics technician and I do repairs on common appliances and equipment. There's hardly enough business to even have a name. Once in a while I'll remove some viruses or fix a microwave.....that's it.

Unless you can repair phones, that business is rocking right now.


My father would always tell me that you can't learn everything in school. He would always tell me to also learn on my own. My father also told me to learn both software and hardware, and I think the university I'm going to teaches programming, so it's fine.

Hilarious Prophet

Telor II
Do you really need college?
It depends on what you want to do with your life, really.

Do you need college to be successful?
Not necessarily, but probably.
If you want to start a small business or get into real estate or something you could conceivably be successful at, you don't really need a degree in anything (though it might help in some cases). You do, however, need a good work ethic, which some might say is more important than education.

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?
Certain fields require you to have a degree. Sometimes in a specific field of study, and sometimes not.

Some will claim that college can help you learn to structure your life and the way you think as well as providing you with information. For example, an English major would probably be able to write all this better than I can.
More generally, some would claim that having the responsibility to balance your own workload help people be more responsible and independent. This point is clearly debatable and is hugely subjective, but it still is argued that gaining these qualities can help you be successful, just as much as the information that you would absorb.

What do you gain from college?
See above for one point.
For another, obviously, a job in your field of study. If you picked the right field of study.
With the prices of tuition in the US (Canada is still pretty reasonable), one can usually simply not afford to get an education for education's sake. It has to be a cost/payoff calculation, otherwise you end up like this lady who ought reasonably to have known that a PhD in medieval history would only net her a bare-bones teaching job, or these kids who ought reasonably to have known that their art degrees wouldn't get them very far. Both of these examples have people on welfare and food stamps who still have to pay off massive student loans that got them nowhere. Loans, which, by the way, are often not erased by personal bankruptcy proceedings.


Is attending college a "fad"?
If so it's been a fad for a long, long time.
I want to be a trillionaire philanthropist.
Not if you don't want to end up in debt.
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?
I got a Degree in game Design and was told in a speech made by the CEO of Ubisoft "I don't care if you went to school for 10 days or 10 years I want to see what you can do" so it's not always about the education, at least in the design field. It's all about your portfolio.
You need college, and a good degree.

I was pre-law for a long time, and then I changed to philosophy and mathematics, then I finally decided to get multiple degrees until I could decide if I was going down the B.S in Chemistry/Mathematics (Essentially premed for Psychiatry) or Trial Law, or Food sciences, or Operations management/accounting.

I don't plan to finish my schooling in the United States if I have the power too. I'd like to study in Germany after I master the language, and possibly study German Engineering or German Medicine at the University of Munich.

The jobs are there if you don't go to college, but I would recommend at least everyone gets an associates or a certificate of achievement in something reputable. You can make a livable wage as a plumber or in a trade job, but I don't know how long those will hold up with Right to Work coming in everywhere.

Heroic Phantom

Trialist
You need college, and a good degree.

I was pre-law for a long time, and then I changed to philosophy and mathematics, then I finally decided to get multiple degrees until I could decide if I was going down the B.S in Chemistry/Mathematics (Essentially premed for Psychiatry) or Trial Law, or Food sciences, or Operations management/accounting.

I don't plan to finish my schooling in the United States if I have the power too. I'd like to study in Germany after I master the language, and possibly study German Engineering or German Medicine at the University of Munich.

The jobs are there if you don't go to college, but I would recommend at least everyone gets an associates or a certificate of achievement in something reputable. You can make a livable wage as a plumber or in a trade job, but I don't know how long those will hold up with Right to Work coming in everywhere.

Besides the whole debt thing, about going to college. Loans and such... what's the point of it? Getting all those degrees and what not really just looks like you want to be a student the rest of your life. How easy is it to get a job related to your degree and what not? Don't employers still want experience? That's pretty BS really and a horrible cycle.

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