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If you have an opportunity to go to a really top-end school, sure, take it. That's really valuable. But remember, that's not an opportunity most people have.

by lsc 11y ago

If you have an opportunity to go to a really top-end school, sure, take it. That's really valuable. But remember, that's not an opportunity most people have. Don't pretend that a degree from the school you see advertised on daytime TV is the same sort of product. This, I think, is the "big lie" about college. The idea that a poor person with a degree from a shitty college is going to have even just the opportunities that I had[1]... is a lie. There's really no other way to put it. Sure, if you can get into a really good college and make sure you work your way into a peer group of successful people? It can be a great leg up. Hell, if I thought I could get into Stanford, I'd take four years off right now[2]. But going to the sort of college your average poor person is going to go to, and being around other people in that same situation isn't going to get you the opportunities I got for just being born. [1]to be clear, My parents were pretty solidly middle class, not rich. So am I. I'm a competent but not great sysadmin/programmer; I didn't go to college, but I had all of the advantages that your average kid who goes to a mid-level college would have. [2]But the sort of mid-level school that would accept a mid-level middle-class mid-achieving guy like me? Maybe a nice UC? Yeah, four years at your average mid-level school isn't going to increase my salary any more than four years of changing my job to focus on the more in-demand bits of my industry. Probably a lot less, in fact. I mean, it sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't know if it's half a million bucks in fun.

joshmn 11y ago
Incredibly well said. My parents — probably like yours — are very traditional. And in so, they are convinced that having that piece of paper means you're +$30k a year from the start <at least AND no matter what other circumstances> ( except outliers). I STILL hear this all the time... "when I was your age..." I reply, "yeah well when Barack Obama was your age, he was the first black President of the United States of America." When my parents were my age, they could go to school full-time at the University of Minnesota, have a minimum wage job, and at 16 hours a week they would be able to afford their education and living expenses. Those were the days where it made sense to have an education because it was such a great value at a very affordable price. BUT. Now, because it's so much easier to get <nearly free money> (a la student loans), Universities saw this as money in their pocket: Since students are getting money easier, that means it's easier for them to get an education; now that there's more money available, let's make more money for ourselves! It's a terrible fucking system.

by lsc 11y ago

joshmn 11y ago

Incredibly well said. My parents — probably like yours — are very traditional. And in so, they are convinced that having that piece of paper means you're +$30k a year from the start <at least AND no matter what other circumstances> ( except outliers). I STILL hear this all the time... "when I was your age..." I reply, "yeah well when Barack Obama was your age, he was the first black President of the United States of America." When my parents were my age, they could go to school full-time at the University of Minnesota, have a minimum wage job, and at 16 hours a week they would be able to afford their education and living expenses. Those were the days where it made sense to have an education because it was such a great value at a very affordable price. BUT. Now, because it's so much easier to get <nearly free money> (a la student loans), Universities saw this as money in their pocket: Since students are getting money easier, that means it's easier for them to get an education; now that there's more money available, let's make more money for ourselves! It's a terrible fucking system.