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As someone who graduated from a top tier school, I'm constantly befuddled by society's expectation/belief that college degrees are useful. I learned absolutely

As someone who graduated from a top tier school, I'm constantly befuddled by society's expectation/belief that college degrees are useful. I learned absolutely nothing during my 4 years of undergrad that is practically useful to my current vocation, and I can say the same is true for 90% of my peers. For some areas of study, college IS worth the cost. For example, hard sciences. But, for the vast majority, it's not (think: business and administration, art, history, economics, etc.) I would guess that in 90% of cases, graduates would be more valuable to companies and potential employers if they spend those 4 years and $300K (tuition + lost wages) learning/practicing their specific trade/industry. So, when are we as a society going to realize that 90% of us are wasting 20% of our most productive years on useless learning? This really seems like a travesty to me.

bootlooped 8y ago
From my CS Bachelor's degree I think 15% or less of classes made me a better programmer, 15% or less made me a more well rounded individual, and the remainder were a total waste of time. I did it because I felt like I had to play the game to succeed in the way I wanted to, and I think playing along makes me a small part of the problem.
cortesoft 8y ago
I think the disconnect is that a university degree is NOT vocational training, and it never has been. What happened is that for a long time, only a certain class of people got to go to a university, and that class of people were the same ones that got the best jobs. In fact, many companies used a university degree as a filtering mechanism to select that class of person. Other classes saw this, and assumed that if they also got this degree, it would open up that other class. It worked for a bit, but soon there were simply too many people getting the degrees for it to work anymore as a way to select a limited group. It is no longer the gateway into a higher class lifestyle. At the same time, though, I think it is a bit dismissive to call the education useless. I learned a ton studying philosophy at a university, even if it doesn't directly apply that often to my work. It helped me understand the world, its history, and how we think. I am very glad I did it. However, it was not training me for a job. Not everything we do is for job training.
- smallgovt 8y ago
  I totally agree that college is a useful path to building critical thinking skills and becoming a well-rounded individual, but I don't think that's why most people enroll. Instead, I think if you surveyed people, the most prevalent reason for enrolling in college is the belief that it's a wise investment in their financial future. My belief is that this is just not true for 90% of potential graduates. And, wasting 4 years and $300K is a huge mistake when taken in the context of this college debt crisis. I don't know what the short-term solution is, but I think the long-term solution is for companies to stop requiring college degrees and move towards evaluating the skills that actually correlate with job output. As a business owner, I've certainly done this, and I hope we can move in this direction quickly as a society.

bootlooped 8y ago

From my CS Bachelor's degree I think 15% or less of classes made me a better programmer, 15% or less made me a more well rounded individual, and the remainder were a total waste of time. I did it because I felt like I had to play the game to succeed in the way I wanted to, and I think playing along makes me a small part of the problem.

cortesoft 8y ago

I think the disconnect is that a university degree is NOT vocational training, and it never has been. What happened is that for a long time, only a certain class of people got to go to a university, and that class of people were the same ones that got the best jobs. In fact, many companies used a university degree as a filtering mechanism to select that class of person. Other classes saw this, and assumed that if they also got this degree, it would open up that other class. It worked for a bit, but soon there were simply too many people getting the degrees for it to work anymore as a way to select a limited group. It is no longer the gateway into a higher class lifestyle. At the same time, though, I think it is a bit dismissive to call the education useless. I learned a ton studying philosophy at a university, even if it doesn't directly apply that often to my work. It helped me understand the world, its history, and how we think. I am very glad I did it. However, it was not training me for a job. Not everything we do is for job training.

smallgovt 8y ago
I totally agree that college is a useful path to building critical thinking skills and becoming a well-rounded individual, but I don't think that's why most people enroll. Instead, I think if you surveyed people, the most prevalent reason for enrolling in college is the belief that it's a wise investment in their financial future. My belief is that this is just not true for 90% of potential graduates. And, wasting 4 years and $300K is a huge mistake when taken in the context of this college debt crisis. I don't know what the short-term solution is, but I think the long-term solution is for companies to stop requiring college degrees and move towards evaluating the skills that actually correlate with job output. As a business owner, I've certainly done this, and I hope we can move in this direction quickly as a society.