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> Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. That's exactly how colleges sell themselves. > The value-add for college should be in givin

> Colleges have never advertised themselves as employee factories. That's exactly how colleges sell themselves. > The value-add for college should be in giving people the ability to think for themselves; to figure things out. And yet they fail.

marquis 15y ago
I had an extraordinary experience at university, though I did not follow the same path professionally. It gave me a grounding in self-responsibility and access to a million kinds of wonders, and while I wish I had taken some CS and mathematics classes as my degree is heavily arts-based, I could pick these things up later auto-didactically (though it's a life long dream to return to get a CS degree). I don't think my education experience failed me at all and many of those around me: it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are.
- powertower 15y ago
  Then you and your circle of friends are the exception, not the rule. > it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are. Then you agree with me!
  - marquis 15y ago
    I don't downvote comments that spur conversion, please don't assume this. I also don't think I'm the exception: I would say most of my friends thoroughly enjoyed their higher education experience and got a lot out of it more than just learning practical knowledge that furthered their career. What's important about studying after high-school is that you find out that you love learning for the sake of it, with a group of people who are there by choice (unlike high school) and your horizons can be broadened immensely. Am I biased because I took a creative arts degree? Possibly, but I also took science classes and found the energy to learn there to be of the same calibre. On that note also: I didn't study in the U.S. and certainly not at a for-profit school. I concede that the experience may be completely different in other countries (though I've found Europe to be fairly homogenous in regards to their approach to learning: academic over career-oriented).

marquis 15y ago

I had an extraordinary experience at university, though I did not follow the same path professionally. It gave me a grounding in self-responsibility and access to a million kinds of wonders, and while I wish I had taken some CS and mathematics classes as my degree is heavily arts-based, I could pick these things up later auto-didactically (though it's a life long dream to return to get a CS degree). I don't think my education experience failed me at all and many of those around me: it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are.

powertower 15y ago
Then you and your circle of friends are the exception, not the rule. > it ultimately came down to personal passion to make the most of where you are. Then you agree with me!
- marquis 15y ago
  I don't downvote comments that spur conversion, please don't assume this. I also don't think I'm the exception: I would say most of my friends thoroughly enjoyed their higher education experience and got a lot out of it more than just learning practical knowledge that furthered their career. What's important about studying after high-school is that you find out that you love learning for the sake of it, with a group of people who are there by choice (unlike high school) and your horizons can be broadened immensely. Am I biased because I took a creative arts degree? Possibly, but I also took science classes and found the energy to learn there to be of the same calibre. On that note also: I didn't study in the U.S. and certainly not at a for-profit school. I concede that the experience may be completely different in other countries (though I've found Europe to be fairly homogenous in regards to their approach to learning: academic over career-oriented).