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I think college/uni should be about personal growth and education first, career opportunities second. Can it help you get a job? Great. But that shouldn't be wh

I think college/uni should be about personal growth and education first, career opportunities second. Can it help you get a job? Great. But that shouldn't be why you do it; you should do it because you want to learn about the world. That said, since university is privatized, it's expensive, which sucks for society. So it's definitely going to be a consideration of whether it's affordable to learn or not.

danjoredd 4y ago
In a way I can agree with that, but we need to change the narrative. Instead of telling kids to go to college to get a job, we would need to change it to "go to college to learn interesting things." When we tell kids that, that's the expectation they will end up having when they go. The demand for college also has to go way down to make it more affordable, save for maybe an act on the government's part. Learning for learnings sake is great, but not $50k great.
- IceMetalPunk 4y ago
  > In a way I can agree with that, but we need to change the narrative. Instead of telling kids to go to college to get a job, we would need to change it to "go to college to learn interesting things." When we tell kids that, that's the expectation they will end up having when they go. 100% > The demand for college also has to go way down to make it more affordable, save for maybe an act on the government's part. Learning for learnings sake is great, but not $50k great. An act on the government's part, or less predatory institutions. Maybe both. But it's absolutely needed. Reducing demand for education because of finances is terrible.
  - danjoredd 4y ago
    I say decrease demand, because people are going to college for the wrong reason. People have been told that they cannot get a good job without a college education, and that is simply not true. Because everyone thinks thy need one in order to live comfortably, tons of people who otherwise would not think of going, or even want to go, end up going. This ends up raising the price, because universities know they can get away with it. If people were going strictly to learn, I would agree. At this point though, I think the only thing that is going to fix this situation is the government setting limits on tuition. Future generations are going to have it worse than even we have it unless something drastic changes the market.
    - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
      In an ideal society, the number of people who want to learn as much as possible about the world would equal the number of people in the population :D There definitely needs to be some sort of government-imposed improvement on the cost of higher education. In many European countries, university is free; if only we in the US could do something like that. However, I'm pessimistic about that ever being possible, because 'Murricans hate the idea of paying for anyone else in any way, even if it's only like $12/month from them for everyone in the country to get an education. (BTW, that figure comes from my recent calculations during conversations with folks about the recent student loan forgiveness announcement.) Basically, an educated society is better for everyone, but people in the US are generally selfish and childish enough to get actively angry if they're asked to help other people be more educated... or to help other people for any reason. It's like most Americans, or at least the most vocal, live in a society but think they are isolated from the world on a self-sustaining desert island or something.

danjoredd 4y ago

In a way I can agree with that, but we need to change the narrative. Instead of telling kids to go to college to get a job, we would need to change it to "go to college to learn interesting things." When we tell kids that, that's the expectation they will end up having when they go. The demand for college also has to go way down to make it more affordable, save for maybe an act on the government's part. Learning for learnings sake is great, but not $50k great.

IceMetalPunk 4y ago
> In a way I can agree with that, but we need to change the narrative. Instead of telling kids to go to college to get a job, we would need to change it to "go to college to learn interesting things." When we tell kids that, that's the expectation they will end up having when they go. 100% > The demand for college also has to go way down to make it more affordable, save for maybe an act on the government's part. Learning for learnings sake is great, but not $50k great. An act on the government's part, or less predatory institutions. Maybe both. But it's absolutely needed. Reducing demand for education because of finances is terrible.
- danjoredd 4y ago
  I say decrease demand, because people are going to college for the wrong reason. People have been told that they cannot get a good job without a college education, and that is simply not true. Because everyone thinks thy need one in order to live comfortably, tons of people who otherwise would not think of going, or even want to go, end up going. This ends up raising the price, because universities know they can get away with it. If people were going strictly to learn, I would agree. At this point though, I think the only thing that is going to fix this situation is the government setting limits on tuition. Future generations are going to have it worse than even we have it unless something drastic changes the market.
  - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
    In an ideal society, the number of people who want to learn as much as possible about the world would equal the number of people in the population :D There definitely needs to be some sort of government-imposed improvement on the cost of higher education. In many European countries, university is free; if only we in the US could do something like that. However, I'm pessimistic about that ever being possible, because 'Murricans hate the idea of paying for anyone else in any way, even if it's only like $12/month from them for everyone in the country to get an education. (BTW, that figure comes from my recent calculations during conversations with folks about the recent student loan forgiveness announcement.) Basically, an educated society is better for everyone, but people in the US are generally selfish and childish enough to get actively angry if they're asked to help other people be more educated... or to help other people for any reason. It's like most Americans, or at least the most vocal, live in a society but think they are isolated from the world on a self-sustaining desert island or something.