Was your degree worth it?

[saltwater taffy]

Education is the way to economic freedom...............

 

[gbrandon]

saltwater taffy once bubbled...
Education is the way to economic freedom...............

Not really, I know many people that are smart, VERY smart, but are not in the slightlest bit motivated to apply any or that to further their income. Overall, education is to be taken like most other things in life, usefull up to a point, but dont abuse it. Im not saying quit learning, im saying that a motivated individual will be more successfull than a educated one. The motivated one will take the steps necessary to learn what he has to to be successfull. I know (of) people that have been in school over 30 years now and still have no job. They are afraid to go out into the real world. Student loans, living with parents, etc. School is simply a stepping stone into the world, thats not to be abused. Real world experience happens in the real world, not on a campus.

 

[CBulla]

saltwater taffy once bubbled...
Education is the way to economic freedom...............

I'm not wanting to start something, but at 64k in the hole and going up at a rate of $280 a month, after basic bills and other needs (food, gas, etc.) I'm left very little - no where near enough to even make a dent in the interest monthly. To think, I used to run stone crab traps, worked 3 half (1/2, .5, 50%) days a week, and made roughly the same as I do now (if not more)... now I work 50 hrs a week and hardly have the energy or care to want to do much else when its all said and done. If I had known this would have occured I wouldn't have sold my boats and stopped running traps, but I did and for as long as I can see I'm attached by the neck to the govenments "payback" options. When my son is old enough, I'll be explaining these options to him and hopefully he makes the intelligent choice and either gets a degree thats worth its weight (such as one of the Oceanic ones available through NOVA, UM, or Florida Atlantic where they work with NOAA in pursuit of their degree) or tech school to learn the hard and fast core essentials and not waste time and money on worthless fluff.

I heard the best description of what most colleges are anymore - Degree Mills. Why? Because there were people who aren't even able to write intelligable sentances, do basic algebra, or even meet the minimum requirements for colleges 30 years ago, but now... "sure, anyone can come". I know, I was surrounded by people who I felt I had to dumb down to communicate with. Maybe that was my problem, I didnt have faith enough in myself to try and get into a tougher school (at 19 I wasn't that confident in everything I did or wanted to do). Consequently,I chose the path of least (but highly encouraged) resistance and ended up at a local private college (it was the only one offering a 4yr degree) wasting my time in classes unchallenged by coursework and material, but being assured the whole time that the degree was necessary to get a good respectable job. Game on, guess what.. the job isn't there! Sure, I'm employed, but am I 100% happy? No. Again I am unchallenged, hardly have to think about what I do, and guess what? There isnt much chance to advance. At least while crabbing I had 5.5 other days I could work on other things that interested me! Oh, and I was the boss, and I was at the top, and if I wanted a raise, I would drop another 20 or 30 traps. If I really wanted to work it, I would pull all the traps in a day (instead of in the break down of 1/3, 1/3, 1/3) and rake in the $ heavy one day and be set the rest of the week for a light load. I can't do that now. All that knowlege I "gained" in college, 100% worthless. I've used 0% of it at work.. not even remotely.

Example - 3 economics classes, 2 of them reiterated the 1st one, but it was required. Havent even used it. Economics, Calc., multiple programming classes... haven't even touched it. Speech.. I was used to talking to groups and presenting anyway (I'm also a musician who plays cello, bass, guitar, and mid east rythm), so that class was a breeze; I have yet to present have a challenging presentation in my work place. Hardware, software, operating systems and networking - all useless since it only taught theory; Had I not started my own part time business then going to contracting, I would have been completely ill prepared for the work place. In fact, I learned more in 9 weeks of contracting than I had in the previous 3 years of college. At that point, with 5.5 years behind me, 165 credit hours of time vested, I called it quits to pursue real world options and start making this so called money. Its not there, never will be, and I resent all the lies that put me into the position that I am now, looking at possibly never paying off this debt which is haning over me like a black cloud and growing.

I'm fortunate enough to have chanced into nearly all of my dive gear inexpensively (freebies, inheriting, awesome sale at dive shop, etc.) and that my costs are gas and air. Otherwise something else would have been taken from me by the fallacy of higher educaion.

 

[scubasean]

Education merely opens doors...Its what you find through the doors that is important...

Some is luck, some is work....Bill Gates dropped out of school...but how many are there like him?

 

[CBulla]

Thats a very true statement, however, a "degree" does not necessarily denote education. No offense to those who truely earned a degree through hardwork and perseverance, but many of those I saw get "the paper" were no better off than when they went in and were merely monkeys going through their paces at the circus. I should write a masters thesis about this and get something funny with my credit hours since I have a large base of examples from where I completed coursework, have gone into for contract work, and currently draw my monthly stipend. Further supporting my theory is the fallacy of the human resources department.

Again, I fall back to my original position - had I not been so naive about what that all that time really was, I would have never have done it. I'd have kept my boats, kept my traps, still be living on the water, have NO DEBT, making just as much as I am now, and having a LOT more free time to do what I enjoy instead of wasting my days trying to pay back something that has no end. Dont think for a moment it is because I don't work hard either.

Am I resentful? Damn right I am. My two boats were ten times cheaper to maintain that trying to figure out where the money to pay back the student loans is. I didn't have stress headaches, I didnt have someone else to answer to, and the only thing that made my schedule was Mother Nature. Had I stuck with that instead of "doing the right thing" according to the encouragement of so many people, I'd be a lot happier job wise, and a lot less in debt.

 

[CBulla]

I should point out that I am in no way a against continuing education, research and studies, merely an oppugner of the train of thought that it is "necessary to succeed" and openly disappointed at the wide spread wreckless abandonment of solid requirements in order to attain certain levels of achievement opting instead for the theory of "pay us money, take some tests, and show up for X number of classes and you'll gain your degree". A trend I see in all but one degree program offered in this area (emt, nursing and paramedic). A trend I see in many colleges websites degree descriptions and course offerings.

 

[g8trdiver]

"Success is when Preparation meets Opportunity." - I tried to look up who first said that, but it seems to be claimed by a lot of people. The key, of course, is recognizing when you're presented with an opportunity you're prepared for!

I have advanced my education because I enjoy the challenge (doesn't everyone like to work 8-10 hours / day and then go to classes at night?), and the exchange of ideas, and sense of accomplishment. Especially if I'm not being challenged at work. True - when I got my Masters, my employer didn't jump up and say "Great - here's an extra $20,000".... and I didn't expect them to. However, the more I continue learning, the more prepared I feel to jump for whatever opportunities might come my way.

Same goes for continued training in Diving... Little did I know when I got my Rescue certification that years later, I'd want to volunteer as a diver at an aquarium, and Rescue is required to do that.... An opportunity I was prepared for!!!

 

[g8trdiver]

I thought I understood your < and > signs... Are you saying they got turned around?

Unfortunately, < and > are also symbols used in HTML code (used to display web pages). It's possible that your signs in the poll got turned around because they interfered with the parsing of the HTML tags.....???

 

[scubasean]

CBulla once bubbled...
I should point out that I am in no way a against continuing education, research and studies, merely an oppugner of the train of thought that it is "necessary to succeed" and openly disappointed at the wide spread wreckless abandonment of solid requirements in order to attain certain levels of achievement opting instead for the theory of "pay us money, take some tests, and show up for X number of classes and you'll gain your degree". A trend I see in all but one degree program offered in this area (emt, nursing and paramedic). A trend I see in many colleges websites degree descriptions and course offerings.

Formal education definitely isn't necessary for success, but I will say that I believe that more doors will be open with it than without.

--Sean

 

[CBulla]

Perhaps there is a location problem as well then.

Interesting side note: I've checked with HR and they don't even lookup your records or call to see if you do infact have a degree or not. Its a requirement, yet never asked to be presented for verification.