For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time

[maat55]

Originally Posted by cargirl86

Just because you don't think certain aspects of a college career are necessary doesn't mean that it's "nonsense" or "junk." That may be your opinion, but please keep in mind that some of us worked incredibly hard to attain our college education, and comments like that are a bit insulting.

I'm in no way discrediting those who have earned their degree. Yes, they had to work hard for it. My beef is that they had to work more and pay more than is necessary. My daughters were forced to take useless classes with nutty professors preaching gobbldygook. On two occations, they felt the need to drop classes. Just the price in books are rediculous.

IMO, highschool is where you get your English, history, spanish etc. College forces you to take electives, I would elect to save the money and time.

[DebtFreeMe2]

Although I do agree that today’s colleges overall are overpriced (education has simply become another product to be sold) and many of the colleges are overrun with elitists that have a lot of theory in their heads but very little actual experience doing what they are supposed to be experts about.

The truth is that society thrives on measuring sticks. Whether it's the amount of money you make, the car you drive, or the job you have, people categorize and place different levels of significance to each.

In the world of education that measuring stick is the BA or BS degree, does that mean that the person that has a BS in something is better or smarter that someone that has only a high school diploma? NO, but it is the quickest measuring stick people and businesses have, for what you know and what you can do.

As to the fluff classes you end up having to take, I think overall they are a waste of time, but the folks that run the world of education like things like art, so they believe it's important for everyone. I’m sure if my Uncle ran a college, there would be a mandatory class on NASCAR racing, because everyone cares about it as much as he does. Those that build the system get to create the rules.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by maat55

My daughters were forced to take useless classes with nutty professors preaching gobbldygook.

If that is true, that's a problem with that particular school, not the system in general. I was required to take a certain number of credits in certain departments, but it was up to me to choose how I fulfilled those requirements. I was never forced to take any particular class with any specific instructor. It was always my choice, so I chose classes that interested me with professors about whom I had heard good things.

[maat55]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

If that is true, that's a problem with that particular school, not the system in general. I was required to take a certain number of credits in certain departments, but it was up to me to choose how I fulfilled those requirements. I was never forced to take any particular class with any specific instructor. It was always my choice, so I chose classes that interested me with professors about whom I had heard good things.

My younger daughter had a class where the instructor never taught anything on the subject of the course. He did try to teach that he was waiting for aliens to come back to earth. I'll get some of the information from my daughter and post it later.

[cschin4]

I think it is time to rethink the entire education system. There is good and bad. There are some degrees that absolutely require additional education. But, I think the luxury days of getting some general degree just for the sake of it are over unless one comes from a wealthy family. There is simply too much useless info in college courses. There is no reason why someone cannot start studying their major from the get-go other than this useless unchanging beauracracy.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cschin4

There is simply too much useless info in college courses. There is no reason why someone cannot start studying their major from the get-go other than this useless unchanging beauracracy.

I'm not sure what you consider useless, but I don't think I would classify any of my college courses as having been useless. I learned something in each and every one of them.

As for studying one's major from the start, I certainly did that in college. I was a Biology major and I had science classes from day one. There is no possible way that I would have wanted to have multiple science classes in one semester instead of the liberal arts stuff in order to get my degree sooner. The workload was tremendous as it was. More science classes at once would have been nearly impossible.