"I got to where i am
As well without an education. Well I did go to school but didn’t even get into that field, so felt it was such a waste!"
I'm tired of listening to many Americans continuing to buy into the notion that if we don't go to college or finish college, we are somehow less educated and of lesser value than if we had a college degree. I am tired of the false sense of superiority given college graduates over non-graduates; especially in light of the quality of the college educated leaders we have running the show right now. Their example certainly does not speak well of college as environments that build leaders.
A dumber class of movers and shakers I have yet to find. Oh sure, there is always a dimwit in the gang. Just look to Ronald Reagan or most any Republican since. Never has the intellectual quality of Congress, the Judiciary, or the Executive Branch dipped so low as it has in the last six years. We are still dealing with these idiots and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Those of us who chose different paths other than the expected worn out trails that led us to college need to stop saying we are uneducated. Education is not what is in books. Education is not learning to pass tests or degrees. Education is an ongoing process that involves everything we see, hear, read and observe as we make it from one day to the next. Each and every one of us should be involved with whether we are teaching ourselves or in a classroom. Seems to me a person claiming they are uneducated is a convenient excuse pulled up to cover for well, usually shit that needs no covering. Its an admission they are not of the same caliber as the folks with the mortar board caps and tassles.
Bullshit.
Necessity and want are the two primary drivers of real education. Existing in an educational world because it is/was expected. "Everyone in our family went to college" is not the best reason to attend. There is no doubt that college holds the possibility of broadening one's horizons and possibly increasing one's chances for a good career. As to setting oneself up for the real world, college is only part of the puzzle. Information is useless until one knows how to apply it. Educating ourselves can show us what might be possible, but only hard work and tenacity will make that education work for us. If making money is the only reason to go to college; in my opinion, that is possibly the poorest reason of all.
Later .....................................
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Only one tune fit the post and more importantly, the mood I am in. Please enjoy "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. The song pretty much sums up the current quality and aim of conventional education today, yesterday, and well, like forever man.
8 comments:
I see it as a life long process, I'm still learning things.
ah, the school of hard knocks. I graduated head of the class.
Mike, yet you create your own false dichotomy as an attempt to refute the crowd that says to GO to college. Your argument in many ways is just as short sighted as the one that angered you.
People can become “educated” in all sorts of ways. College CAN be a way to become “educated” (or perhaps the word “wise” is more appropriate). Day-to-day work in a myriad of jobs CAN be a way to become “educated/wise”. There are very wise folks who did not go beyond the 8th grade….. and there are wise folks who have multiple advanced degrees. In the same way, there are idiots who have not gone beyond 8th grade as well as idiots who have multiple advanced degrees.
Being “wise” or “educated” is ALL about willingness to learn, eagerness to apply one’s self to learning, and devoting time to learning. Learning occurs across the lifespan….. it only stops when people chose to stop learning….. and that can happen anytime.
A degree is simply an ATTEMPT to demarcate an approximate level of learning that typically has been experienced by an individual. But, that “degree” presumes a person DID actively participate in working on learning. Not everyone tries to learn….. whether at a degree or in just day-to-day life experiences.
PipeTobacco
I may have misread a bit what you wrote. The quote you posted might have been the FaceBook quote, or it may have been from something else, I am not sure. But, that quote was the primary dichotomy. The speaker spoke of his/her college education as useless because it did not end up being his/her career. But, truthfully that is not the point of college if a person does immerse themselves into it. College is a program to help you find ways to think both more broadly and deeper on topics spanning life. It is not the only way this can be done of course…. but it is meant to be a prescribed method to ensure the opportunity to demonstrate that sort of growth in thinking if one works at it while attending college. Many people do not use college that way, but that is their loss. And, many people find ways in other facets of life TO develop that breadth and depth of thinking….. and that is wonderful and great as well.
The way I think about it is as follows….. a person can learn to read and learn to write on his/her own…. but it is easier, and often more rapid to do so in an educational setting like an elementary school. Both ways can be successful. But if a person purposefully resists and avoids working to learn….neither way is successful.
In the same way, a person can become “educated” (“wise”) in a variety of ways. College is simply a prescribed way in which one CAN do so, but it is not the only way. And people can choose to remain “uneducated” (“unwise”) in college or without college…. if they select to do so.
IMO, virtually all tRump base supporters are of the ilk where they avoid ANY sort of “education” (“wisdom”) because they prefer to NOT think….. and prefer to be led around by a nose ring like a bull.
PipeTobacco
BBC - Me too Billy. I hope to never lose the ability to learn, no matter where the education comes from.
yellowdoggranny - It seems "hard knocks" will either kick into gear previous lessons or deliver new ones. It took me awhile to appreciate that.
Pipe Tobacco - I thought my post was not an assault on Higher Education, but more of an opinion on the wide held public perception that a college degree means a smarter person than someone who did not attend or finish college.
Am I biased in this regard? I never really considered it, but yes, I probably am. I spent 3 1/2 years in college only to realize my path led elsewhere. I have no regrets, but over the years of observing and interacting with college graduates at older ages, many of them seem no smarter than the Trump minions you describe in your second comment.
Lack of knowledge is Ignorance. Inability to use acquired knowledge is stupidity. One can be fixed. The other it seems is not reparable.
I agree 100% that learning technical trades is very important and should be promoted much more. Learning a trade teaches one how to do something but must also teach how to learn and problem solve. Nothing stands still. Mechanics and plumbers are not what they were in my youth.
University ought to teach one how to think critically and how to learn at a higher level than a technical trade but too often it is treated as a glorified technical school to get one a career in that field.
A piece of paper demonstrates you can learn but what you do with it and if you continue to learn makes all the difference
\\Mike, yet you create your own false dichotomy as an attempt to refute the crowd that says to GO to college. Your argument in many ways is just as short sighted as the one that angered you.
I think there is different angle to it mentioned. Social. And economical.
When college education becames a mean to create a gap separating "high society" from plebeis.
And that way eradicates all true meaning out of such "education".
I seem to mange though out life.
Coffee is on and stay safe
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