“I suppose it is because nearly all children go to school nowadays and have things arranged for them that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas.” – Agatha Christie
This sounds like blasphemy, but logic sways on how ineffective college and school really is. For starters, school is an institution that is has no flexibility. All the students are treated the same. The grade system is useless because it’s based on nothing. It’s based on numbers, not effectiveness in the real world. The reason I say that college is a waste of time instead of a waste of money is because time is more important than money. Although, it’s still a waste of money as well.
Key Points
- Collage is a business. College puts people in debt that often spans on for a lifetime
- There are too many “filler” requirement classes that are irrelevant to the individual’s goal
- College doesn’t guarantee employment
- Most people go to college to increase their chances for higher paying jobs, yet employment is sub optimal
- Going to college doesn’t make someone smarter. Information is not knowledge
College is a Waste of Time
Most people go to college to get their degree, gunning to get a high pay job when they graduate. In the end, money is what most people are after. Now I say most people because there are a few exceptions. Those who go to college to become doctors or programmers may genuinely like doing what they’re doing. Those on the other hand who go to school in hopes of landing a high paying career are roaring towards the path of inefficiency.
College is a Waste of Money
College is not only a waste of time, but it’s a waste of money. A lot of people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on school. Subtract that debt from their pay their college degree got them and the numbers are not pleasing. How many years will you have to work to start making more money? Probably not until all of the debt is paid off. The whole point of college is to set people up for higher paying jobs. Unfortunately, employment is an inefficient choice of income.
What if I open a food cart down the street and make $400.00 a day on average and $1,200.00 on weekends? I make more than a college graduate on average, I have more flexibility and probably my own rules. Now what if I don’t want to be a food vendor you say? Well, what if I find a college kid that needs some extra cash and pay him $100 a day to run my cart on weekdays and $200 to run it on weekends? I have extra time on my hands to make more money and enjoy my hobbies while the kid gets extra money. Everyone here is happy.
College Doesn’t Make you Smarter
There’s no such thing as being “smart”. There is experience that you can get in a specific field and there is information that you can remember. Memorizing information that is hardly used has no use. Gaining experiences that are also not used in most situations is also an ineffective use of time.
A lot of time in college, people are forced to take courses that are irrelevant to their lifestyle or goals. If I learn calculus and advanced math, but I work as an advertising agent, what was the point? I just wasted my time. Taking English literature classes and psychology when my major is accounting is also a complete waste of time. College is a business that brings in billions a year.
College Saps Your Creativity
College is an institution. When people are institutionalized, weird things begin to happen. They being to think and act alike. When people are institutionalized for so long, they being to lose their identity and place it in their institution. There is no room for creativity. People are now restricted to that flow of information and the social lifestyle to follow.
Building a business or finding a passive source of income for someone that has been indoctrinated into the college lifestyle will be intimidating. This is because they don’t have the slightest idea how to do so. College doesn’t teach people how to make money effectively and efficiently. College, for the most part, teaches people to follow instructions and be good, obedient employees. You can check out this other interesting article on how college is a waste of time and see yet another (similar) point of view on the matter.
PLat says
Thank you for saying what I’ve been thinking for years now. I’m in my last semester of college for an ENGLISH degree which is a colossal waste of time. The only reason I ever signed up for this was because as a natural writer, I wanted something that would allow me to explore my creativity. What I got was English courses that are focused on 19th century literature and a complete lack of creativity. Even in the “creative writing” courses, genre writing(I do post-apocalyptic and fantasy) was laughed at, looked down upon, and always critiqued harshly. It wasn’t that my writing was bad, but that they didn’t like reading about zombies, or aliens, or elves. And this was perpetuated by the ONLY Creative writing teacher.
To make matters worse, there was a 4-continuous semester foreign language course requirement. For an ENGLISH degree. What a waste of my time and life. If I wanted to learn a language, I would go out and learn a goddamned language.
You really hit it on the head with this article and I find it comforting to know I’m not the only one who thinks this. I will not be forcing my kids into college like my parents did for me. There’s plenty of opportunity to be had, without paying a college entity to certify you as being capable of “learning” something.
Yeah. Really learning something when I talk to a Finance major in his last semester and he can’t do basic arithmetic.
Amir Aribokill says
I’m glad you enjoyed this article and share the same view! It’s a very frustrating thing to go to college (i did as well) and then eventually find out that I unconsciously stumbled into bullshi’t. It’s very admirable that you learned so well from your experiences!
TiggaPlease says
It’s not just about going to college. It’s about going to a GOOD college. Going to college isn’t impressive in today’s society. Almost anyone can get in somewhere. Going to a reputable college will probably remain impressive for a long time. So my question is did you go to a school that’s ranked high in the United States in terms of academics? Also, you seem to have an incorrect view on knowledge. College provides knowledge it doesn’t make you smarter, instead it provides you with knowledge that you must then interpret and use in ways that you must choose. Obviously the college system has plenty of faults, but unless you are a genius, college is necessary to get the shot at the job you probably want.
DesuMaiden says
I agree with your verdict. You just spend a ton of time memorizing a bunch of mostly useless information for your college courses. I wasted 5 years and $35,000 dollars in college for a BA in psychology. Luckily, my parents have a high income, so I didn’t have to go into any debt and student loans to pay for my college education, because they paid for my education.
I even realized (after finishing my first year of university) that I was learning far more from the Internet than I did from my liberal arts courses. But I still continued with college only because so many jobs needlessly require a college degree before you can even be considered for employment.. I might go to teaching college next year or the year after that. Other than that, I think my college education was mostly a waste of time.