I have heard casual, tossed about complaints from time to time that that college does not have a whole lot to do with real life.
"College" is accused of being a specially constructed little enclave that shields middle-class white kids from having to deal with the real world; it is essentially allowing teenagers to have an extended adolescent experience of pampering and sheltering; it is just allowing them to live in an enmeshed cocoon that mimics the *privileges* of living in Mom and Dad's house, food, room, and board included -- with none of the responsibilities, such as cleaning and chores. This lasts until age 22, or maybe 23 or 24 or 25 if the kid is really lazy.
I know there are tons of other bad and unrealistic influences in a kid's life, such as hollywood/media. But I would like to focus on the universities.
These nonchalant mentions are mostly by the grace of rednecks who could not afford to go to four-year college, come from a long line of not-college-attendees, and went to vocational school to learn a useful employable trade instead. But this observation is nonetheless very intriguing. Academia is mostly irrelevant to real life, and as such it does very little to prepare kids for the real world.
The colleges themselves are never heard to make these declarations for obvious reasons. Weirdly enough, a lot of political talking heads also constantly thump the notion that college is absolutely essential to anyone who wants to grow up.
Now that I have graduated and finished with college and I have been working, I realize how even more irrelevant a lot of college is to real life.
I already knew this truth held forth for any given liberal arts major. Any of the social studies, the visual and performing arts, the humanities, etc. are essentially crap.
It is very odd that four-year colleges and universities do not have job placement services. What do the universities think the kids are supposed to do with those degrees once the mortarboard is on their heads and the sheep vellum is in their hands?
That higher academia seems to be of the mindset of, "It's not our problem if the kid can't get employed. We did our job by teaching the kid whatever the hell crap major he/she picked. We just want the kids' parents' money. We don't care if the kid gets any realistic benefit for finishing the degree."
Well, now, I still think what I thunk before. That is mostly the kid's own fault for choosing a crap major that will not net him/her a job. Seriously, what did these kids think they were going to college for, if not for a job?
---
The college thinks it is soo very smart making students dig and delve for deeper meaning in poetry, hike the mountains of philosophy, and go spelunking into the caves of modern art.
-But colleges do not teach students what to do if someone is having a heart attack.
Call 911?
It would take an ambulance at least two minutes to get to a heart attack patient. And in a life or death situation such as this, absolutely no time can be spared. Milliseconds count.
-Colleges do not have a required course on managing personal finances. Retirement account? How is an IRA or a 401k calculated, accumulated, assessed, etc.? Colleges should include a course on practical personal finances, and should require this as part of the first two years of general education.
I learned all of this from my parents and some on my own by reading a lot. But most college kids do not have the wherewithal to do their own research.
Actually, full confession. I feel it is a better idea if high schools include in their curriculum a course on personal finances. Forget waiting until college to arm kids with this knowledge. Kids need to know this info *before* graduating from high school. I already had this opinion way back when I was in high school myself.
If kids are going to be of legal voting age, and most are going to be thusly upon entering college, then they need to already be armed with this vital knowledge.
-Mortgages, credit card
-How is your credit score calculated by each of the three major credit reporting bureaus?
-Continuing on the personal finances, colleges do not teach kids exactly how utility bills are calculated. How is electricity usage calculated? How is water usage calculated? WHOO exactly provides these amenities? The only answer we hear all the time is that the "city" provides these utilities.
(Crickets chirping.) The city is not a physical entity. Try again.
Um, the electric cooperative? The city water tank? Okay, that's a start.
How exactly are your taxes spent? We know vaguely that money is allocated to public schools in the city districts. We know the police station___ public library.
Now, the obvious objection to all of this will pop up -- namely, that none of this is the college's job. It is all the responsibility of the kid who is of college age to find out how to manage their own life, including their own personal finances.
Hmm. Isn't that interesting? This simply rounds about to my very original query. If "college" does not provide any of this practical, useful information for real life, then let me repeat. What is the point of kids being obligated to attend college?
---
I just realized that colleges have a very good reason for not teaching their students about how loans and credit history work. Colleges pointedly, purposely have a specific agenda not to teach kids about personal finances, financial responsibility, and frugality. First of all, if you don't know me by now, you should know that I am somewhat pessimistic and I am always suspicious. I always scrunch my nose and my eyes and I start sniffing around for an ulterior motive.
The truth is that if colleges really did teach students about personal financial responsibility including loans and credit history, it would most likely result in something against the colleges. The first thing students of this discipline would do is shake themselves awake from the hypnotic haze and think, "Wait a minute. Why am I borrowing all these tens of thousands of dollars, screwing my credit history down the sewer, especially for a crap liberal arts degree that will not translate into any useful skills in real life?"
[[it is a horrible tactic]]]
I know I'm pinpointing colleges/universities, and there is a good reason for this. I am purposely holding the universities to a higher standard than that of pop culture garbage. Pop culture, entertainment, holywood is simply that-- garbage. I do not expect anything to emerge from there that is remotely useful or relevant to the human experience. Those are socially reprehensible and morally bereft of any usefulness.
Universities, on quite the other hand, were established for the express purpose to be a pillar of civilization. They are meant to be one of the few supportive structures upon which humanity rests.
They have been established for the ultimate purpose of upholding standards of decorum and of cognitive fortitude, stretching and expanding the horizons, all that good stuff. They are supposed to be bastions of education, fount of knowledge. They are supposed to be the guardians of wisdom, morality, of truth.
"College" is accused of being a specially constructed little enclave that shields middle-class white kids from having to deal with the real world; it is essentially allowing teenagers to have an extended adolescent experience of pampering and sheltering; it is just allowing them to live in an enmeshed cocoon that mimics the *privileges* of living in Mom and Dad's house, food, room, and board included -- with none of the responsibilities, such as cleaning and chores. This lasts until age 22, or maybe 23 or 24 or 25 if the kid is really lazy.
I know there are tons of other bad and unrealistic influences in a kid's life, such as hollywood/media. But I would like to focus on the universities.
These nonchalant mentions are mostly by the grace of rednecks who could not afford to go to four-year college, come from a long line of not-college-attendees, and went to vocational school to learn a useful employable trade instead. But this observation is nonetheless very intriguing. Academia is mostly irrelevant to real life, and as such it does very little to prepare kids for the real world.
The colleges themselves are never heard to make these declarations for obvious reasons. Weirdly enough, a lot of political talking heads also constantly thump the notion that college is absolutely essential to anyone who wants to grow up.
Now that I have graduated and finished with college and I have been working, I realize how even more irrelevant a lot of college is to real life.
I already knew this truth held forth for any given liberal arts major. Any of the social studies, the visual and performing arts, the humanities, etc. are essentially crap.
It is very odd that four-year colleges and universities do not have job placement services. What do the universities think the kids are supposed to do with those degrees once the mortarboard is on their heads and the sheep vellum is in their hands?
That higher academia seems to be of the mindset of, "It's not our problem if the kid can't get employed. We did our job by teaching the kid whatever the hell crap major he/she picked. We just want the kids' parents' money. We don't care if the kid gets any realistic benefit for finishing the degree."
Well, now, I still think what I thunk before. That is mostly the kid's own fault for choosing a crap major that will not net him/her a job. Seriously, what did these kids think they were going to college for, if not for a job?
---
The college thinks it is soo very smart making students dig and delve for deeper meaning in poetry, hike the mountains of philosophy, and go spelunking into the caves of modern art.
-But colleges do not teach students what to do if someone is having a heart attack.
Call 911?
It would take an ambulance at least two minutes to get to a heart attack patient. And in a life or death situation such as this, absolutely no time can be spared. Milliseconds count.
-Colleges do not have a required course on managing personal finances. Retirement account? How is an IRA or a 401k calculated, accumulated, assessed, etc.? Colleges should include a course on practical personal finances, and should require this as part of the first two years of general education.
I learned all of this from my parents and some on my own by reading a lot. But most college kids do not have the wherewithal to do their own research.
Actually, full confession. I feel it is a better idea if high schools include in their curriculum a course on personal finances. Forget waiting until college to arm kids with this knowledge. Kids need to know this info *before* graduating from high school. I already had this opinion way back when I was in high school myself.
If kids are going to be of legal voting age, and most are going to be thusly upon entering college, then they need to already be armed with this vital knowledge.
-Mortgages, credit card
-How is your credit score calculated by each of the three major credit reporting bureaus?
-Continuing on the personal finances, colleges do not teach kids exactly how utility bills are calculated. How is electricity usage calculated? How is water usage calculated? WHOO exactly provides these amenities? The only answer we hear all the time is that the "city" provides these utilities.
(Crickets chirping.) The city is not a physical entity. Try again.
Um, the electric cooperative? The city water tank? Okay, that's a start.
How exactly are your taxes spent? We know vaguely that money is allocated to public schools in the city districts. We know the police station___ public library.
Now, the obvious objection to all of this will pop up -- namely, that none of this is the college's job. It is all the responsibility of the kid who is of college age to find out how to manage their own life, including their own personal finances.
Hmm. Isn't that interesting? This simply rounds about to my very original query. If "college" does not provide any of this practical, useful information for real life, then let me repeat. What is the point of kids being obligated to attend college?
---
I just realized that colleges have a very good reason for not teaching their students about how loans and credit history work. Colleges pointedly, purposely have a specific agenda not to teach kids about personal finances, financial responsibility, and frugality. First of all, if you don't know me by now, you should know that I am somewhat pessimistic and I am always suspicious. I always scrunch my nose and my eyes and I start sniffing around for an ulterior motive.
The truth is that if colleges really did teach students about personal financial responsibility including loans and credit history, it would most likely result in something against the colleges. The first thing students of this discipline would do is shake themselves awake from the hypnotic haze and think, "Wait a minute. Why am I borrowing all these tens of thousands of dollars, screwing my credit history down the sewer, especially for a crap liberal arts degree that will not translate into any useful skills in real life?"
[[it is a horrible tactic]]]
I know I'm pinpointing colleges/universities, and there is a good reason for this. I am purposely holding the universities to a higher standard than that of pop culture garbage. Pop culture, entertainment, holywood is simply that-- garbage. I do not expect anything to emerge from there that is remotely useful or relevant to the human experience. Those are socially reprehensible and morally bereft of any usefulness.
Universities, on quite the other hand, were established for the express purpose to be a pillar of civilization. They are meant to be one of the few supportive structures upon which humanity rests.
They have been established for the ultimate purpose of upholding standards of decorum and of cognitive fortitude, stretching and expanding the horizons, all that good stuff. They are supposed to be bastions of education, fount of knowledge. They are supposed to be the guardians of wisdom, morality, of truth.
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