No one should be forced to do ANYTHING, be it the pursuit of knowledge or not. And why would college be the only place a person could go to attain that knowledge? Personally, I am a life-long student by nature. I have a BS in the hard sciences and I would go back in a heartbeat to get a degree in just about anything I could get my hands on if I could. But I do not believe college is the only place you can learn and I do not believe I came out the other end of my college experience with little more than a very expensive piece of paper that somehow has everyone convinced that I am more "educated" than anyone else who learns the exact same things in another way. I will encourage my children to go, but I will not try to force them. I WILL, however, do everything in my power to instill a desire to learn and to utilize every resource possible to attain that knowledge.

If everyone has a college degree, who is going to mow lawns, work on the roads, dig ditches, and work in convenience stores?

College is for those who want to go.

Hell, high school is hard enough for some.

Some have careers planned right after high school.

Knowledge is power only if you use it.

Knowing how air travels around certain curves in airplane models might be fun to know...will it help you out if you are a life long (insert job here that doesn't need this AT ALL).

If going to college will greatly help with your career, sure, why not. Or, if you WANT to go.

Forcing it...no. Then the next thing that will be required is graduate school.
What makes college different from high school is that it is not required. We might as well call it K-14 or K-16...then 4 years of "graduate" school, and more "learning" after that.

[edit on 4-7-2009 by FritosBBQTwist]

Halp! I cant afford college atm, I'm taking some courses at my local Community college as I can afford a few, but I will never be able to graduate with a degree. The only way I can attend college is if I take out student loans.

Are you suggesting that I put myself thousands of dollars in the hole as a 19 year old, and then be released into a failing economy to somehow pay my loans back?

The power company I worked for seemed to subscribe to the theory that, "we'll teach them what we want and need."

Generally, high school students who were bright, could pass basic tests and had some work experience as well as being married had no problems being hired for fairly technical jobs.

College students with the same basic background didn't have any problems getting hired either.

Since high voltage power systems can be complex to say the least, once you gained some experience you could go most anywhere in the company you wanted regardless of educational background before you entered the company.

What I'm trying to say here is that a college degree helped to a small extent, but a worker with four years of company experience would be preferred to a recently graduated college student.


I note that the comments made by colleges that a graduate would earn a million dollars more over their working lifetime than a person without such a degree has turned out not to be true.

Lots of ways to get an education and college is but one....

College is NOT for everyone.

Take me as a prime example: College is not for me.

There is not one argument you can make to me, that will change my mind. Not because it is closed, but because I don't chase my name, money, or a good job on which to waste away so many hours and days. So there is no point for me to go.

Education? I use college and university libraries, more than most students do. I also use the internet and many other sources. I think your education is poor, if you are really forced to go to a college to learn anything. You at least never learned how to truly learn, without the crutches.


All in all it's a sham and a scandal to say college is for everyone. I think it's a scandal they even exist.