ChatterBank3 mins ago
Is College The Only Path To Success?
14 Answers
Just some background on me. I'm a 16 year old male with a 4.0 GPA. I am 1st chair saxophone in my county and a leader in marching band. I also participate on the political debate team at my school. I did drop out of scouts because I lost interest. My dad thinks the only path to success is college. I want to be a plumber but my dad keeps pushing college on me. No matter what I achieve, my dad is always disappointed in what I do and he basically worships the idea of college. He believes I need to be in the top 10 of my class (not 10%, top 10 people) and get at least a masters degree in order to land any type of job. Is this true?
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One can make a success of many different career paths if one can apply oneself and not be the sort that starts something and then drops out after a bit because they've lost interest. But paper qualifications are always nice as a backup to fall back on if needing a decently paid job at any point. It's your choice but college is worth considering before opting for and sticking to a specific career plan.
I suspect that you are American...I may be wrong! but I am the sort of person who believes that it is good to have a back up... it will not hurt you to have a college degree - assuming there is something out there that you would be interested in studying and to learn plumbing too...one does not preclude the other. Plumbers that I know generally find it hard on their joints as they get older and several have had to change career path...this is where a degree may help you. You can actually do both. If you do somethng at college relating to finance that may stand you in good stead when you are employing other plumbers in your business,for example
Do what you have a passion for. I have multiple siblings some of whom have Masters and some of whom have NO qualifications at all- all are gainfully employed and in two cases the unqualified earn more than the ones with degrees. I myself am doing moderately well without a degree in the performing arts so go with your heart. If you want to be a plumber, be a plumber, people will always have burst pipes.
There are different aspects to your situation to be considered, but some of these vary from country to country. There is the question of being able to earn enough to survive, even though there are people who survive throughout their lives without earning anything. Then there is the matter of your own preferences. One needs to have a realistic outlook or alternatively be willing to accept whatever life produces by way of events, circumstances, etc.
The main, perhaps the only, justification for formal assessment of people is to give prospective employers the opportunity to understand the applicant's strengths. Put yourself in the position of someone going through a large pile of applications - the easiest way to screen out some and reduce the choice is to set a criterion. In the overwhelming number of cases that will be on the basis of educational attainment, certificates. It was, among other things, the recognition of this that a worldwide push was made to put a maximum number of people through a system of examinations of some sort.
Around 50 years ago a degree would more or less guarantee access to the best jobs - that has now changed in large areas of the world. The reasons are complicated but broadly it has been said to be to do with a confusing variety of certificates (disciplines and titles), what they stand for (quality of education) and the sheer number of "certified" people among the population. There are by now plenty of cases where new thoughts regarding education have surfaced, such as the concept of someone having had too much of it. There is now unlikely to be any guarantee of employment at all times into old age, the current jobs market is too complex and too unpredictable. Two things come closest to perpetual certainty of work and they are, if in some way you work directly for a government (local or national) or else if you have a particular talent or ability in some field which continues to be strongly relevant as long as you live.
On the whole I would agree with what has already been said. It is worth getting a qualification unless it is going to be a torture to try, your chances of completing the course are uncertain, or the qualification is of doubtful usefulness (masters in hairdressing ?). Switching careers is becoming increasingly common and is no longer a source for mistrust or criticism.
If you think it is at least possible that you will become responsible for running a household with others (house, wife, children, the full catastrophe) then you need to think carefully about what that implies. The simple fact is that discovering later in life that you would like to (or perhaps even need to) have a qualification of some sort, then (based on millions of past examples) the likelihood of realistically being able to put the rest of life on pause and becoming a student again, and making a success of it, are quite slim. In practical terms it will be too late.
There will always be a need for people to do manual labour, absolutely without any certificated qualifications (until some "college" decides to issue such a thing). The labourer is not even responsible for his tools - quite a few would envy that freedom. The downside is that job security is very low as are the income prospects. Yes, there will always be a need for plumbers - but unless you are quite confident that this is what you want to do long term then you should be looking more broadly and choosing some form of education, that is simply the way the world ticks.
The choice is surely yours but please make it carefully.
The main, perhaps the only, justification for formal assessment of people is to give prospective employers the opportunity to understand the applicant's strengths. Put yourself in the position of someone going through a large pile of applications - the easiest way to screen out some and reduce the choice is to set a criterion. In the overwhelming number of cases that will be on the basis of educational attainment, certificates. It was, among other things, the recognition of this that a worldwide push was made to put a maximum number of people through a system of examinations of some sort.
Around 50 years ago a degree would more or less guarantee access to the best jobs - that has now changed in large areas of the world. The reasons are complicated but broadly it has been said to be to do with a confusing variety of certificates (disciplines and titles), what they stand for (quality of education) and the sheer number of "certified" people among the population. There are by now plenty of cases where new thoughts regarding education have surfaced, such as the concept of someone having had too much of it. There is now unlikely to be any guarantee of employment at all times into old age, the current jobs market is too complex and too unpredictable. Two things come closest to perpetual certainty of work and they are, if in some way you work directly for a government (local or national) or else if you have a particular talent or ability in some field which continues to be strongly relevant as long as you live.
On the whole I would agree with what has already been said. It is worth getting a qualification unless it is going to be a torture to try, your chances of completing the course are uncertain, or the qualification is of doubtful usefulness (masters in hairdressing ?). Switching careers is becoming increasingly common and is no longer a source for mistrust or criticism.
If you think it is at least possible that you will become responsible for running a household with others (house, wife, children, the full catastrophe) then you need to think carefully about what that implies. The simple fact is that discovering later in life that you would like to (or perhaps even need to) have a qualification of some sort, then (based on millions of past examples) the likelihood of realistically being able to put the rest of life on pause and becoming a student again, and making a success of it, are quite slim. In practical terms it will be too late.
There will always be a need for people to do manual labour, absolutely without any certificated qualifications (until some "college" decides to issue such a thing). The labourer is not even responsible for his tools - quite a few would envy that freedom. The downside is that job security is very low as are the income prospects. Yes, there will always be a need for plumbers - but unless you are quite confident that this is what you want to do long term then you should be looking more broadly and choosing some form of education, that is simply the way the world ticks.
The choice is surely yours but please make it carefully.
yes
your paw is right
those with college degrees in the UK on average earn during their lifetime £200 000 more than those who dont do college
I regard this figure as low
as for the fella above who was glorifying labouring
he had no idea how little they are paid
and anyway where you are you have 20m hispanics ready to use their picks and shovels
your paw is right
those with college degrees in the UK on average earn during their lifetime £200 000 more than those who dont do college
I regard this figure as low
as for the fella above who was glorifying labouring
he had no idea how little they are paid
and anyway where you are you have 20m hispanics ready to use their picks and shovels
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