What I Actually Learned In College

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College is a scam. I think most people know that by now, but I hate the whole way college has been pushed on young people. We are presented with the idea that further education is the only way to go and to go that way you need to go into debt.

I went to school with so many people who went to college because that’s what they thought they were supposed to do. Only to drop out and work in a trade that they had an interest in before even going into college – which is perfectly FINE. But I hate that they felt they had to take out loans to go to school when they had a perfectly suitable career path lined up without it.

I didn’t learn anything about my current career in college. I learned almost nothing academically. My first two years were spent taking gen eds that I never used and even my major-focused courses were a complete joke. I can give props to two of my classes that I took for my concentration – New Media I and New Media II. These classes taught me how to blog and taught me html which was very useful. I will give an honorable mention to my online journalism class but that’s about it.

What I actually learned in college is how to make friends. I learned how to manage a schedule. I learned how to put myself out there. I learned how to be accountable for my actions. The experience of college taught me much more than the classes ever did – but I don’t think experience itself is worth tens of thousands of dollars a year.

I know that there are careers out there that need college. But everything I know about my field of work I learned while working in it or I taught myself. I know that most of the time in college, students are self teaching anyway because professors are overloaded or just suck.

I hate the scam that is college. I don’t regret college but I do regret paying that much for the idea of an education – for a degree that says I was taught something in their school when I could’ve done it on my own plus $300 for those other 3 classes I mentioned.

photography of people graduating
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18 thoughts on “What I Actually Learned In College”

  1. I agree, kids should be told to look at both options and then figure out the best way to go.

    My son is currently in Aviation program at Ohio University. Because he’s in college, he qualifies for FAFSA. This allows him to get small loans and me parent loans for remainder. We couldn’t qualify or pay now for the loans needed for him to go to pilot classes without FAFSA.

    He will have BS in Aviation and a private pilot’s license when done. The industry is in a shortage and will need a lot of pilots over the next five years, so he will be paying back the loans, mine and his, once he starts working.

    It’s all about options and the best way for you to get there. Thanks for an interesting subject.

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  3. You know, I’m really glad someone else has this viewpoint. I always felt school (all schools in general) was a bunch of b.s. I never liked it; they constantly tried to stifle individuality because it didn’t fit into their idea of what young people should be and how they need to learn. And yes… it’s all about the money.

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    1. agreeee on it being all schools. High school was a HUGE waste of time for me. If I pared it down to the classes that I actually needed/actually taught me something I could have finished high school in two years and same with college.

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  4. It’s funny how graduate school (which in most professions is only 2 years) is what college gets pitched as to high schoolers: a place where you’ll have to work hard and where you’ll be challenged mentally, but will teach you a ton about what you need to know to do what you’d like. It’s a shame you have to forfeit 4 years of time and a boatload of cash to get to the part of school that matters (after 12 years of public/private ed.). Unless you’re going for a STEM field, it’s essentially pointless. Undergrad has become a 100K+ hole of debt for kids who either didn’t need it or could’ve gone to trade school. I learned a lot in college because I refused to let my money go to waste and spent time asking professors questions and working with them outside of class. But in the classroom? Nothing truly useful. Real shame.

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  6. In life, we all get what we want to get out of it. Same is in college, depends on what one wants to get out of college. As for college expense, I agree it is going out of bounds for many otherwise qualified students. But in a capitalistic society and free for all, that is the price we pay. As we have seen from the recently exposed admission scams and “perfectly legal” legacy admissions, money talks.

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  8. Well I might disagree just a little there… In RSA I think colleges are even better than universities because in the college not only you get qualification but also experience at the same time not forgetting the fact that it is way cheaper compared to varsity.

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  9. Pingback: Random thoughts on a train to New York – A Silly Place

  10. Yeah!! Same here… I graduated in commerce… And right now I m making a career in the field which doesn’t include any bit of that degree..
    Totally different…. The college degree and stuffs didn’t helped me..

    If I would have started the career before.. That would have been great.. But at least we have some academic qualification to fall back on… You know..
    Education never goes wastes in that sense..

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