What is the point of school?

[burbuja0512]

My career started off in B2C sales and I worked my way into B2B medical software sales. (I took a pharmacy tech course to help with the terminology) No degree is required typically for sales, entry level is 40-60k and after a few years you can easily make six figures. To succeed in my opinion, you need to be quick on your feet, extremely outgoing and an excellent presenter.

I'm working on my degree because sales is very stressful. If you don't sell, you get fired - plain and simple. I have thankfully done well, but would love a little bit more job security and an income that is not so variable. Also,as a woman in my 30's, I always wonder what will happen in my field once I start to get a little older. B2B Sales is still very much a man's world and I really worry about how hirable I will be in ten years lol..at least without serious cosmetic surgery investments.

The way I see it, my career path can go two ways once I get my BS:

1) Get into sales management.
2) Figure out what I really want to be when I grow up and then get my Master's in something that will help me with a career shift.

[jackzack87]

Inspired by another thread, I am working on some soul-searching. I am an idealist, but have become disillusioned with the reality of formal education.

What say you? What do you hope to gain from college that you couldn't gain otherwise, beyond just a degree? Would you be doing the same thing even if the degree served no purpose in your life?

I Love this topic..

I started my journey because as a teenager, I wrote down on my "to do list of life", that I wanted to earn a Bachelors degree. I wanted to do it for the satisfaction of accomplishing something that I decided to do.

As my signature says, 'I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." (Twain). I feel that a college degree is NOT synonymous with a certain intellectual level.
If my degree does nothing more than sit on my wall, I would be proud to scratch it off my list. I would actually hope that a future employer would hire me for reasons besides a Bachelors degree; that they would see other traits and characteristics that make them want my skills, instead of only having a piece of paper that could pretty much be bought if you have a IQ of 100 or more and enough time, patience and dedication.

Check this site out. I daresay you'll love it.

http://www.garynorth.com/CollegeManualSite.pdf

[Maniac Craniac]

I Love this topic..

I started my journey because as a teenager, I wrote down on my "to do list of life", that I wanted to earn a Bachelors degree. I wanted to do it for the satisfaction of accomplishing something that I decided to do.

As my signature says, 'I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." (Twain). I feel that a college degree is NOT synonymous with a certain intellectual level.
If my degree does nothing more than sit on my wall, I would be proud to scratch it off my list. I would actually hope that a future employer would hire me for reasons besides a Bachelors degree; that they would see other traits and characteristics that make them want my skills, instead of only having a piece of paper that could pretty much be bought if you have a IQ of 100 or more and enough time, patience and dedication.

Check this site out. I daresay you'll love it.

http://www.garynorth.com/CollegeManualSite.pdf

What an amazing post! You, ever so eloquently, summed up my opinion 100%. It's surreal! My phrase is "schooling is not a synonym for education," which is eerily close to what you said above.

I seemed to have lost my way a bit when it comes to what I expect from school, but now my head is clear and I am back on track. I have always been an autodidact (and feel strangely empowered now that I know there is a word for it!). Nobody taught me Spanish, nobody taught me Sign Language, nobody taught me how to write creatively, nor my vocabulary, nor how to repair my car, nor how to analyze and interpret literature nor even how to swim. I did it all myself

I always thought college was over-rated, despite the fact that I love school and do recognize its value. What I really need to do is go ahead an finish my DEGREE so that it stops taking time away from my EDUCATION

[jackzack87]

What I really need to do is go ahead an finish my DEGREE so that it stops taking time away from my EDUCATION

I have hardly had time for my musical instruments the past two years, my freelance writing, language studies, or that book I've been meaning to write. I'm looking forward to completion as well, so that I can pick up where some of the things that I love were left behind. I don't really like being told what to read or what to write...but it's all part of the program.



"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" - Yeats

[jackzack87]

BTW - What an amazing word! Autodidact...thank you for introducing me.

[rickyjo]

http://www.garynorth.com/CollegeManualSite.pdf

I've read this before, he and I see surprisingly eye to eye.

[anthonya]

I'm in my late 30s and took a lot longer than originally planned to finish college. I'm teaching elementary (going to move up to teach secondary when something opens up) and almost everything after 5th grade is useless in practical terms. The average person will never use prime factorization or Shakespeare.
As for college....pleassssseee.
Lucky is anyone who is going to trade school as it should be.

Electives = money thrown away to greedy colleges

[andy3000]

Just had a thought, two of the worst industries in US, law and medicine, are dominated by college grads. Both are outragously expensive and the quality of service isn't that great. They both make it really difficult for lay people to figure things out. Both are run by some of the most highly educated people, coincidence?

[grauwulf]

My wife and I have this discussion about once a semester, usually right before finals when I'm ready to stab somebody with a keyboard. In the end we almost always agree that college is what you make it and as such is shaped by what you want it to be.

We both have the same "ideal" of what college _should_ be, but our personal experiences have been very different.

She comes from a very well educated family, graduated high-school early and went to a Hippy/Liberal Arts 'college & conservatory' where she earned a B.A. in classical studies or some such.

I changed high schools at least once a year, and went directly to work. Nobody in my immediate/close family has ever completed college, at any level. Over the last few years I have pulled together a piecemeal A.A. (Programming) taking traditional classes at 5 different junior colleges, and now I'm getting my B.S. from UMUC (with the help of the dsst program).

She wanted to explore the universe of education and immerse herself in an environment of learning.

I want the paper for two reasons. 1) to prove that I can. I'm a stubborn jerk and I will accomplish this. 2) so I can move up in the damn ranks. Having a degree is not as important as it was even a few years ago but it doesn't hurt.

Whether you're at work gaining experience, at school getting 'edukated', spending time with your friends and loved ones, or just reading a book: Your time is valuable. College at any level is a huge investment in time as well as money. If, when you finish your degree, (before any job offers, before the hollywood parades & parties) you can look at that little piece of paper and know that it was worth the time -to you-, then go for it.

I am 30 years old. I make plenty of money to support my wife and myself. We have no debt other than the mortgage and a reasonable nest-egg. I got here with a little luck, a little work, and no degree. I didn't get my first "degree" until May of this year, 12 years into my career.

Every semester around finals I get frustrated and my wife asks me why I'm doing this. Every semester the answer is pretty much the same; because _I_ want this.

What do you want?

[jackzack87]

Just had a thought, two of the worst industries in US, law and medicine, are dominated by college grads. Both are outragously expensive and the quality of service isn't that great. They both make it really difficult for lay people to figure things out. Both are run by some of the most highly educated people, coincidence?

Hmmm...not sure on that. Say that law and medicine are two of the worst industries is pretty debatable. Our medical health care here in the states leaves something to be desired, to be sure, but the worst field because it requires a degree of knowledge that someone uneducated in that field would not understand?