Don’t Live Life By Default
I don’t want you to get me wrong here. I think higher education is just fine. I just don’t see it as the be all end all. If you don’t plan it properly, college isn’t only a waste, it’s a huge detriment. And by plan if properly I mean choose to get a worthwhile degree that will exceed the investment you will be required to make in it, both financially and time wise.
I knew a guy coming out of university that felt he should be relieved of his college debt because it was impossible to pay it back. He also felt he should be provided free medical care, a place to live, transportation and food as these were all essentials to life, but those are different subjects altogether. His debt was a staggering $120,000. OMG!!! He was having a hell of a time finding a job that would allow him to pay back such an enormous amount of money that was thrust on him by an uncaring, unfeeling hateful government that was just looking to keep him in debt.
I thought to myself, this poor guy. My word for $120,000 he must have some great degree in engineering or architecture or some other wonderful study that would be worth all that money. I wondered why he couldn’t find a job equal to the task of paying that sum off.
I inquired, “what’s your degree in?”
“History,” he said triumphantly. “Specifically, pre-revolutionary Russian history with an emphasis on the nineteenth century from 1850 to 1917.”
“And you can’t find a job with a degree like that? I’m shocked.”
He didn’t even bother to take education as a minor so that he could at least teach while he was “finding the right job.”
And why was it so much money? After all, in New Jersey, where he lived, there were good schools where he could have gotten just as useless a degree for a fraction of the cost. No, he needed the “college experience” along with the useless degree. So, he went out of state. Because staying at home with your parents while working your way through school is for idiots. He was telling me this as he bagged my groceries. He was contemplating going back for his master’s degree. His mother wanted him to find a real job, so he could move out on his own before he’s forty.
People, going into debt and wasting four years of your life (though I suspect my bagger guy probably did it in five or six so as to extend that “college experience”) for a topic you simply find interesting is beyond ridiculous. This isn’t a “fun” time. This is an investment of your time and money. This guy would have been infinitely better off going to trade school and learning to fix foreign cars. Do you have any idea how much a certified BMW or Mercedes mechanic can make? I left him a $2 tip toward the masters as I’m just dying to find out if Anastasia is still alive.
