Is A College Education Really Necessary?

[Kanewpadle]

I realize this a very general question. And I understand it depends on the job.

I ask this because I see jobs that require a college education but it doesn't seem necessary to do the job. It seems to me that a person that has experience in that job to be better qualified even though they don't have an education.

And I have met many college educated people that didn't have any common sense at all. But yet they still seem to get those jobs and get promoted quicker. Why is that?

I've also known people that have a college education and they don't use it.

 

[snuffy51]

You get what you pay for.

 

[Faulkner]

Skills for trade jobs are what is in demand in todays job market. Good money can be made by those who'll graduate high school then endure an apprenticeship for 4 years (while getting paid) and break out as a journeyman electrician, carpenter, brick layer, plumber, etc. Right now one of the trade jobs in highest demand are fire protection sprinkler fitters.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I graduated from high school in 1970 with a 2.1 grade point average. Was I really that stupid? No. My grandmother told me I simply didn't apply myself. I had a different take: they weren't trying to teach me things that interested me.

After a year of college (with an equally dismal gpa) draft number 7 led to my escape from academia and motivated me to join the Air Force in 1972. I became an air traffic controller in 1975, and friends (peers) started attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University when it arrived on the base. Not wanting to be left out I followed their lead. Peer pressure can be a powerful tool.

Bachelors in Professional Aeronautics in 1985 (3.8 gpa) and a Masters in Aeronautical Science in 1991 (4.0 gpa).

Did I need all that education to talk to jets? No! Did it make me a better controller? No.

Did it give something to me I wouldn't have known otherwise? Yes.

A college education may or may not lead to "the job" you want, and the personal growth it offers is subjective.

It's a personal thing. You get out what you put in.

Ambiguous? Yes. Knowledge is just that. Some say knowledge is power. Okay, but it depends upon what you do with it. I could be as powerful as a boat anchor, and you must admit that's mighty powerful.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[bigwheelzip]

I'll share one pearl of wisdom from the only billionaire I know: "It's better to graduate with lousy grades from an Ivy League School, than graduate with good grades from all the others".

A completely unrelated degree from Princeton got his foot in the door at a major brokerage.

 

[BC38]

I have a couple of degrees and don't get to use them in my job. But I would never have got the job without at least one of them.

FWIW, I firmly believe that the reason so many jobs have a degree as a prerequisite is that the public education system graduates kids from high school who know so little it is pathetic. They can't read, write, or do enough simple math to even to balance a checkbook. They know next to nothing about history, civics, or geography.

I am not speaking from some theoretical perspective here. For nearly 30 years I have worked for one of the largest employers of college students in the world. They are our targeted part-time workforce and make up nearly half of our employees. I also have a 14 year old who is a freshman in high school, and an 18 year old who graduated in June.

They are NOT teaching them much in the way of practical skills or critical thinking. Not all, but MANY of them graduate high school with the same level of education I had when I graduated 8th grade over 40 years ago.

They have to go to 4 years of college to attain the level of education that a high school graduate had 40-50 years ago. At that time the US lead the world in literacy and technology. Now most of the developed industrial countries in the world are ahead of us. If we keep going in the direction we're headed, within one more generation we will fall to the level of some third-world countries in the area of public education.

That is how far our public education system has dumbed-down our society in just the last half century.

 

[STCM(SW)]

You got that right BC38!!!
I took some kind of test on the internet that said I had the knowledge and equivalent of a Masters degree!
Graduated HS in 1959-60.
Only other training was in the Navy......
And by Univac in computers.....
Forgot about that, only worked from main frames to PC's for 40 years.
Then again I read a lot about different things.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I'll share one pearl of wisdom from the only billionaire I know: "It's better to graduate with lousy grades from an Ivy League School, than graduate with good grades from all the others".

A completely unrelated degree from Princeton got his foot in the door at a major brokerage.

I'm not disagreeing with you bwz, but Dick Cheney flunked out of an Ivy League School, graduated from the University of Wyoming and look where it got him.

This isn't a political thing!

Bob

 

[DWalt]

Is a college degree necessary? Certainly for a position in the sciences, engineering, law, and medicine (and numerous other professions such as teaching). It's also essential should you wish to become a military officer. For the trades, no.

Personally, the duties of most of the jobs and positions I have held over the years had relatively little to do with my specific college degrees. But I would never have been considered eilgible for those jobs without them.

 

[pawngal]

You got that right BC38!!!
I took some kind of test on the internet that said I had the knowledge and equivalent of a Masters degree!
Graduated HS in 1959-60.
Only other training was in the Navy......

I took one of those tests, I got you beat, said I had the knowledge of a PhD
Never went to college, but I was an honor student in HS (60's)

Doubt either of my kids would have scored very high and one is a college grad.

 

[arjay]

The trades are great for a young person,but you have to weather recessions and be smart enough to put that income in the good years to work rather than blowing it on wives,kids and living well lol
My sons doing what I was trying to do and it worries me to no end.His sister works at a university and is a grad student (free tuition is a fantastic perk!)I think that over the long haul she will have a much better quality of life than he will

 

[bigwheelzip]

I'm not disagreeing with you bwz, but Dick Cheney flunked out of an Ivy League School, graduated from the University of Wyoming and look where it got him.

This isn't a political thing!

Bob

No problem, it's just something this man believes.

Compared to me DC did very well, but to put it in perspective, I just looked up Cheney's net worth, and it's a small fraction of this Princeton fellows. DC might have made more if he'd completed the Ivy degree, not that massed wealth is a measure of anything but itself.

 

[Targets Guy]

Depends on your goals.

 

[arjay]

Most of my friends went beyond a bachelors and have done well,but the one who went to Ivy League schools had an incredible income.Of course,she hung that up to become a full time mom at 40 which just strikes me as hysterically funny

 

[chief38]

My Wife and I and both our kids have College Educations but sometimes College Educations are forced on today's Youth as a "necessity" IMO. There are plenty of kids that would be FAR BETTER OFF going into a Trade than wasting their time doing something they really don't want to do and might be doing it to placate Mom & Dad.

I have two friends (one is an Electrician and the other is a Plumber) that make more money and are happier than some of the so called College Educated Professionals I know. I have 2 friends in the Auto Body business that do phenomenal! College should be used for a specific goal IMO and for those who are interested in going - NOT as a stop gap from High School to the real world.

Both my kids are actually using their C E in their careers and I will go so far as to say that some kids find their way in College - but IMHO College should NOT be forced upon an otherwise ambitious kid who wants to pursue another honest trade, business or goal.

Sometimes I think College today is like what HS was 60 years ago.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My Niece has a BA and a MBA and was a shift supervisor at Starbucks! Went back to college and go a Vet.Tech. Associates Degree, and has a pretty fair job doing what she loves.

My wife has a BS in social work, and was a part time bank teller before becoming a full time mother of four and part time seamstress. For the last 23 years she was a part time (and went full time 5 years ago) receiving clerk. We sent our kids to a privet Christian school. We are amazed that most public High School grads can tie their shoes! Maybe that is why "Crocks" were so popular!

I have noticed that the children that were taught to use their head for more than a hat rack, get the furthest! and, A Good education begins with a mom that reads to her kids!

Ivan

 

[SteveA]

I have a law degree so 7 years of college. My folks always stressed education. My 18 year old son has been to be charitible, an indifferent student. He's a hands on type of kid and I understand that. Several friends and neighbors are firefighters and my wife volunteers as dispatcher for our small volunteer department. My son has wanted to be a firefighter for years and has been offered jobs with some of the local departments straight out of high school. I have no problem with that career choice but I want him to be able to go as far as he can in his chosen profession. He's going to a state community college next year that has a 2 year "fire school". To advance in any of the departments anymore around here, he will need that education as a bare minimum.

 

[SweetMK]

When you say something like "Do you need a college education?"
that is like saying "Cars go REALLY fast!!"

Some cars go fast. Some college degrees are necessary.

100% of the engineering college degrees that my family completed resulted in great careers.

Other degrees are hit or miss,, I do not know which ones are the good ones.

For me, my engineering degree got me the job that I always wanted.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

One of our daughters is a RN, with a degree, works long hours, makes good money. The other is a kind of free spirit, works at a local auto plant, works hard and makes about the same money as the RN.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Arik]

Degree is not necessary but it doesn't hurt. Everyone I know who makes 6 - 7 figures went to college. Some of the people went for something different than what they do for a living but without fail all went to college.

If you know early on what you want to do and that's your only goal then college may not be for you. However, having a degree could open doors later on that you weren't aware of

My own experience.....I wish now that I had stayed in. Went to college and worked at the same time. Paid my own way, no loans, no parents money. I worked and took the amount of classes I could afford. Some semesters I was a full time student (12 credits/4 courses) other semesters I was a part time student (under 12 credits/less than 4 courses). My GPA was 3.7. At one point my job seemed like it could be a good carrier so I made a choice to drop out of college. Looking back that was a terrible choice and today I'm wondering what to do and if I should start from scratch. I still have a good job but it could have been better. Also, 20 years ago I wasn't thinking of retirement money, today I am!

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