A thread started in another area of this forum sparked a heated debate that I find very interesting. The statement that fed the fire was... "I am now making $18/hour! and I don't have to go to college anymore! Yay!". I don’t want to reference the rest of the thread because it is not relevant.

My interest is education and its importance in society and the quality of life. I hope this thread gets a global response so we can see how the world views higher learning. This is not supposed to be a bashing of people that do not attend further learning because many individuals have very good jobs and a high quality of life that did not attend.

I am directing this thread to furthering education instead of focusing on college. This includes military, technical schools, adult education, employer sponsored learning etc, anything after high school. Sorry if I left off an institution, just pick one that is similar.

Please discuss why you made your choices, if they were right for you, if you made a mistake, if you went back to school, etc.

- Multiple choices are available on this poll.
- Votes are not public.

Since high school I have attended 1.5 years of a University and served a mission for my church for 2 years, and worked in my field (software development) for 1 year full time, 1.5 years part time during school. Each has been an "education" to me that has been priceless. Each also cannot compare to the other - my college experience has been a great place to mature and learn about learning. My missionary experience was infinitely valuable to me in social education and so many other ways. My work has been a huge education in learning about work and learning how do actually do stuff - i.e. Photoshop, Java, C++, HTML, CSS, Flash, etc.

I value any and all forms of education. I would recommend to anyone that whatever path they take - it should be teaching them something.

Also, the important common factor between all forms of education is they teach you about life.

I had no choice about attending college. That sounds harsh, but it's real. Yes there were other paths, but attending college was only the real choice. I had actually intended a combination of military service and college (Air Force ROTC in college, followed by a four year stint as an officer in the Air Force), but then got "flushed" for acceptance for the Air Force due two undiagnosed physical conditions (severe hearing loss in my right ear, and an irregular heart beat) that were found in my induction physical between sophomore and junior years.

But, in college you learn so much - you learn academically - how to write, how to think, how to argue, how to negotiate, how to read (more than Sally Dick and Jane, but how to UNDERSTAND as you read), at a college/business/adult level. I know I wouldn't have anywhere close to the income and lifestyle I have today if it weren't for a quality university education and my partial post-graduate program I completed (took a year of law school after undergrad while waiting for my then fiance, now wife of 18 years to graduate).

I am a High School Drop Out with a GED. I did go to a tech school to learn AutoCAD (2yrs while in HS). I've aslso taken 3D animation LV I and II as well as After Effect at my local Community College.

I dropped out because I was slated to graduate in 95 but I was a freshman for three years (I didn't like school) so I would not have graduated until 97. I finished my tech courses in 95 and saw no reason to stay in school. The GED was a very simple 8 hr test and anyone that can read English and has a 5th grade education should be able to pass it. I would have liked to go to university in Toronto (3D animation) but there aren't a whole lot of jobs in that field available on the East Coast so instead I quite my job (Costo) and got a full time job as a digital cartographer. I've been working as a CAD tech since 95 with a couple of brief lapses into the construction industry (If you piss me off as an employer I will quit and I'll be on a construction site the next day - happened twice so far).

I have a child now so I doubt I'll be going to university, or working in the field I want...but I am very good at my job and make enough money doing it so I can't really complain.

I voted Other.

I voted in 5 places.

My parents kicked me out of the house two months after graduating high school because it was time "to get a job or go to college". I think that was the best thing that ever happened to me (next to that drunken threesome one night, but I digress...;)). I got an apartment, landed a full-time job in a dept. store warehouse and attended community college at night, and played in a gigging rock band on the weekends.

After about a year I had worked my way up to supervisor of the electronics department. When Gulf War I was heading into full-swing, I quit my job and joined the USMC in order to get money to pay for a four year college which I knew I would not be able to afford. My parents were middle-class and offered to pay for college but I didn't want to make them do that if I could help it. The Marines taught me many things that have carried with me to this day and permanently shaped my life. It taught me personal discipline, goal-setting and attaining them and gave me confidence in that I can do almost anything---not to mention you get to shoot cool weapons! I had joined the reserves so after my intial active duty, I started earning about $400 a month for college.

I went back to working full-time in a bank and attending college and to make a short story long, worked my way up after seven years to a Business Branch Manager. I left the bank to pursue my ultimate dream of owning my own business and today I am the President/CEO of a multi-million dollar company I started (www.dps-online.com). that provides emergency back-up power for datacenters.

So my final judgment is this; I think the best course a person can take in the working world is the have a good compbination of work experience and college. Neither one is much good (in my opinion) without the other, unless of course that person is perfectly happy working in a field that did not require a college degree (nothing wrong with that, we need those type of workers to make the world go 'round). I would never hire anyone straight out of college if they had no work experience. There is simply no excuse to not be able to work while going to school and if you cannot find a job in your field, choose something similar or do an unpaid internship. And conversely, I do consider persons with a college degree and work experience before someone only with work experience. It may be unfair to some, but just like your Dad, Uncle, Grampa may have told you, "life is unfair". It's your job to deal with it and adjust your skills to the playing field. Or you can just sulk your way through life---which is of course boring.

I chose both Military and College 4+

I started out in college as an engineering student. When I was 20, my father died of cancer and the money for college dried up. Besides, I told myself, I didn't need that silly degree anyway. I enlisted in the military as a way of starting out.

I was trained in mainframe computers in the military. I got out after 6 years and got a job as a programmer. When I asked my boss why people with degrees were promoted when I wasn't, I learned that the positions were required (by govt) to be filled by people with degrees. So I returned to college part-time for the sole purpose of getting a piece of paper.

When I returned to school, a new world opened for me. Sure, I had done my job well, but I had approached it from the micro view. My college classes taught me the macro view. Systems analysis helped me consider the "whole picture" view of what I was doing. Software engineering helped me design systems around the entire system life cycle. Sociology helped me to understand coworkers of varied backgrounds. Business communications made me a much better technical writer. Philosophy taught me to think of more innovative ways to solve problems. Every class I took gave me something that helped me in ways I could have never conceived before.

When I finished my Bachelor of Science degree, I immediately launched into the Masters program (hell, I was on a roll and making up for lost time). From the undergraduate emphasis on "How to do things right" I transitioned into the graduate emphasis on "How to do the right things." Looking not just at the system, but the enterprise as a whole; not just the development of this system, but how all the systems will work together; not just at the technology, but how the technology fits into human systems. I was almost disappointed when I finished the Master of Science degree. But by that time I was ready for a break.

Education has expanded my mind into areas I never thought possible. It has helped me accomplish things I never could have accomplished without it. But with all the practical repercussions to my professional life, there was much more to it than that.

I had returned to college purely to get a piece of paper. But the most important result to me was that I fell in love with learning again. :)

I voted in 5 places.Was that in the Washington gubernatorial race? :)

college is important but so is work experience. I wouldnt have gotten my job without a reference to my previous work at a bank, (my boss at the bank, is married to my current boss at work), so with his recommendation to his wife i got a job that actually required two things a college degree and three years of work experience. i had a degree but not enough work experience, i got my jobs by resting on the laurels of my previous hard work. Plus i make more money than i would have made in an entry level position, which rocks.

Was that in the Washington gubernatorial race? :)


LMAO! :) hehehe

I agreed with Paul. The entire college thing is expending ur choice and your thinking process. I was majoring in cotrol system, IC designed. Butta now I am Software Engineer. Basically, I am not working based on what I study.

I am still using the same research, thinking, and learning skill I learn during my college year. Hav fun with ur college life. College is not only for study. *wink*

Can you really have TOO much education? Never. It's always good to keep on learning. IF your goals is to have a formal job such as a Doctor, Engineer, etc.. making in the 6 figures, at least get some college education.

In addition to the poll, you could also ask if that person bought their own car without anyone's help and what educational background they have.

In addition to the poll, you could also ask if that person bought their own car without anyone's help and what educational background they have.Thanks for the suggestion but my intent is to not put anyone on the defensive but to see what they have accomplished with or without education. So far it has been an extremely positive thread and is percisely what I intended. My request was "Please discuss why you made your choices, if they were right for you, if you made a mistake, if you went back to school, etc."

Military plus 4yrs college, after my enlistment was up I knew I had to go back to school to have the stability I needed. I would not trade anything for both the experiences and the degree I now have. You can add one more bean counter to the world.

I don't even understand how someone can say "No" to this topic. If you find a decent job right out of college, well then goodjob sir. I hope it lasts you for the rest of your life. Oh, When you do get eventually get fired or your job position is eliminated and it probably will, your going to say "Man, I wish I would have went to college".


That being said, I graduated from my high school, No big deal, it wasnt hard. I went to school full-time for about a year while working at a low paying suck ass part-time job. All my money that I made was going toward college.

Then I had to make a big choice, Quit going to school for a decent paying job which paid for school or contine what I was doing. Well I took the job.

I thought "Wow, I'm set all I have to do it work here for a little and I'll get a couple raises in no time.

That's when it hit me, I grew up, I was thinking about my future, What if I got fired when I was older, what would I do, where would I work if I lost this. The next day I registered for school and promised myself at a minimum to finish with a bach in something. My company was going to pay for my school anyway, Why not?

I now work fulltime and go to school at night, Although I am going year-round I do realize that I got a chance that not a lot of other people have...and I'm going to take it.

I believe I made the right choices so far, I just hope when I finish school there are still lots of high paying jobs...or I'm going to have to go for my masters too. :p

-Aaron

The day my folks dropped me off at the University of Iowa, my parents each said good bye to me in their own ways. My dad gave me the typical speech that most parents give their kids "Son, work hard - you're determing the rest of your life's path in the next four years."

Then, he hugged me, slipped me a $20 and headed out the door. My mom gives me this big hug and then says to me, "remember, it's not for knowledge that you go to college, but the beer you drink while you're here." And she handed me a $100 and left.

:)

Ironically, they were both right and both activities (work hard and play hard) were equally as important.

In college, you learn to be an adult, in addition to learning book smarts.

The day my folks dropped me off at the University of Iowa, my parents each said good bye to me in their own ways. My dad gave me the typical speech that most parents give their kids "Son, work hard - you're determing the rest of your life's path in the next four years."

Then, he hugged me, slipped me a $20 and headed out the door. My mom gives me this big hug and then says to me, "remember, it's not for knowledge that you go to college, but the beer you drink while you're here." And she handed me a $100 and left.

:)

Ironically, they were both right and both activities (work hard and play hard) were equally as important.

In college, you learn to be an adult, in addition to learning book smarts.

Lmao, Thats hilarious

added High School only per request. was just going to add "only" to the first option but since people had already voted that option i didnt want to change what they had voted for.

OK, thanks!

speaking as a professional college student (15 yrs in college and still counting...) uhm... has it really been 15 years? anyway, getting phd soon, already getting paid 6 fig while still in school, college is not neccessary. the best way to make money in us is small biz. no argument. other countries are a lot more rigid about qualifications for jobs and giving small biz loans, but not US.

Bottomline: if you like book learning --- go college, if you don't: don't. Either way, easy to make money in this great country.

LOL, I've gone to school so much I should be a Doctor, Lawyer, etc by now...lol

I went into school thinking I would play football and I could pick up a degree in something, well, it did not work out that way and I'm STILL searching for a degree I want to chase after. I've done a little of everything yet I'm still clueless...pray for me people, LOL, but seriously...