Hmmm. While I agree that I got a useless degree (English lit, how much more *useless* could I have picked?!), I loved college. I loved finding out there was a world out there beyond the hell of Zanesville and my family. That people other than me actually LOVED reading and music and ... yeah.

For me, college was worth it. Oh so worth it!

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That's great, and for you it was worth it. My situation was different: I went to college because I was expected to, not because I needed to or had any particular desire to get a college degree. I would have benefitted from going to work after high school (which was, for me, simply something to do while the child labor laws "protected" me) and found what I wanted to do, then furthered my education if I needed some specific knowledge that I could only get in a classroom. I think there are a lot of kids who are in the position I was in, who would be better off doing something besides going to more school. As always, YMMV.

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Well, you know me. Books and learning are my passion. And if I could've stayed in college all my life, I'd have been very very happy. Alas, I suspect I am not a normal person. :-)

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I too went to college because it was expected. And I did not particularly enjoy the undergraduate years. Engineering worked out OK for me, but it might not have been the best choice. How do you make a good decision on that question at age 17? And once I started, I was psychologically unable to switch.

I did enjoy my adult learning years at Marquette and Southern Miss. I'm not sure I learned that much but it gave me the credentials to keep my resume from going directly to the trash.

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Exactly. I don't think anyone's capable of making a decision like that at 17. You just do it because you're told, and you really haven't got a clue as to why. By that time, you've been through 12-13 years of formal education, during which you've been told what to take. Suddenly, you're put into an environment where you're expected to think for yourself without ever having thought for yourself, and without any sort of preparation for it. The whole experience is wasted on you, because you go into it with the attitude of a student, rather than a learner.

Your later education was a more fulfilling experience because you had a better understanding of what you were doing and why you were doing it. You might not have learned much, but you understood what you were doing. I think everyone needs that perspective.

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This doesn't describe my college experience at all! I love being in school. Always have...and will probably take classes until I'm on my death bed. Then again, I don't approach education as a means with which to get a job, necessarily. I just like sitting in a classroom absorbing what someone else knows. Even the "bad" teachers have taught me a thing or two.

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