Your Mom Goes to College and Other Stories
My mother just graduated from college a few days ago with her four year degree. She went back to school two years ago to turn the associate’s (in accounting) she earned twenty-five years ago into a bachelor’s. She went back to school to finish, after twenty-five years of accounting experience, because she was having trouble getting paid what she was worth without a four-year degree.
Of course, over the course of two years of studying and racking up student loan debt, she did take a few accounting classes. But for the most part, her associate’s degree from twenty-five years ago, plus her years of accounting experience, covered what she really needed to know about accounting. Instead, to round out her education, she had to take things like Film Appreciation and Western Civ.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about a well-rounded education – I have a couple of useless degrees myself, but it’s a bit ridiculous that a woman who has twenty-five years of practical experience had to go take superfluous crap for two years and rack up a bunch of debt just to get a raise that probably won’t cover the cost of her student loan payments.
I’ve talked about this idea before, but my mother’s recent graduation and this article made me think about all this stuff over again. This article makes some great points about student loan debt and what it calls “credential inflation” – the idea that as more people get degrees, more people are forced to get degrees. It’s a bit silly really.
In the end, I’m not really against college in general – I learned a lot while I was there, I enjoyed teaching, and I met some cool people. But I know the extra money I make doesn’t even come close to paying my student loan payments. It’s a weird situation – I feel like I was duped. I got an education, sure, but the whole while I was being told that education was supposed to be a “freeing” thing, even though I was being shackled with debt that made me anything but free.
It pissed me off enough to write a novella about debt: it’s called Neither a Borrower, it’s about a debtor prison, it’s sci-fi, and it’s available for free in the sidebar.
But for now – Mom, I guess congratulations are in order. Good for you.
For everyone else, are you satisfied with your college education? Do you have debt from it? Are you satisfied with that?
yep. way too much. nature of the ghastly beast, ‘innit? i also hate the idea of 5 days a week, monday-friday, 8 hours a day, and you basically gotta do that if you want health insurance in this country (if you’re a young graduate of the arts piss-ant anyway). but back to your talking point — university was essential for me, and i feel that i was able to cultivate interests and a philosophy and goals and dreams which i would never have imagined otherwise. practically/economically speaking, the foundations of my ability to peruse upper education came about largely due to my socioeconomic position. my parents have been doing rather splendidly in their middling years, paving the way for me to zealously journey my way to and fro in academia land. luckily, i owe them more money than the regular interest rate/big bank/gov’t loans everybody and your mom has.
i guess all things considered, i think america has an excellent college and university education system which is neither practical nor conducive for much of the middle class. or the weaning class, if you’re reading the news / taking notes.
That’s the real issue, though, isn’t it? In a media-rich culture, a regular trip to the library will get you the same education if you’re willing to work at it.
First, I think it’s ridiculous that your mom had to go back to college to take useless classes for a job she can already do. She obviously has the experience and intelligence needed without more expensive schooling.
Second, colleges should raise the bar. Earning a degree should mean something. Students are often spoiled in college and then thrown out into the real world without any helpful skills.
I’m curious to know how many people who attended college regret their decision later. I got a 4-year degree because it was the expected next step in life. I wish I would have taken a year or two to think between high school and college. Why go to school when I have no idea what I want to do with it? Luckily, with my parents help, I didn’t drowned in debt. (Most of the debt I accrued was due to the party aspect of college which I learned far too much from.) So relatively no harm done.
I’m not saying I didn’t learn anything from class. I did when I was interested in the subject, but I didn’t learn anything that helps me with my current office job. I met some interesting people, but I learned far more from reading on my own in the years after college (how the hell did I escape from college without knowing Proust?) Knowledge is a great thing, but knowledge is FREE for anyone that wants it.
To tell kids out of high school who are completely free and unburdened with debt and don’t know what they want to do in life that college is the next logical step is ridiculous.
I’m hoping that things will actually change with the education system the way they changed with the housing market. By “change” I mean come to a crashing halt. Loans should not be that easy to get. You shouldn’t put someone in a house they can’t afford hoping the value will increase and that in the future they will get a giant raise. It’s irresponsible. Maybe student loans could at least come with warning like-
WARNING: Accepting this loan may lead to increased levels of anxiety and overall bitterness towards the world often accompanied by strong and damaging feelings of entitlement.
CAUTION: A well-rounded education is no guarantee for a good job in the future.
WARNING: This loan will enslave you to us forever. Mwahahaha!
Something like that….
Leave your response!
archives
Recent Comments
Blogroll
Tags
Recent Posts
Most Commented
Most Viewed