to go or not to go (to college)?

A growing number of young adults are wondering whether they should bother going to college, with increased tuition and uncertain job prospects. This mood seems particularly strong within a homeschooling community. There is a comprehensive discussion here, and this is an excerpt from it:


"Ultimately, success has two contributors, ability and
industry (in the sense of hard work). Mr. Gates and Mr. Dell were
famously able to succeed without completing their higher education due
to selection of a field where, frankly, fairly easily acquired skills
were used intelligently, and with great industry, to achieve dramatic
results."




While I agree in principle, it always irks me when Bill Gates is used as an example of a self-made man. Truth is, he came from an already very wealthy family with plenty of connections. He went to elite prep-schools, and spent his two college years in Harvard. And afterwards, he could afford to work for years (!!) without income. Michael Dell's family was also quite prominent: his father was an orthodontist, and his mother was a personal finance manager. Plus, they are Mormons, so he likely have enjoyed tremendous community support. Again, he could afford not to go to college.

There is certain myth, and aspect of the American dream perhaps, that one can accomplish anything whatever the starting point. Yet, an overwhelming rule seems to be that money comes from money -- and a right network perhaps. The latter represents the true value of the Ivy League education. Many companies recruit selectively at prestigious schools, offering the graduates top jobs that don't even make it to the job market otherwise. Or say, your roommate's father is a big wig someplace or other and helps you get a job there, etc.

True, there are many genuine self-made people, who come from poor families, work their way through it all, and achieve outstanding personal and financial success. The thing is, they achieve it by going to college. Immigrant families, too, value aducation above anything else, and the parents break their backs so that kids can go to college. Another thing worth noting that the Ivy Leagues, for instance, have need-blind admission: which means that if they admit you, they are prepared to give you full support you need (combination of grants and loans). My husband, back when he applied to a bunch of schools, got the best financial aid offer from an Ivy League college, which covered almost everything. And it is the same now.

It has certainly gotten more financially diffcult for everyone to go to college, it seems to have hit the lower middle class and middle class families hardest. These also seem to be the people who are considering skipping on it, are carefully weighing out pros and cons, and looking for examples to follow. People do find a lot of lofty reasons while college is not the best thing (stifles creativity, bad education, etc). I wonder though if this is what the psychologists call 'Transformation into Opposite', a coping mechanism of sort. It must be good for you if it happens, you know. Everything is to the better in this best of the worlds.

Well, it isn't. And IMO the cultural memes such as 'Bill Gates = self-made man', serve to obscure an issue much larger than the dilemma of 'to go or not to go to college'. Upward mobility in the US is at all-time low, and the gap between the rich and the poor increases dramatically. In fact, a child from a poor family has a better chance in life if he/she is born in Europe or even Brazil (!). Plus we have the continuing dismantling of social net, overpopulation, depletion of resources, economic instability, and general uncertainty.

If it continues this way, we'll soon be back to the 'gilded age', with a few very rich people with no care in the world, and many many poor with no security whatsoever. Middle class has no place in a troubled world and may not be here much longer. This is a global trend noted by a quite a few.

But, in a mean time, people will try to adapt, like they always do. When the economy took a nose-dive in the 80s, what happened? Women went to work. Who is going to go to work today? I am afraid children. Kids will stay home longer with their parents, wait on starting a family, and go to work earlier, at the expense of college education. And we are already seeing some of that. In North East, a lot of young adults already choose to live with their parents after college graduation, so that they can save money up for a house. Or take my SIL, a college graduate and a resident of a big city, who is turning 30 and for the first time can afford to live without a roommate. This discussion, too, illustrate shows that a lot of people do think of skipping college and do already do so as well.

For a young adults, it is very liberating to give a good thought to what he/she want to do in life, and choose whether to go to college basing on this decision, and not what is 'considered' to be right. This is what any mature person should do. Yet, one also has to be aware that there are forces at work in the society that want to make you skip college for the wrong reasons. Because yes, if one goes to college and does the routine, he/she will likely end up slaving away for somebody else. But if one doesn't go to college, there is even more chance that one will slave away for somebody else, but for a whole lot less money.

I have been wrecking my brain over this for quite a while now. At this point, the solution I see is in the general attitude rather than in a specific decision. One has to be smart, self-reliant, independent, and do your own thing. Working for yourself is the key IMO. To own a business is ideal. Interestingly, immigrants do that a lot too. If your chosen path requires going to college, or you feel like doing it, than do it, otherwise skip. Unjobbing sounds like it would fit right into this model.

This is all a personal opinion only, and, additionally, is subject to change.