The College Conspiracy
May 21st, 2011
Someone sent me a link to this video the other day and it’s definitely challenged my thinking. I’ve always been a “get a college degree” type of person. However, there are certainly a number of wealthy people that never got their college degree (Bill Gates jumping to mind). Are there some non-college grads here that have been successful with a career in a chosen field who can share their story?
7 Responses to “The College Conspiracy”
Hate to say it, because I know this will offend many “pro education” people, but this video is spot on. I have come to the same realization through my own personal experiences with “higher” education.
I wasted two years on a computer science degree and didn’t learn a single “new” thing that I hadn’t already learned on my own apprenticing in the industry as a teenager.
So not wanting to pass by my education and not learn anything I changed over to business management. I spent another two years learning how to lie, cheat, steal, swindle, con, enslave, corrupt, bribe, extort, oppress and many other vile practices, only it was OK because they had different labels for these things and they are legal so it must be moral right? well I didn’t finish that degree either.
Eventually I went to a small, cheap, and uncredited school, where I spent another two years learning things of actual value to me rather than things to prepare me for a career in (fill in the blank). I did graduate in the end, but my degree is worthless in the eyes of “the world”. Ironically it was only the last two years of education that had any value.
I personally would NOT recommend going to college to anyone. It is a “requirement” for certain professions such as medical and health, but even then most of what you learn is how to work within the artificial beurocratic system rather than how to actually help and heal people, thats what a residency is for. The degree is still a joke, even then.
For anyone out there who is LDS consider that the council of the apostles and prophets has been to “get an education” not “go to college and get a degree” they are not necessarily the same thing and nowadays are unfortunately often in complete contradiction.
I’ll probably get flamed by the feminists but I believe the BEST education a young woman can receive is to apprentice under her own mother (assuming her own mother is a professional mother). And for a young man I would suggest finding someone who is successful in a field you have a passion for and offer to work as an apprentice. Even if you don’t get paid, after only one or two years you will learn all you need to be just as successful on your own. half the time and NO DEBT!
I might not be as rich as the computer and business school students are “promised” at college, but then again I’m doing far better and am much happier than the few I have kept in contact with. Did some of them go on to make 6 figure incomes? Maybe. But I’m willing to bet most ended up like my friends… enslaved by debt and trapped in dead end careers they have no love for.
This is kind of off topic but there are a lot of really good side points that come out in this video.
I’m afraid that rather than working by the sweat of our brow, the “American Dream” of wealth and luxury has made “work” and “labor” dirty words. The “blue collar” is something base and vulgar to be ashamed of. We dream of having passive incomes or 6 and 7 figure salaries for the least amount of work as possible. I’m not saying its bad to be rich, but I do think its wrong to desire and dream of being rich without actually producing an equal amount of value and I’m afraid that’s where we are at.
The law of the harvest says we reap what we sow, but we really want a much higher return. A farmer KNOWS that he will not produce more than that for which he labors, but we seem to think that with a degree in (fill in the blank) we can beat the system and get more than what we put into it. Obviously self improvement is an investment with a great return but are we not perhaps using that as an excuse to skirt around the law of the harvest? After all, we can improve ourselves just as well through many other means and it is always much cheaper, but I don’t see many people going that route. I’m afraid that is because it is expected that by virtue of having a degree we can reap more than we sow.
This is very good information, however I would not buy into their penny stock push that happens when you sign up as a member. They make references to buying into something in the video, however it is not real gold or silver that you would be buying as those prices are much higher than what they elude to.
My mother, in the late sixties arrived in Provo with just over $100 in her pocket. She said it paid for her first semester’s tuition with money left over for books. Today, that won’t even buy a book.
I would like to see what happens to tuition when a college refuses to accept anyone who takes out federal loans.
I would agree with not buying their product. I understand where they are coming from, but if you really want to invest go for physical Gold and Silver. Just don’t expect it to be a get rich quick scheme, think of it as a long term hedge against the inevitable inflation.
I also wouldn’t worry about hyper inflation. The greater the money supply the greater the amount of money that needs to be printed to affect the value of the remaining bills. For example if there are only $10 in existence and you print $10 more you have essentially cut the value of the previous money in half… but when you have trillions upon trillions spread out all over the world then as bad as healthcare, bank bailouts, and a possible college bubble bailout are for the economy, they won’t lead to hyper inflation on their own. I’m not saying it will never happen because it could, but its not right around the corner yet and so Gold and Silver will not make you instant millionaires.
The video mentioned that high schools are simply a means to prepare students for college. I live in a rural area and just attended our high school graduation last night. We had a “large” class of five! I have a degree in education and have spent time in the school with these students, teaching, over the years, off and on. It is very discouraging to me and to the students to waste time sitting in a “health” class or “life skills” class as well as be forced to take all the classes required of them by the state. Many of the students are motivated and ready to get out in the work force and do well, but they are taught that they HAVE to have a HS diploma and go to college or they will not make it. It is discouraging to them when they have the physical skills to do what they are meant to do and love to do, but lack the “school-sit-down-and-learn” skills needed to get good grades. I felt that it was a waste of time for most of them to be in high school. They couldn’t wait to graduate so they can get out and live their life that they have waited four years to do! Most graduates from our school do not attend college, or not for long. For such a small school with “ed-net” (college courses taken in high school) they should be able to have a great education…not like I had in a school with over 3000 students and we were all just numbers to get through the system. Anyway, I learned a lot in college about how to teach in the public school system. Now, I would not teach in a public school, and my children will never attend one! (as long as it is in my power to prevent it!)
Read Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery to see how real education is done and what it produces.