We’ve all heard pretentious talk (usually from public “servants”) about the wonders of “higher education.” It may indeed round some edges, but I think college — at least the public, liberal arts variety that I’m familiar with — is a colossal waste of money.
The workforce is where you will really learn a trade that people will pay you to do. I think of a college degree as a piece of paper that opens additional doors to employment. Many employers — often for no good reason, in my experience — will simply not hire those without a degree. Therefore, a degree is wise for many people. Just keep in mind that after you’ve been employed in the workforce for a few years, most employers will only care about your job experience and aptitudes (the best job training is a job).
Therefore, I have counseled several kids to simply go where they can afford a degree. It is absurd to go $100K in debt for a bachelor of arts. Does it really matter if you have a BA from Ohio State after a stint at a community college versus a similar degree from an expensive small college? It may not be exciting, it may mean classes in big barns with projectors, but in my opinion the cheapest route is generally preferable to many years in debt. You won’t miss dragging that ball-and-chain around into your thirties. (Does it make any sense for a young woman in particular to go tens of thousands of dollars in hock? When a young fellow meets that lass, is he going to be thrilled to take that debt into a marriage?)
Dear Jack,
Since comments are turned off at the right post…
I’m very sorry about your sister-in-law. May God comfort you and your family in her homegoing, and may we all see the work of our hands established.
Love,
Tim Bayly
I’ve been thinking about this here and there after getting out of college. For various reasons I now wonder if I should’ve gone at all.
The ideal might’ve been to go to someplace like New Saint Andrews, should I have known about it and been fit to go. A much better education (more like what I hoped college would be, it sounds like).* A much cheaper education. A more realistic, age-balanced living environment (people live with church members–which sounds preferable to me to the dorms of many colleges or the NSA home alternative, nearby apartments with other people). NSA sounds like a great place for the development of the mind–the one part of my college education that makes me least ready to call it worthless–in much better ways than college. In many ways I think it would’ve provided a better development and furnishing of the mind, knowing what I do of its aims, methods, and Doug Wilson (minus his whole FV stance).
http://www.nsa.edu/
*Some would balk at it as living in a “bubble” by being at a Christian college, but I rather think it would’ve been a great way to be further equipped to handle the world, and that there are some parts of secular college it may be best to avoid all together.