Is college necessary?

Here's an interesting thought - college is now a requirement to get a good job. Everyone goes, everyone does it, but does it really serve its pupose?

I'd say no.

I always thought college was a way to continue the pursuit of knowledge and curiosity past the years of high school. How wrong I was - people go just to get that credential for a job. Another hoop to jump through. Whatever happened to colleges churning out people who were ambitious, creative, and on the edge of advancements in every field from medicine to technology? Now a college grad is just someone who wanted to do something with their life and make good money (more or less).

Is college essential to furthering society? Nope. Technology? No - Bill Gates was a college (or was it high school) drop out. It seems the only thing that determines whether or not you're truly successful or able to advance what you know is to have the drive for it. Ambition is everything, and college is just another hoop to most.

It depends on what you're planning to do with your life after college is done. If you're going into something that requires a lot of scientific/math work, I think college is going to be a necessity, unless you're Doogie Howser or something :p

For other jobs such as anything in business, it's not really a necessity, but the thing is that while you can get a job without a degree, advancement is going to be hard to do. Let's not forget that for every Bill Gates Harvard-drop-out, there's always going to be hundreds, if not thousands of drop-outs that are getting through life by the skin of their teeth.

Sorry to say it, but not having a college education will exempt you from many jobs, promotions, upgrades, etc. In just a few months at my current job, I am in a position and pay category that my friend who was working here for 8 years could not hope to be promoted to. It all is because I have a 4-year B.S. degree.

You also get taken more seriously if you're educated. It is inferred that since you put in the time and effort into higher education, then you are more knowledgeable. I have known uneducated people who have levels of knowledge and intelligence equal to that of an educated person. Unfortunately, these folk can't back it up with paperwork- liek a diploma.

Also, the college experience DOES change your personality/outlook. In college, you become exposed to things that you would not get exposed to elsewhere. To be blunt- it refines you. I was exposed to more information, knowledge, personalities, cultures, mindsets, etc. in college than anywhere else I could have been.

Like it or not, most of the more successful people in the world are educated- Bill Gates is an exception, and movie stars don't count.

Get a degree- its worth more than you think...

Most jobs won't even look at your resume without any sort of college degree, even if your knowledge of a field excels everyone elses.

College is no more necessary than a high school diploma. That can go both ways. Not every profession requires a college degree. And for some professions, there is no college degree. Example: I went to college and got a B.S. in Chemistry (no jokes from the peanut gallery, please). Know what I do now? I'm an I.T. director! There is no degree for I.T. director that I know of. I've yet to see many universities offer A+ certification, OS certification, Crystal Reports programming, database admin and design classes, or network admin courses. A Computer Science degree means jack and shit to me when it comes to hiring for my company. So you have a BS in CS, great. That means you can program me a new word processor! People who are sticklers for degrees in areas like the above should be shot.

That said, there are areas where a degree is useful, if not a requirement. I wouldn't want a doctor who learned everything at home to operate on me. Likewise, I wouldn't expect a chemical company to hire someone without a chemistry degree to do chemical research for them. It just doesn't work.

As a "manager" (ugh, I hate that word) in a technical field, where a degree becomes important to me is in seeing if you can stick with something long term. College isn't easy. Sticking with it for 4+ years (or 2 for an Associates degree) shows you have perseverance. Also, if I have two equally qualified candidates for a job, both with the same amount of experience, both with great attitudes and references, I would lean towards hiring the person with the degree.

The best part is, your degree only matters for the first 3~4 years of your line of work, IMO. No one cares that I'm a chemist by degree. They know I'm great with computers and databases and that I've been doing it for 5 years. The fact I'm a "chemist" is something for others to laugh about, given what I do now.

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Whatever happened to colleges churning out people who were ambitious, creative, and on the edge of advancements in every field from medicine to technology? Now a college grad is just someone who wanted to do something with their life and make good money (more or less).

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That mentality went out in the 80s, to some extent. More people go to college now than ever before. With rising tuition costs, that might change, but there are a lot of people in college that have no reason to be there. Their parents wanted them to go, saved up a ton of money to send them, and now the kids sit there doing little to nothing to get a degree outside of, say, Forestry (sorry to all you real Forestry majors/grads, but that was the "basketweaving" degree at my university). They use college basically as a way to avoid real life for 4~6 years while they think of someway to make money doing nothing. They do serve a purpose, however: they bring the grading curve down for other students. :)

If public schools (K-12) were better than they are today, colleges might not be of much use. But in my opinion, they still offer a place of "higher learning" where ideas flow a little freerer, and students have a better chance of growing. (This assumes you are forced to live on campus and don't necessarily get to see your family everyday). I personally think society would be worse if not for colleges (except law school...those need to be closed for 20 years so the lawyer population decreases and we won't be so sue happy).

Well since people brought up Bill Gates in here I just have to say something bad(yet true) about him. The reason that he dropped out of college was the his "friends" built a really good version of DOS, so he realised the business potential and copyrighted it all for himself while he had no part in making it. Shortly thereafter microsoft was formed and one of their first products was DOS, and I guess he's not so "friendly" afterall
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Now to stay on topic: College can be something that is good if you are looking to learn more and gain better knowledge on a subject. However, it is true that a lot of people do just go to college to have a good resum(e+').

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Whatever happened to colleges churning out people who were ambitious, creative, and on the edge of advancements in every field from medicine to technology?

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When the hell was this happening?

My little dorkle is growing up so fast.

College is bullshit. If you want to be an honorary drone in society, do it. If you want to be a visionary in society and put all of your effort into it, you WILL get noticed.

College as I see it (and fraternities for that matter) are just a way of forcing connections with people, networking. This is good because you can mooch off of your friend's success when you fail.

Another hoop? Hell yeah, you ain't seen nothing yet.

i got my current job because of my BA and i see how they treat me differently due to my BA in comparison to interns and other employees...

i think everyone should have a chance to go to college, its a cool experience...and i did learn quite a few things, then again i went to San Francisco State, not your typical frat infested college.

In my experience, every job I've gotten has been due to what I said and did at the interview. The way I answered questions, opinions I gave, describing experiences, etc, were in effect, what got me those jobs.

However, the degrees I have are what got me the interviews in the first place. Without them, I would never have even been qualified to be there. THAT'S where getting a degree helps. It opens options for you that aren't available otherwise. A high school diploma? Shit, the army will accept you with that. Success in life comes from taking advantage of options. The more options you have, the greater your chance for success.

For example, as an assistant manager for Namco's Time-Out arcades (where I worked while I did my BA), I would have made good money and had a good job. That wasn't what I wanted to do in life, so I quit when I was offered a teaching position at a private school. I kept this teaching job for 5 years, while I did my MA and started part-time teaching at the university. Last semester, I started part-timing at another college and now they've given me a full-time position, which is what I wanted all along. Without a college eductation, achieving that goal would have been impossible.

I guess it just boils down to your own goals. Do you need a college degree to reach them? If so, go get one. If not, then work on achieving your goals the fastest and best way possible.