Why doesn't college prepare you for the real world?

There seems to be a disconnect. A lot of people have the degree but it doesn't always correlate to doing good on the job. Why is that?

 

Nothing prepares you for the real world besides experience, which for most jobs, you cannot obtain without a college education. Some people are just inept, regardless of the degree they have.

 

some lessons you have to learn by doing. they try to drag you away from home for a reason. you'll never learn how to live away from home if you're living at home.

oddly, i had a state required semester long class on independent living in HS.

 

makes sense. you can't grow without that. i seen all these kids with the perfect college resume, president of a club, letters of recomendation from professors, straight A's, and it doesn't mean anything in the real world.

 

The universities spend to much time pumping student full of leftwing BS that is of no use at all in the real world.

 

Statistics seem to disagree with you...

 

what's the average student loan payment for a bachelor's holder?

 

I went to college as a conservative and never seen any lecturer mention politics though the course I did it wasn't exactly necessary. I can say that I wasn't outcasted for my conservative beliefs and left with the same beliefs though obviously changed a bit but it wasn't much to do with college indoctrination more just learning things by myself. The only thing you could say was liberal was most of the people petitioning for something like gay rights and all that stuff but I've never really had a problem with that before I went to college. Though to be fair there were all types of different groups available.

 

The average is around $21,000. What the average monthly payment is I have no clue... but I imagine it's less than $200. I went to a $38k a year private school and my loan payments were $175 a month with about $25k in loans. But paid it off within 3 years of graduating. But, college is saturated these days with all these online schools, community colleges, ITT Techs, Devrys, etc, etc. So there is a lot of "college grads" who weigh the rest of us down. My friends and I make far more than 1,053 a week.

 

i think the point is you have to take into account how much you make and deduct the loan payments and then you can get a more true account of the degree worth. not just getting a good job. which helps people determine if it's worth it.

 

i should hope so-i was making that 20 years ago...i'm still making that, but that's another story.

 

i should hope so-i was making that 20 years ago...i'm still making that, but that's another story.

 

If by "doing good", you mean earning well or even being employed at all, the Bush Recession has been very hard on all young workers. However, it's been more than twice as hard on those without a degree. Young college graduates have an unemployment rate of 9%. Their non-college-educated peers have an unemployment rate of 22%.

 

The online universities are far more expensive and few are accredited. I have read that graduates of community colleges earn more than graduates of online universities.

 

Depends on the degree and what your doing. Let me give you two family examples.

1. Cousin is an nco engineer in the army, he is working on his degree in Engineering Physics an Applied BS with a focus in Explosives Engineering supported by the army. He is a combat specialist is of shock here explosives and the use of them so it fits and will make him a better engineer. I see no issue with that its appliable to his career in the armed forces and degrees for career path soldiers is encouraged.

2. A neice went to the university and majored in art history and minored in french, is there a big shock after two years she's not working anywhere near that field she is working at a Target.

I would say why your going is key if your rich your GOING to be a leader of the community so a degree for them makes sense, you want to go into a STEM field or get a degree to add to a profession say construction management for a construction worker I get but for many unless your an exception its a waste. There is one key exception a legacy school with amazing networking options even if you came in poor its maybe worth it if you add in a useful degree to the mix.

Frankly Germany does it right most students enter the apprenticeship education system low tier and high tier for talents students and only the best who need a degree for a career get to go to a university. But its made them very competative when those students with high skill factory work training come out and can do the skilled work in a modern working factory. We should try to do that here it used to be the norm districts had academic high schools and technical high schools both valid and good at what they did. My father went to a technical high school as did my mom, my uncle went to the county agricultural high school (and went to get a degree at UW- Madison). The issue for me is this if your poor is the system fair high school is virtually free so wouldn't that be the best place to teach careers not colleges?

 

Online schools have very little respect in the real world. Employers consider it the lazy man's route and often will not even consider these real degree's. Many employers want to see that you took the harder way, paid more, went to classes, and spent the time in order to get a degree the normal way. It shows committment.

I'd say average cost of loans is actually around 400-600 for the average bachelors. Me and my wife, both college graduates, pay about 1400 p/mo but we've gone post-grad also.

 

Depends on the parameters. Are you talking about the span of a lifetime or you talking about right when you graduate college? The graph shows why people go to school. The more education you get, the more money (on average) you make. It is backed by real statistics. Not many 30+ adults with high paying educated jobs have any student loan debt left, yet make far more than the average individual who didn't get educated. It is true that students debt load is front loaded and they are worse off than those that work since they are 18... but as time goes on, they end up greatly surpassing their uneducated counterparts (on average). I keep saying on average because we all know a person who didn't go to school that is rich and we know someone who went to school that is poor.

 

just pointing out what i felt the poster meant.

 

Only the real world can prepare you for the real world...

 

There are a lot of people in college that probably shouldn't be. Pressure on colleges, especially state funded ones, to maintain a high graduation rate leads to a watered down graduate pool.

 

The low salaries for such a high degree of supposed education supports my theory of a watered down pool of diploma holders.

 

Last I checked, colleges were also part of the real world.

 

I know, I know...

Allow me to clarify it like this...

When I was in tech school training for my job in the AF, the classes were pretty in depth, and, we had to learn a lot of things...

When we finished, I thought "Well, I should be good to go when I show up..."

Only to find that the actual job is an entirely different aniumal than what you're taught in class...

 

Simply going to college isn't enough. You have to go away to college ALONE and NOT online. Part of the college experience is living without the safety net. Mommy not doing your laundry. Daddy not telling you to do your homework. Buying your own food. Paying your own credit card bills. Writing checks. Signing college loan papers so you understand what it all means. Its part of becoming an adult. Dealing with a professor face to face, not relying on a teachers conference with your parents. Sure, some of that can be simulated at home, but its not the same.