Is College really meant for everyone?

No, but ideally, it should be an option for everyone.

Not at all.

It’s not meant for everybody, but anybody should be given the choice to go to college nevertheless. A few can achieve success in their lives without college, but that’s a very select few and luck is involved.

No. College simply is not for everyone. It was for me (I'm currently in college) but for a lot of people, they just decide to do other things. Most of the people I knew in high school who didn't go to college ended up joining the army, which is obviously a good career path. One currently runs a local wedding photography business and seems to be doing well for herself.

At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with being a plumber, or an electrician, or a car mechanic, or an enlisted soldier, or a small business owner, or any other job that doesn't require a degree. The world needs those people just as much as we need doctors and lawyers.

Let me tell you something.

My great-great grandfather was a dentist. He never went to college. He graduated high school and went to work for another dentist. He learned everything he could and got his license. This was in the early 20's.

The guy he learned under was considered the best dentist in the city. In fact, he was Warren G Harding dentist before he became President of the United States. That guy did go to college, but only to some small dental college for two years up in Cleveland.

My great grandfather was a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War 2. Ever hear about them? They later became the Air Force. He became an Airline pilot afterwards. He got promoted to Captain and was flying internationally towards the end of career in the early 80's. He never crashed once! He never went to college.

My other great grandfather was an electrical engineer. He never went to college. He started working at GE and eventually through training, became an engineer. At the end of career he was managing people with bachelors and masters degrees.

His brother was a CPA. Never went to college. Ran an accounting practice for 30 years. Never sued once.

Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, then became a Senator, then became probably the greatest President of the United States. Only had a third grade education.

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So, there you have it. Education is extremely overrated. The only real reason to go to college is because all the jobs I just mentioned now require a degree.

No. Their are plenty of successful people that never finished college. IIRC Steve Jobs was a college dropout.

Nope, depending on your career choice college may or may not be a preferable option.

No, not everyone is made for college. We need to do a better job of tapping into and promoting non-college pathways in high schools.

No. Not everyone should go to college but it is an option for everyone. Not everyone can be successful if they graduated in college. Not everyone can be successful if you didn't graduate either.

I mean it really depends on your choice but you should have a plan if you don't want to go to college.

Just like others said. There are successful people that didn't finish or even went to college. Here are some people who didn't finish college:

Bill Gates

Mark Zuckerberg

Steve Jobs

Here are some people who didn't even went to college:

Billie Joe Armstrong - The lead singer of Green Day

Quentin Tarantino

Marilyn Monroe

Charlie Chaplin

Heck I bet most celebrities didn't even finish high school. Let me tell you that college isn't just the key to success. Hardwork is the key.

College is meant for the academically gifted, and that is certainly not everyone.

This depends on one's point of view; I'd say that you should view it from a perspective of not every available college or university being for everyone who wants to go to a particular college or university that they prefer (e.g. this is something that kind of happened to me; one school left me with memories that I will always cherish but the other left me with memories that I dread; in the second case, my second stint with college, when I probably should have taken time off, I went in both burned out, simply less motivated, having already having proved to myself that I could do it and do it well, and naive about how life can be; had I gone in fresh and ready to conquer, like I was in my first stint, I'm confident that I could have done an excellent job, but, due to the difference in atmospheres, I don't think it would have left me with cherished memories; just memories of doing better than most if not all of my classmates in my chosen fields of major); from this perspective, you maximize the people who complete college or university successfully; you should shop around for a college or university before contemplating dropping out; but, in some somewhat exceptional cases, no, college might not be the path to go for said individuals; those individuals will usually are decide to go to the military, as an enlisted individual, as opposed to an officer, a trade school, perhaps trying an entrepreneurial endeavor, a family business, the miscellaneous option that they can find, or nothing at all but siting around complaining or engaged in criminal activity.

With the way college is setup no. I have a learning disorder and I dropped out because I couldn't ever pass math even though I tried my absolute hardest and I had to take it because it was required

Nope. Everyone is different. I mean I could barely handle High School. You think I wanna sacrifice 4 more years? I’m not tryna deal with jerks, jocks, girls, and of course... College itself. Also financial issues... it’s really hard to maintain a job successfully (part time) that gets you at least 30-40 hours a week, while you go to college. Then you need supplies, food, rent money, etc.

All that stress is enough to drive anyone insane. Unless you’re mentally prepared/mature then you will be alright. Still, I never stopped being a teenager. I always wanted to do me, and for the longest time, it has stayed that way. You can still be successful without a bachelors degree, but it’s way more difficult. Also the thought of failing and then being kicked out, after all the money and time you invested into it, will break you. Oh and most parents will disown you for that. However this is all just my point of view.

if your goal in life is to get a jump in STEM then yes, if not honestly no. I went to college for 4 years and have a journalism degree and legit the only useful things I learned in college was how to shot gun a beer and talk to girls. you learn social and cultural things and how to live by yourself but that is about it. also with how out of touch and left wing academia has become you can save money and not go.

"also with how out of touch and left wing academia has become you can save money and not go."

Quoted for truth, as I'm really beginning to sense that this is going on in a lot of the colleges; very likely it's a pretense on that something like evolution is a fact of life and everyone is being forced to fall in line with that notion or get shunned; but, when I left college, I didn't even know that about 50% of scientists want to be atheists; that's how college and science should be thought; evolution and millions years of earth history should have been left to a few chapters in an evolution course as an educated guess. But, both of my schools did have churches for students to attend.

@dshipp17: My biggest issue is the restriction of speech that you see on college campuses across the country. I am a libertarian who believes in lower taxes, less government, and as long as you aren't hurting or bothering anyone else you should be able to do what you want (smoke weed, abortions, gay marriage, PERSONAL FREEDOMS). however there is a scary trend of American colleges restricting and demonizing views from the right. yes Nazis and alt right is bad, no debate there but now it is becoming almost impossible to have an opposing view point without being labeled a racist or fascist and instead of promoting dialogue and friendly debate we are silencing free speech and that scares me.

In fact, I believe that one of the core problems with America's high schools is that they stress college prep and basically nothing else. Obviously college prep is needed for students going to college (like me), but for students who aren't, they essentially go through high school for nothing. Even one of my high school teachers believed that high schools need to bring back trade skills like car maintenance, HVAC repair, and plumbing.

I agree with this. It isn't mandatory and if you don't want to, there should be no obligation. It's something that's there if you want it, but I don't think it's "meant" to be for anyone. ;-;

You made pretty much the same thread three times in close proximity to one another. So I locked the other two. Any questions you raised there can be asked and answered here.

Lmao no. And this is coming from someone currently in college. Might get kicked out anyway

No. If you can drive, fix your car, and operate your cellphone calculator, you can work.

Yes college is designed for all types races colors and creeds. If you are dumb you can still get into college by failing high school. If you are poor you can get in by not paying for it. And if you can't stand learning and being in lectures you can still pass.

college wasnt for me. i got a 15 on my ACT and no college would accept me except for community. anyways it doesnt matter im going to be a truck driver. i know a guy who owns his own truck adn has a team and makes 300000 a year!!!!!

college will get you far left brain washing. most college grads end up working at starbucks or something. the guy that served me a couple of days ago had a masters degree.

but hey when i become rich ill hire kids out of college to do things for me.....like wash my bentley or clean my 15000 square foot house....bwhahaha

Have fun working at McDonald’s

Inb4 “X person didn’t go to college and he’s successful”

Depends on the country, some countries need more white collar employees. Whereas, some countries need more corporate owners (Which tends to be people that dropped/failed college). And some countries need more blue collar workers. Just depends on where you are

No. Most definitely not. It only benefits about 20% of the people who attend. The rest end up working at McDonald's (or similar job's because college didn't teach them any useful work skills) with massive student loan debt that they'll never be able to pay off. It ruins their lives.

100% common sense answer.

It all depends but really had three semester's of college and did not know what I really wanted to do. But had a blast there however.

@mrmonster:

Im a GED graduate and honestly I seem to get in the door at most places that I apply work at.

In my country its not a very common choice to skip college.

Almost everyone does. College is just as necessary as school to get a decent job.

If you don't do college and just take a job you can still become successful but it'll take longer.

I'm currently in college and no it's not for everyone.

Absolutely not. Many college students today acquire crippling debt with very little chance of landing a job in the field they studied.

College is a must for me.

Of course not. College hype is lunacy. It used to be a place for expanding your knowledge into specific fields so as to further advance your capacity to contribute to society. After already learning everything you needed to know in high school, you could opt to go above and beyond, and pursue additional top-level education. It was a privilege, and a benefit.

Now, it is a societal norm, a standard, and a nigh-mandatory one at that. It is almost impossible to land a decent job without having to produce your college credentials, and this is stupid. The average moron you meet on thr street will have graduated from a college, and you'll find geniuses who didn't and are now stagnant.

People are now convinced that they must attend college if their lives are to succeed, and end up destroying those lives (or that of their parents) with student loan debt before they even begin. Only to major in a worthless degree.

Shameful.

No, It's not for everyone.

There are tons of alternatives to college.

No who said it is?

No, it's not for everyone.

Let's break it down jobs into a couple of categories.

First, the jobs that almost always require college: Physician and most healthcare professions (Nursing, Dentist, Veterinarian, etc.), Lawyer, Engineer, Teacher, Most Clergy, Military Officer, Accountant (CPA), and most research jobs.

For these almost all roads lead to college.

Second, jobs where college is helpful (white collar professional): Business (Management, Sales, Finance, Marketing), Aviation, Software development, a large number of government jobs (FBI, DEA, etc).

With these you could skip college, however, getting a degree might be helpful down the line.

Third, jobs that don't require college, but maybe some vocational school (skilled labor): Skilled trades (Mechanic, Plumber, Electrician, Aircraft Mechanic, etc.), again software development, low level healthcare and legal jobs, air traffic controller, military enlistment, retail manager, factory worker and/or union worker (these guys can make some serious money), law enforcement, IT technician.

You can skip college. However, in many of these, vocational or two-year college is required. However, college might help later on if you become a manager.

Fourth, unskilled labor. Jobs teenager and college students usually get and others:Retail, fast food, customer service, farm labor, and low level factory work.

These usually don't pay enough to sustain yourself.

Note: Entrepreneurship spans all these categories. A Doctor who owns his own practice is an entrepreneur. The same goes for a high school dropout who owns a landscaping company.

If you're asking if college is for you, then first ask what you want to do with your life.

So, beside what I said above. If you're planning to go to college, make sure you have an end goal in mind. Student don't usually do this or they will have some career that's really hard to get. This is why you see people with a masters in sociology working at McDonalds with $60K of debt.

College doesn't have to be expensive. You could start at a community college where tuition is cheaper. This is also gives a better transition from high school.

No.

Take a look at the composition of your government. You have your answer.

It helps often, but almost nothing is meant for everyone.

For the three years I went to college, almost none of the female attendees passed any classes. They kept trying to smell me and rub me all the time. I managed to pass my courses by getting some of them to do my work for me. They were allowed to rest their heads on my chest if I got an A.

I ended up having to use the female change rooms because it was the only way they could keep all the women out of the men's change rooms. I had to let them dress me for my gym workout, swab my sweaty brow and then shower me afterward while other females were smelling the equipment I had just finished using. The college ended up having to run competitions so that any women who passed their subjects got to do all those things to me. i had to let my girl lecturers give me massages because I was worried that I might be failed.

No, my roommate went straight to work and is now an A-tech mechanic and makes more then me.

@wut: Is.....is it awkward?

@wolfrazer: Nah, known him all my life and we've lived together for 8 years now going on 9.

@wut: Fair enough.

No. You don't need a PhD to work at McDonald's.

Didn't work for me...or more honestly, I'm a lazy goon and didn't feel like trying.

Of course not. There are other post secondary options besides college.