Some days it feels like my purpose in life is nothing more than to push some papers around and be a punching bag for angry customers. I was not hired for my brains, exactly, just a minimal level of competence. I am not expected to think. I am not expected to contribute ideas or improvements. I am like a cog in a machine, which may occasionally be tweaked, or asked for input in a "Print Report" kind of way.
I wonder why we expect all children to go through so much intensive schooling in reading, writing, mathematics, history, etc. if most of us, even the supposedly "smart" ones, are in reality going to end up in mediocre, dead-end jobs. Of course, some will excel and go on to do important things. But I wonder, if adults know that life is so soul-crushing and you will not need calculus in your cashiering job, why do they insist that all children go through grammar school, high school, and college? A college degree is like a high school diploma was 25 years ago. You can't do much without one.
Why force all this over-education on everyone? Isn't that... counterproductive? If only a few will make it, why not just select the few that are above-average and put the rest to work at say, 16? Wouldn't that be more fair than expecting all kids to go into debt for college, when so many will end up with low-paying jobs anyways? Is it fair to string along the kids who will never be a major success in the workforce game, letting them think they have a shot at the big time if they can muddle their way through college?
Let's be realistic. Colleges are graduating students who can barely read or write. They can't fill out a simple form about themselves. Mommy and Daddy have to do everything for them.
WHY BOTHER?
I'm not saying people can't be successful in life if they aren't great students. They can. There are countless examples of rich, famous CEOs who started their own businesses who never graduated college.
What I'm saying is, why force education on those who aren't suited for it? Why delay entry into the real world for so long? Isn't it unfair to people to keep them sheltered for so long that they can't function once they encounter life?
If you have a specific goal, a specific need for training, then college is absolutely imperative. But there are so many bullshit college degrees. The colleges themselves are running scams. They offer degrees which they know are useless. They accept students they know aren't excellent, but they want their money. Don't even get me started on the textbook scam. The college shouldn't ask you to take piles of electives. Wasn't high school for general learning about a variety of subjects? Why in the world would I need to take college-level biology if I'm going to school to learn writing?
College should be way more specialized. Either you spend the 4 years becoming an expert in the ONE thing that you're there to learn, OR.... still focus full time on your major and get out of college in 2 years. Because an undergrad degree is STILL not specialized enough for success in your field. Oh, no. You have to go to GRAD school for that. Let's see... you spend the equivalent of 2 years in college focusing on your major subject. Then you spend 2 years in grad school focusing further on your major subject. Uh, why not just throw away all the bullshit classes and get students graduated in FOUR YEARS who are experts in what they've chosen to study???
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