02-26-2014, 08:46 AM
I've got a useless Bachelor of Computer Science degree. I enjoyed the classes, but the degree isn't doing me much good, and I don't know if it ever will. Still paying off the loans, years later. Worked my way through college as a full-time student. Fortunately, I was able to get A's without studying outside of doing the homework, or I'd never have had time to relax or spend with my wife.
The thing about school is that while it might teach you some of the skills necessary to survive in the real world, there's one critical difference: In most classes, for any problem you have to solve, any question you have to answer, it's already been done, and you just have to figure out what it is. The answers are out there, if not practically encoded in the question. You're expected to find them. Compared to the real world, it's easy. In the real world, problems aren't guaranteed to have solutions. If you're doing something really worthwhile, you're forging new ground, into unknown territory. You're not guaranteed to succeed just by applying yourself.
On one hand, getting an education and really learning something from it is the best thing you can do to improve the rest of your life. Too many people choose to sacrifice their future for enjoying the present. On the other, if you're always sacrificing today for tomorrow, then you'll never actually reap any rewards from your sacrifices.
I'd love to go back to school. I just can't afford it. I filled out my final semester with fun courses unrelated to my degree, since I only had one or two requirements to fill. Logic was a lot of fun, and so was Language and Culture.
The thing about school is that while it might teach you some of the skills necessary to survive in the real world, there's one critical difference: In most classes, for any problem you have to solve, any question you have to answer, it's already been done, and you just have to figure out what it is. The answers are out there, if not practically encoded in the question. You're expected to find them. Compared to the real world, it's easy. In the real world, problems aren't guaranteed to have solutions. If you're doing something really worthwhile, you're forging new ground, into unknown territory. You're not guaranteed to succeed just by applying yourself.
On one hand, getting an education and really learning something from it is the best thing you can do to improve the rest of your life. Too many people choose to sacrifice their future for enjoying the present. On the other, if you're always sacrificing today for tomorrow, then you'll never actually reap any rewards from your sacrifices.
I'd love to go back to school. I just can't afford it. I filled out my final semester with fun courses unrelated to my degree, since I only had one or two requirements to fill. Logic was a lot of fun, and so was Language and Culture.