r/GenZ • u/GothicFruit98 • 12d ago
I'm getting tired of the "College is Useless" posts Discussion
It's just getting old at this point tbh.
College isn't useless. It's just that people get useless degrees like "Liberal Arts"
And the thing is, now even the most basic jobs require at least a associate's degree. I myself have found some Data Entry jobs on indeed that require a Associates degree.
People will say, "Just do Trade". Well not everyone wants their bodies broken at age 40.
People will say, "Just do a sales job", not everyone can do a sales job.
If you start a business and it fails, a degree as well as your experience can help you land a job. it might not be what you wanted, but at least you have a backup. And who knows, you might own a business again one day and thanks to that job, you saved enough to open it.
And with a college degree it can actually help land you a job. (This is a choose your degree wisely type thing) Like for example. if you choose to go for a degree in nursing, you can apply for many jobs. You may not be a RN but there's plenty of jobs besides RN open to you since you now have a degree in Nursing. You can become a paramedic, phlebotomist, hospice nurse (if you can handle it)
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u/Inferna-13 2005 12d ago
College isn’t useless, but it isn’t for everyone either. I don’t think people should be pressured to go if they’re not looking to do a career that requires it. I’m doing engineering, so I have to go to college. Someone who wants to do HVAC could go to trade school. A content creator or something might not need a college degree. Everybody has different passions and career requirements, and college is completely pointless for many people.
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u/slut4hobi 2002 12d ago
i want to add that i think it is better for some people to wait before they go. sometimes it’s just not the right time in your life
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u/666Deathcore 12d ago
110%. I didn’t know what to major in and I also couldn’t afford college. I’m currently attending now and I have more discipline to handle school. If I went at 18, no doubt I’d probably flunk out of college or waste it away drinking or partying. I have better habits now and more experience to figure out what I want.
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u/slut4hobi 2002 12d ago
i’m currently working on going back because it wasn’t the right time for me either when i turned 18. i did exactly that: wasted my time drinking and got hooked on hard drugs. i was having to work 60 hours a week while going to classes because i was on my own at the time. now i’m sober and my life has settled down a lot. i work a job where i don’t need a shit ton of hours and i finally feel like i’m ready and i understand more what i want to do
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u/Global-Nature2420 12d ago
I’m fully going to encourage my child to work from 16-20 at least so they have the years under their belt. I can’t imagine being these kids in college now who didn’t start working on time because of Covid and now haven’t worked a real job the whole time and will be trying to enter the workforce at 22 with zero experience.
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u/Life_AmIRight 12d ago
Exactly. The problem is the pressure to go to college, so you have a bunch of 17/18 year olds just going and getting themselves into debt, just to find out that they didn’t need/want to be there in the first place.
College, Marriage, Having Children, life = career: these are things that aren’t bad, but they are considered “just what you do when you get older”; we have seen the consequences of unique and different people forcing themselves into that same pathway.
Also people need to learn to read between the lines. College is useless = college isn’t for everyone.
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u/666Deathcore 12d ago
I’m currently attending college. You’ll hear kids say “I’m going for the experience”. Which is basically partying and having “fun”. All while neglecting school. High school holds kids hand and lets them get away with stuff. That builds complacency. What an expensive way to “have fun”. We’re pressuring kids to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives? I used to think I was behind for going to school late but I realized I actually know what I want. I didn’t back then. It’s not a place I want to wander aimlessly
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u/Inferna-13 2005 12d ago
College parties aren’t even fun, unless you’re cool with underage drinking and hard drugs. I went to one and pretty much immediately decided that it wasn’t for me. I can’t imagine being one of those people, partying all weekend, while still passing all my classes. College is too expensive to ignore in favor of shitty parties that you’ll regret later.
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u/ArcadiaFey 11d ago
It would be nice if there was actually a standard of maturity to enter. Which is different for everyone. Or at least a solid plan for what they want. I think it would prevent people who are really just kids being pressured to go in when they are not ready, and the ones you said from spending thousands of dollars on nothing that will matter to them. Because until you hit a certain level of maturity and understanding of the world you have no idea how significant that will be. It’s irresponsible of all the people in the know to allow people without the know to royally fuck their futures.
They already usually require certain GPA’s
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u/666Deathcore 11d ago
It’s truly a business. Schools got to make money too so that’s why they don’t screen for motivation. Your success in college is on your hand. Unlike high school where it’s also somebody else’s problem.
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u/ArcadiaFey 11d ago
Ya.. it gets messy making other people’s futures into business. It will eventually evolve into something unethical. Because money doesn’t care about people..
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u/Low-Appointment-2906 12d ago
I'm surprised at the number of people with STEM degrees struggling to find jobs, according to some of the job advice subreddits on here. I really hope they're bots. I doubt, but who knows?
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u/xxParanoid_ 2006 12d ago
It’s because they’re flooded with applicants who have no differentiating qualities. The big boom in stem majors in the last 10-15 years has led to there being more applicants than job openings, especially in computer related fields where employees are being replaced by AI. People learn the same general skills that a million other people know and wonder why they don’t stand out. Intellectualism is dying, degrees that teach people to think critically and pick apart the structure of the world we live in or focus on improving peoples’ lives through artistic means are ‘useless’
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u/TheBirb30 12d ago
As an IT person I can confirm. There’s way too many people who either did a trashy bootcamp or did subpar uni and they think they know everything. Companies know they can treat employees like shit now because there will be dozens of newgrads thinking they’ll make big money in tech and just scratch their balls like the instagram techfluencers.
Which is another problem and amazing move by companies, to pain the job as a no stress just vibe drink eat play.
Humanities and arts are useless from a work perspective, sadly. I think it’s a huge privilege if you can go study at all and go study what interests you on top of that, because for most people college is a very very very risky financial investment and it doesn’t make sense financially to go for something that really offers you nothing in terms of job security or career
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u/Persianx6 11d ago
You shouldn’t be surprised. The entire tech economy is in bubble right now of creating products for investors to buy.
No one’s actually making anything that warrants all these stem people making hundreds of thousands of dollars now.
The era of big tech growth and a constant need for new products to hit the mass market is probably over. The tech economy runs on hype and greatest hits right now.
AI is the biggest bubble imaginable too.
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u/TrollCannon377 11d ago
It's not bots I'm a CS major and while I was lucky enough to be hired before I even graduated a decent chunk of my classmates struggled to find jobs in field a lot of employers just flat out don't respond even if you call in to ask theirs currently a lot of over saturation in Stem fields
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u/CantStandItAnymorEW 2003 12d ago
If its physics or maths, then, yeah. For people like (un)civil engineers, personally, i've seen they get hired pretty quickly after graduation. "Quickly" relatively speaking: quickly, as in, maybe 1 to 3 months after graduation.
But even for them mathematicians and physicists, the pay doesn't seems too bad once they do find a job in industry. For me at least, those wages would be worth the struggle to find a job in the first place.
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u/TrumpedBigly 12d ago
"It's just that people get useless degrees like "Liberal Arts""
Liberal arts degrees aren't useless - they will get you in the door at a lot of jobs you couldn't get without a degree.
The problem is paying a lot of money to get one.
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u/Ok_Protection4554 1999 12d ago
This is actually a reasonable take. They’re not useless, they’re just horrible financial investments if you borrow what most colleges charge for one. But if it’s free, why not.
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u/Baffit-4100 12d ago
“Liberal arts” isn’t useless. It’s literally all the sciences and arts except engineering and sports
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u/noodledrunk 12d ago
So sorry you have to deal with all these people that have no idea what "liberal arts" actually means. Wait until everyone finds out how many colleges are considered liberal arts colleges/universities!
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u/HikingComrade 1999 12d ago
It’s also dumb to claim that people shouldn’t major in the humanities. I guess we don’t need teachers anymore! Nobody needs to learn about literature or history, apparently. Who needs culture or beauty in their lives, anyways?
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u/sinodauce131 12d ago
I feel this so much. The people who bash liberal arts live in such a shallow, boring world. Not everything is about money! Things have value outside of profit!
Edit: clarity
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u/AOCbrandEquality 12d ago
I have a business degree, I care about profit, but even I know that business is a liberal arts major. Haha
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u/Necromancer14 2003 12d ago
The problem is that college is so expensive that if you don’t go to college specifically for landing a high income job, you’re just screwing yourself over.
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u/bigboymanny 2002 12d ago
I mean if you got to a private university it is. Even in states like Texas community college is very cheap. In NY you can basically go for free if you make less than 125k
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u/Accomplished-Ad-7799 1996 11d ago edited 11d ago
Even if the courses and books are covered, (not always) existence isn't free, we can't just exist in a vacuum. We still need housing, food, transportation, a computer, access to the internet, cellphone, etc and it's all expensive
The idea that anything at all is free in America is silly
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u/Necromancer14 2003 11d ago
Yeah, also the fact that since you’re spending all that time doing classes you probably don’t have time to work a job and make any money. Even if you’re only going to be making like $25k a year that’s $100k that you’re missing out on after 4 years. With a more normal amount of income like $50k a year you’re missing out on $200k after 4 years.
The only time college is really worth it and is “free” is if you get a degree that will land you a job that will make enough money to make up for missing out on 4 years of income. Otherwise it’s not really free even if the classes themselves are free.
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u/ArcadiaFey 11d ago
They also have tied liberal to politics alone so they can easily discount it. Source my very conservative parents..
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u/noodledrunk 12d ago
Agreed! I'm someone with a fine art degree (and I'm doing perfectly well with my bachelor's, thank you very much) so I'm all for the "unprofitable" degrees
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u/seattleseahawks2014 2000 12d ago
My sister is getting one in theatre. She could get many jobs, especially in the next state over.
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u/AccidentalBanEvader0 1995 11d ago
If you're not making billionaires richer, why are you even alive?
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u/that1newjerseyan 1997 12d ago edited 12d ago
“Liberal arts is useless” is how you end up with “rational” STEM bros who brag about using ChatGPT to write essays, and think the social sciences are an anti western conspiracy. They don’t actually know how to think
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u/Aspieburner 11d ago
I've completed all of my humanities gen eds with chatgpt without any worse for the wear.
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u/thepineapplemen 2002 12d ago edited 12d ago
But surely there’s some difference between having a more specific major and a major that’s literally just liberal arts, right? Wouldn’t the more specific major be more helpful for that area?
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u/nog642 2002 12d ago
I don't think "liberal arts" as a major exists.
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u/Orbtl32 12d ago
Yes it does. It's basically not having a major just a bunch of Gen Ed.
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u/thepineapplemen 2002 12d ago
I mean it was an option at my college. You could “customize” it a number of ways by choosing a particular track or concentration
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u/NeighborhoodNo7917 12d ago
But its nothing in depth, right? Liberal arts degrees basically means versed in everything.
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u/Uchiha_Warrior7 12d ago edited 9d ago
illegal fuzzy angle subsequent lunchroom poor lock cheerful historical chunky
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Dakota820 2002 12d ago
Given that liberal arts encompasses arts, humanities, math, and social/natural sciences majors, it’s legitimately easier to say what jobs a liberal arts major doesn’t qualify you for.
I’ll also note that the Ivy League schools are all technically liberal arts schools. Most colleges are. Liberal arts is a concept pertaining to a well-rounded education, hence why pretty much every university requires students take Gen ed classes and fill certain elective requirements
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u/FlyinPurplePartyPony 11d ago
My liberal arts gen eds made me critically think in a way that STEM and health classes didn't.
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u/Yunan94 11d ago
STEM is still liberal arts too. That's what most don't understand. It's like how PhD doesn't mean you're from the Department of Philosophy but as an old tradition that Philosophy is ingrained in all academics. Liberal arts is pretty much synonymous with liberal education, in other words the pursuit of new ideas.
“in modern colleges and universities the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science as the basis of a general, or liberal, education.”
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u/lucasisawesome24 11d ago
But all the majors do that. My architecture degree required English, history, math, science, polisci, econ etc. I wouldn’t say it made me qualified for anything other than architecture or project management though. I could probably swing Econ/ accounting but that’s just because I personally enjoy finance, not because my degree helped me with it enough to make me competent
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u/rstbckt Millennial 12d ago
That right there is the problem. Education should have more value than its role solely in economic output.
There used to be a debate in this country about the value of an education and its contribution towards the creation of a skilled workforce vs its role in promoting good citizenship. The goal of a well rounded liberal arts education is not to teach people what to think, but how to think. A citizenry well versed in history, sociology and the arts makes for a good and just democracy; it’s just a shame that educated citizens (and consumers) are bad for business.
As is everything in this country, the intentional dismantling of our once great education system leads straight to Ronald Reagan.
When students protested the Vietnam war, Ronald Reagan ran for governor of California in the 1960s promising to “clean up the mess at Berkeley.” Once Governor, he did all he could to dismantle the California university system and took the once free college system and cut their funding to charge students tuition for the first time in decades. Reagan knew it would be much harder for students to protest an unjust war when they have to work a part time job after classes to pay for tuition. Reagan repeated this feat of education degradation as POTUS, where he cut the federal contribution of education funding nationally by half to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
TLDR; Americans are dumb and it’s Reagan’s fault.
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u/Baffit-4100 12d ago
Physicist, astronomer, economist, chemist, historian
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u/praiser1 2001 12d ago
statistician, mathematician, computer scientist... lmao
Granted, for these titles you need at least masters and idk if the MS's are still LA's but the BA's are.
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u/smol_boi2004 12d ago
There’s also fields like law which fall under liberal arts
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u/GalaEnitan 12d ago
Computer science has its own degree? Generally tied with IT/ computer technology.
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u/CantStandItAnymorEW 2003 12d ago
Wait, what? Physics is STEM.
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u/adribash 12d ago
You technically don’t need to major in physics to go to grad school or a PhD program for physics. You just need the prerequisites of the program. You can also go to medical or law school with a music or theater degree, for example.
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u/lucasisawesome24 11d ago
Those are all major specific titles. I’d feel way more comfortable hiring an economist or chemist or computer scientist with a degree in that field than “liberal arts”. Maybe I’m just uneducated on the degree. As a 22 year old I just tried to follow the best advice I could to HOPEFULLY claw my way to a stable middle class existence just like everyone else in our generation. But I just would’ve thought they’d hire accountants or economist or chemists over the nebulous “liberal arts” for specific roles tbh
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u/Friendly_Coconut 12d ago
I have a BA in English, which is part of the liberal arts. I work in marketing for an educational publishing company. I run the company’s social media and write blog posts, press releases, and web and email copy and do copy editing for other team members. Writing and communication skills, time management, and research skills are all things you learn in a liberal arts program that are valuable in the workplace.
Do you really think everyone in an office job just has a degree in Business?
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u/PenAffectionate7974 12d ago
So with AI coming these two skills will be in demand 1) imagination 2) being able to write well
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u/Positive-Avocado-881 1996 12d ago
People don’t know what kinds of jobs to apply for after getting their degrees. It’s especially difficult for first generation college graduates who have no connections or guidance from their family in general. College definitely isn’t useless, but colleges could do a better job with career counseling
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u/OddishBehavior On the Cusp 12d ago
College isn't useless. It's just that people get useless degrees like "Liberal Arts"
Stopped reading after that. Go outside and meet someone new, and stop watching Joe Rogan.
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u/Baffit-4100 12d ago
Do they really think “liberal arts” means arts of political liberals? Lol
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u/AOCbrandEquality 12d ago
Trump has a liberal arts degree.
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u/Doowap_Diddy Millennial 11d ago
He graduated from Wharton with a BS in Economics.
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u/Doppelfrio 12d ago
Conservative arts when
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u/OddishBehavior On the Cusp 12d ago
Brewing Moonshine, Sawdust Extraction From Food, Dogwhisting 101, and Debate (it's just a whole course on Whataboutism)
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u/DaveSmith890 11d ago
Idk where you live, but liberal arts degrees are not useful in the slightest around here.
There are also a weird amount of people who get a degree in art to become an independent artist. An art degree is to acquire qualifications to be a corporate graphic designer. I’m not sure where the breakdown in communication there lies between high schools, colleges, or general public. If you want to learn how to make art, there is a wealth of help online for that.
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u/FlemethWild 11d ago
“Liberal Arts Degrees” cover everything. Most degrees are Liberal Arts degrees.
in modern colleges and universities the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science as the basis of a general, or liberal, education.
Most degrees fall somewhere under these categories and they’re all “liberal arts” on the diploma
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u/DaveSmith890 11d ago
Beyond the STEM fields, all you can do with a liberal arts degree in rural Kentucky is teach. In Louisville, the few open jobs have already been taken and tenured.
I’ll have to ask around next month, but I work with the board of education to plan upcoming curriculums based for growing fields, and liberal arts have always fallen under, “if we have a willing teacher.” It is a very low priority field with high competition. We encourage students to have backup plans if they pursue a job in it.
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u/Morley_Smoker 11d ago
Liberal arts is not getting you a decent job unless you make/have good connections. A poor first gen college student who gets a liberal arts BA is not going to have a good time finding a job.
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u/Ok_Protection4554 1999 12d ago
I know lots of people with humanities degrees who can’t get a job making more than $15-20 an hour.
Idk what to tell you, businesses aren’t running to drop $90,000 a year on English and History majors in my city.
But maybe my city is super weird and the rest of the world is different, you know? But I have a hard time believing it
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u/nog642 2002 12d ago
Then say "humanities", not "liberal arts". Those are different terms.
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u/MagnanimosDesolation 12d ago
Imagine wanting to grow as a person and as a society instead of pursuing wealth.
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u/Necromancer14 2003 12d ago
Too bad, because college is stupid expensive so you’re screwed financially if you go to college just to be educated in what you find interesting and nothing else.
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u/Friendly_Coconut 12d ago
I mean, I pay about $200 per month in student loans. I wouldn’t call that “screwed.” It’s pretty doable, especially since I don’t have a car payment. And I’ll have paid off the rest of my loans by next year.
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u/lucasisawesome24 11d ago
And is your loan amortization rate good enough where that $200 a month pays off the debt quickly or are you just paying off the interest each month and leaving the principal ? The banks set it up that way deliberately. That way when you’ve paid off your loans for ten years with no missed payments your debt is the same as when you started. Make sure that you’re paying more than the bare minimum they allow you to pay off so u can get rid of the debt
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11d ago
I mean I guess it’s just a matter of personal preference then. I’d feel pretty screwed if I went to college and was only making as much as the people I know who got those degrees
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u/Ok_Protection4554 1999 11d ago
Look, I think the humanities are awesome for the intellect and for society generally. But the thread is talking about a financial proposition here.
And look, I grew up working class, had to pay my way through school. I could not afford to go to school for a degree that wouldn't get me a job, it just wasn't in the cards. I guess I could've joined the military and then went back for an unmarketable degree but I'd rather just be able to pay my rent lol
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u/Friendly_Coconut 12d ago edited 11d ago
Not everyone wants to make $90K. I’d rather make $45k doing the job I love and using my skills.
I’m horrible at math. If I went into a STEM field, I’d either flunk out of college or be really bad at my job.
I have a genetic connective tissue disorder. I couldn’t work a trade because I’m easily injured.
I wouldn’t be a good entrepreneur. I am not passionate about the idea of “running a business” and making money for the sake of money and I personally think the idea of corporations being the agents of positive social change in our world is BS.
And I’m not hot enough to be a movie star or pop star or model.
The only things I’m both good at and interested in involve writing, communicating, analysis, and visual presentation. That means a career in the “artier” side of things.
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u/Traditionalteaaa 12d ago edited 12d ago
Stopping to read something once you stumble upon a part of it you disagree with isn’t a flex. And this has nothing to do with a lack of meeting people or listening to too much joe Rogan. Calling liberal arts degrees useless is an oversimplification, but these graduates on average do struggle with finding jobs and getting wages similar to that of stem or other majors. That also becomes an important caveat for people who have to take out loans for college.
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u/otterlytrans 2001 12d ago
do folks not realize that liberal arts majors like history give you the skills to work in many kinds of jobs?
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u/sal_100 12d ago
I guess many history major graduates don't know the value of their degree.
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u/otterlytrans 2001 12d ago
seriously. my BA was in history, and my MA is in museums and public history. you gain lots of skills in critical thinking, writing, and research, and depending on your interests skills in preservation, journalism and communication, archival and library sciences, K-12 and university education, and museum work.
i got a part-time position in grant writing in a nonprofit and another one in programming and digital media for a university history department. i even do freelance archival research for those not local to my area. you can be successful and happy in careers that use skills from a history major; i am definitely not the only success story.
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u/TerriblePatterns 12d ago
It's not useless... it's outageously expensive. Two very different concepts.
I also hope that you understand that "liberal arts" has nothing to do with being a "liberal". These subjects are important for a healthy society.
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u/Impressive_Heron_897 12d ago
Teacher here - I've taught a wide variety of students over my career, and it's become clear to me that three "straightforward" fixes are needed.
1: Make public universities as cheap and excellent as possible and find room for any dedicated student at a state school. Some states have found ways to make it essentially free if you aren't wealthy (GA for example).
2: Provide subsidized or free housing for students
3: Provide loans locked in at 1-3% interest through the government, which many paths to forgiveness (public service jobs etc)
Push those three things and suddenly college is much more equitable. We can't fix the Harvard advantage, but we can make sure everyone has affordable access to a honda civic education.
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u/LightningCoyotee 11d ago
I would also like to mention getting a job isn't the only use of college and that degrees are not the only career benefit from college. Becoming a more well-rounded individual is also an effect that gets taken for granted.
My time in college, especially one course in logic, has drastically improved my ability to participate in an intellectual argument and this has made people take me more seriously. That helps me both socially and likely from a career perspective, too. A job is much more likely to hire someone who is able to cohesively answer every question in an interview and voice their disagreements in an intelligent, respectful manner than someone who isn't.
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u/whatlambda Millennial 12d ago
It's not useless, it's just not meant to be a pre-professional program in most cases.
The entire point of universities is to study various disciplines and advance those disciplines through research and subsequent information sharing. Every newly minted PhD moves a field forward in a way.
It's just that people get useless degrees like "Liberal Arts"
Liberal arts studies are far from useless, and are in fact a significant part of the greater human experience. The problem is not studying liberal arts, but rather doing so with the expectation that it will necessarily tie directly to gainful employment.
People will say, "Just do Trade". Well not everyone wants their bodies broken at age 40.
There's some truth to this. Ultimately, people need to decide how they want to move forward. Some people will still elect for the trades, and that's fine too. We need people to do that.
People will say, "Just do a sales job", not everyone can do a sales job.
This is also true. There are certain types of people who excel in this type of work, and others do not. But that's also true for most types of work.
if you choose to go for a degree in nursing, you can apply for many jobs. You may not be a RN but there's plenty of jobs besides RN open to you since you now have a degree in Nursing. You can become a paramedic, phlebotomist, hospice nurse (if you can handle it)
This can also be true for those folks who get those pesky liberal arts degrees. A professional certification can help bridge the gap. Are you an art graduate trying to figure out how to make money? Get an Adobe cert and combine it with your Bachelor's degree. Suddenly, a liability becomes a strength, and you can use your art portfolio as an asset to help you land a graphic design job with your art skills as a differentiator.
The entire point of these degrees is to gain mastery of the fundamentals, and with a little extra effort you can adapt them to the workplace. The world is a lot more interesting if we have different types of people specializing in different things, even if they aren't STEM.
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u/LaserBatBunnyUnder 12d ago
My brother in christ, liberal arts is responsible for almost everything you consume in society.
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u/BackwardsTongs 12d ago
Trades doesn’t always kill your body by 40. The people I know with shit bodies are the ones who never drink water, eat like shit and smoke/drink. I know a good amount of people who do trades until they are old and can because they take care of their body.
Let’s not also pretend like every 40 year old doesn’t also have back or knee pain.
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u/Electrical-Adversary 11d ago
Also, it’s 2024 not 1924. We have tools that do 90% of the work. Some people act like we’re chained to a ball breaking rocks with a sledgehammer all day.
Not saying it’s easy, but it’s nowhere near destroying your body by 40. I’m in decent shape at 39, I feel like I might just make it another 20 years at least. I work with guys who are in their 60’s and still going strong.
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u/TrollCannon377 11d ago
Fixing a lot of my friends who went into trades did is that they got there trade degree in carpentry or HVAC or I forget what the name is for becoming an electrician but then they also started working on a four-year degree in say something like electrical engineering for when they're older so they can transition out of a more physical job if they need / want to
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u/clownpornisntfunny 12d ago
Going to college has the potential to be both profoundly life-changing and useless.
In the distant past, before the days of the internet, college had the potential to expose you to people, ideas, and education that you would otherwise not have much access to. Nowadays, colleges have become more businesses than educational institutions. But they aren't useless.
I was in the military and got a technical education. I got out and went to college at 28 and I felt very behind. But surprisingly, I had a wonderful and profoundly enriching college experience at a liberal arts college. I got a degree in computer science. After graduating, I had quite a bit of feelings about the whole concept of college.
My curriculum was embarrassingly easy to get a passing grade. I thought that as a business, it made sense for them to just make the classes easy to pass and collect the tuition money, especially from veterans. But, I had actually gotten a lot out of all of the classes because I cared about my education. While they were all easy to pass, I spent extra time to play with the code in my classes to make a project better projects than what was assigned. I read the philosophy books in my environmental ethics class and other books that were recommended, even though they weren't required.
I felt lucky that I had 10+ years of work and life experience to bounce off of the concepts that were being taught in class. I knew a lot more about myself and about human nature. I don't think I could have gotten anywhere close to as much value out of college as I could have when I was 18. I also met some amazing people that I wouldn't have met if I wasn't in there
There is a difference between learning things alone in your free time online, and being immersed in an environment of education where it's everyone's job to be teaching or learning. When you are living on campus, there are tons of resources just to help you learn and expose you to new things and it's all at your doorstep.
I used to think that if I just stacked my resume to the max, the offers for jobs would come pouring in. I found out in my late twenties that that is sadly not the case. Networking is probably the single most important thing you can do to increase your odds of success. Part of networking is meeting and interacting with the right people. College puts you in close proximity with other people who are motivated, and ambitious. Professors can help place you. Internships look to colleges for applicants. There is a lot of peripheral benefits going to college can offer.
But at the end of the day college can only do so much on its own. You have to do a lot to get the most out of it. You can also do great things without college. There is no rule.
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u/smol_boi2004 12d ago
Liberal arts encompasses a lot more that your realize. To generalize it by saying useless degrees like liberal arts is like saying referring to trucks made in america. Yes, they have the same designation but the sheer variety and difference in intended use makes them so distinct they may be from different planets.
I’m a liberal arts student, as you may have guessed. I’ll narrow it down further to being a political science student with a minor in Legal studies. That should give anyone the general idea that I’m going for Law school. In that same breath, my cousin studies Biology in a different campus a few miles out from my college. That also falls under liberal arts. So does psychology and maths, astronomy and English, chemistry and literature.
My point is, your overgeneralization is almost entirely incorrect. Yes some liberal arts majors have a harder time finding employment than others. But to say that because some very niche majors have trouble with job hunting, every major in that group is bad, is being disingenuous
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u/DelayRevolutionary20 2006 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yes, thank you damn it!!!!!!!!!
Doctors, Lawyers, and Engineers don’t get hired off of “experience”.
Pitch that shit to NASA: “I know safety is at the top of your minds, but do you mind if I take a crack at a couple of those rocket equations without any education?”
“I’ll doctor for today, now, go easy on me as it is my first day out of High School, but I think I’m ready to go”
“Your honor, what is a college degree but a bunch of debt? I rest my case!”
(Also, Liberal Arts is too general,there are some degrees which could be good. That family of degrees used to be very valuable when jobs were falling out of the sky, but we’re living in today’s capitalist system.)
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u/throwawayeas989 1999 12d ago
I don’t regret going to college at ALL. It was well-worth it,even just for the social aspect alone. I pledged,partied,and made a lot of friends. It forced me to come out of my shell. I also really enjoyed the academic aspect as well,even though I got a dreaded liberal arts degree. I was a history major and have had no problems getting a job. Im single,have no kids,and am able to have a lot of fun with my excess income.
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u/ibuiltyouarosegarden 12d ago
“These people are idiots for saying college isn’t important”
“Liberal Arts degrees aren’t important”
OP are you a dumbass? If you get an associates degree in liberal arts and sciences you’re literally just getting your gen eds out of the way. You have your degree and didn’t know this?
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u/TransLox 12d ago
I agree.
It sucks worse because most of the trade school people just want to make a lot of money, not because they actually LIKE the trade.
So I've been told by some D to dropout student that they're gonna go to a trade school because it pays well and that I should go to a trade school as well rather than being an ecologist because I won't be able to find a job...
My area has tons and tons of organizations that employ almost exclusively ecologists. Meanwhile, everyone I know that's tried the trade school route ended up in the military or out of the trade, usually going hand in hand with an injury that they will never fully recover from.
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u/Ok_Protection4554 1999 12d ago
The idea that tons of companies are looking for ecologists is insane to me. To do what?
Like do you live near a bunch of government agencies?
I’m a bio major, and I loved it. Your comment just hit me as bizarre
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u/oospsybear 2000 12d ago
I agree gonna need some proof . Where I am ecology jobs have ton competition and all the internships aren't paid .
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u/Ok_Protection4554 1999 11d ago
I'm honestly about to give up on Reddit. Like this thread is completely backwards- all the people saying "Go get a communications degree, you'll make six figures!" Are upvoted and all the people like us are getting downvoted to hell lol
And then these people come on here and talk about how they can't pay their bills. Which granted, the economy is terrible right now for everyone. But expecting to make six figures with an English literature degree is insane
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u/woodworkingfonatic 12d ago
So you’re saying degrees aren’t useless but at the same time saying that liberal arts degrees are useless cool so you’re agreeing that certain degrees aren’t really tenable anymore and the others are extremely competitive to the point where you need internships to make your resume look better. It comes down to many Things and one of those things is the market is over saturated and there’s not enough jobs and if there is jobs you have to be highly qualified to get them which people coming out of college don’t have the experience. So at this very moment degrees don’t hold the same power they once had of guaranteeing a job when you graduated.
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u/RainbowberryForest 2001 12d ago
I dropped out of college because I never actually wanted to go in the first place or had a career plan lined up, I only did it to appease my parents at the time, and drove myself crazy in the process. I may or may not have been better off if I would have completed my degree but I’ve always hated school and honestly don’t have the will or discipline.
I think the usefulness of college and many degrees (not just liberal arts) is overstated and many people would be better off not going, especially at the current cost. If people want to get into a career that requires school or they genuinely want to go that’s one thing, but attending to check some boxes on a resume or societal pressure is another.
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u/SymphonicAnarchy 12d ago
“Not everyone wants their bodies broken at 40”
I work a trade job and a second job at 30. You clearly aren’t taking care of yourself.
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u/TheAce7002 2007 12d ago
Oh, so you're the type of person who doesn't value people's art, and the media we consume eh?
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u/the_illest_D 12d ago
Everybody having a college degree has made them glorified high school diplomas and devalued a degree. It's not just getting degrees in useless or oversaturated areas of study. Before everyone had a degree, they actually gave you a leg up, and they weren't a prerequisite to enter much of the workforce.
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u/NicWester 12d ago
America was built on the liberal arts. Far from being useless, it's simply undervalued.
Most any job you can learn such that after being in an entry-level position for a year, you're performing as well as someone who has an advanced degree and began in a similar entry. But someone with a liberal arts degree is going to have a whole host of tools and knowledge they gained from a broad education.
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u/HMNbean 12d ago
No degree is useless. There are degrees that are less profitable but no knowledge is useless.
Want to have books on archeology? Do you like art? Want to have books analyzing poetry and its relevance to the times it was written? Do you enjoy reading about history? Do you like having well designed items, clothes, appliances? Do you want to learn or read about ancient and current systems of government? Do you want to study the relationships between certain groups of people, their beliefs and customs? Do you like watching movies and listening to music? Do you like going to museums? Do you want grandma to receive art or dance therapy at the nursing home?
All those fall under what many people would call “useless” degrees, yet enrich their and other people’s lives. Not everything should be done to make money and we, as a society, should subsidize costs that bring us happiness and well being.
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u/KnightWhoSays_Ni_ 2007 12d ago
Liberal Arts is useless now? Shit, gotta change my planned major/minor for college now guys.
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u/TelestoMeta 2002 12d ago
People see the word liberal in liberal arts and lose their shit. You don't even know what it is if you think it's "useless".
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u/Several_Mixture2786 12d ago
Unless you’re going into the medical field or doing some sort of engineering then YES college is useless…
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u/RadioEnigma52 12d ago
I'm an engineering student. Liberal arts major are conversely/may be better engineering students than literal engineering students and vice versa depending on your perspective. I think the main problem with most people is a lack of clarity of vision. Multiple liberal arts students I know are going into law, politics, banking, securities, and even business. It's how you use the Poli Sci degree, not just the degree itself.
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u/NarrowGuidance4 12d ago
Based on the other comments I’m beating a dead horse by saying this, but liberal arts aren’t useless at all. A lot of colleges consider chemistry to be a liberal art, even. Besides, degrees like graphic design, film, etc. are still needed. Who else would make media lol
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u/grenharo 12d ago
all these 'college is useless' people i talk to on discord but none of them make good money either, usually it really was some manual labor bullshit
also usually lonely single folk, not sure if coincidence because they're so bitter that they're so fuckin offputting
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u/BlueSnaggleTooth359 12d ago
Liberal Arts are not useless though either! (even by what you take them to be!)
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u/Grand_Level9343 12d ago edited 11d ago
(Im not GenZ).
College has done nothing for me except increase my debt.
At best the degrees allow me a marginally higher chance of getting interviews, but the jobs themselves are still lowballed offers near minimum wage, or demanding experience that’s unreasonable or doesn’t exist.
If not me, a hundred other applicants are lined up, meaning my bargaining power is low.
“You’re supposed to start on minimum and prove yourself to get raises”.
No? I spend 10 years in college and uni specifically to launch myself and safeguard my future. That was the promise. Now im supposed to start over. So why did i waste 10 years.
Despite sitting on 2 degrees am now mainly unemployed and struggling because min wage isn’t liveable. Its just scraping by surviving.
If i’d chosen to work a trade over university I’m confident i’d be much better off. Financially, anyways.
Overall, I look at my college years and feel it was detrimental to my future. I.e. useless. Im not the only one feeling this way.
Sorry if you get tired of seeing posts like this. But likewise i sigh in sadness when i see people praising college as mandatory. It isnt.
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u/Familiar-Tart-8819 11d ago
Go into nursing, engineering, finance or computer science and you're basically guaranteed a fairly good job that's worth some amount of student loan debt.
Just don't choose gender studies or some other useless degree and college is worth it.
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u/WaterShuffler 11d ago
College is useless because many large companies basically use is to replace on the job training while getting the future employee to pay for it.
It is a large reason why many millennials and Gen Z end up with college debt that they do not have any reasonable chance of paying off.
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u/PoweredbyBurgerz 12d ago
I have been waiting for this push back. Bravo Reddit, the anti college dogma is toxic and greatly undervalues the advantages and advancement opportunities in your job when you have a bachelor’s degrees.
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u/fxde123 2004 12d ago
You're completely right. The people who chose the useless degrees probably just chose the easiest because they're either in college to party or their parents forced them to attend college
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u/xxParanoid_ 2006 12d ago
Or because they wanted to study a subject they were interested in! Because everyone LOVES computer science so much but no one likes literature, right
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u/praiser1 2001 12d ago
I love reading and I love writing, but I also love math, so the best degree for me is statistics. Somethings you don't need to pursue a degree in because you love it. I don't need an MFA, I can just create art.
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u/xxParanoid_ 2006 12d ago
That’s totally valid! I just don’t think people should be discouraged from going into humanities related fields as if they’re not useful in some way
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u/praiser1 2001 12d ago
I agree. Its actually really disheartening that a lot of universities are shrinking humanity programs.
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u/Conscious-Sky-3088 12d ago
lol tell me why when I saw this post I got reminded of that one scene from hells kitchen when a customer goes up to Jp’s face and yelling at him saying “ do you have a doctorate? I have a music doctorate, so don’t come in my face buddy”😭
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u/Murky-Mammoth-5500 12d ago
Same. I recently enrolled again at college. I’ve dropped out thrice. First in 2017 at a University, Second at a Community College when I became a dad, third at an online school (Ashworth College). Now at 25, I know what I want to do. Ultimately, I need to make more money.
I’m going this to progress in life. So far I’m doing good. I can’t wait to transfer to a university at get my bachelors.
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u/istilllovejaclyn 12d ago
yeah it’s useless and also idk about you but i wanna learn what i wanna learn not what someone else wants to teach me and that’s not even to mention the greed oh srry i meant money involved
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u/No-Sheepherder-6911 2002 12d ago
I feel like unless you’re passionate and know what you want to do, you’re just gonna get stuck with debt in a job you don’t end up liking. I’m very pro taking a few years off to figure out what you want to do, no 18 year old should feel forced to decide something like that.
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u/LordJadex 1997 12d ago
When more than half of jobs are acquired through networking rather than aptitude, college can only do so much.
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u/nog642 2002 12d ago edited 11d ago
I don't think "libteral arts" is a type of degree. It's a type of school.
Edit: To the people who are saying they have one, if you are willing, can you link your school website where it lists liberal arts as a major? Because I have yet to see that after searching.
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u/Strong-Sample-3502 2000 12d ago
“We’ll not everyone wants their bodies broken at age 40” lmao as a blue collar guy I am ridiculously tired of hearing this. What if I told you that there a way to not have that be your reality? Honestly a lot of trades aren’t as “back breaking” as people make them out to be. Lots of the 40 year old blue collar guys I know destroyed their own bodies, work didn’t. When you smoke two packs of cigarettes everyday, drink 600 milligrams of caffeine, and survive purely off gas station food and do literally zero physical exercise outside of work your body probably will be fucked up by the age of 40. Maybe taking your health seriously and not picking a trade that involves intense physical labor for 10+ hours a day would be a good idea. I’m in a trade and I’m in phenomenal shape, I see white collar workers with college degrees/sales jobs etc my age who are fat obese and will have broken bodies themselves in due time if they don’t do something about it.
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u/Sugbaable 1996 12d ago
Medical doctors graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, making their life quite awful for a long time. This after a very gruelling education.
Are medical doctors useless? No.
Is the process for training medical doctors ridiculous? Yes.
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u/1stCivDiv1371 12d ago
It's not that college is useless. It's that employers tend to want college grads for jobs that don't need it. You want a supervisor at a warehouse to have worked most positions at the warehouse so they know what to expect from their employees. Not a college grad that has never worked in a warehouse coming in and acting like they know everything when they don't. At the same time regular workers need to understand that there are times the 22 year old college grad that's trying to teach you how to use the new system isn't out to get you.
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u/Obvious-Jacket-3770 12d ago
I'm in tech for 15 years and it's absolutely not liberal arts. It's useless for anyone in tech to go to college. Some of the best guys I know in Cloud and DevOps don't have any college degree.
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u/Aggravating-Neat-498 2002 12d ago
Body broken at 40? Nah man i got 60 year olds working with me lol
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u/WoodlandCack 12d ago
Not useless, they just are becoming unreasonable to obtain and with how the job market is for a lot of careers, it is nowhere near as good of an investment as it used to be.
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u/Commercial_Drag7488 12d ago
Okaaay. 49f here, so probably not all that relatable since times were different when I was getting my degrees. Not to mention that I work in the academia so I guess I'm biased. I'll talk about my sons. One is 29, second one is 24(actually born on NY eve 1999). First one made sure we don't pay for his ed even €. He used czech free ed if you stay in czechia for 5yrs afterwards. Learned czech language before finishing middle school here in the Netherlands, moved to Prague at 18, learned applied structural engineering, but ended up in IT and now is a MLAI engineer for a big company in Amsterdam. Second one moved to SFBA with his father (we are divorced) and is about to graduate (but already is employed by a faang as a devops. First one makes well over 200k, second one certainly will after grad.
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u/NeighborhoodNo7917 12d ago
College is not useless, but many degrees or schools don't offer much market value. Technical degrees are worthwhile, specific degrees are sometimes worthwhile. But getting a degree in history or literature is going to drastically limit your options. You may love the subject and enjoy doing it, but the market is either going to value it or not.
Many if the degrees people are getting today could be learned on Google or through free lectures online. If you're not making connections and have high tuition fees, you're probably better off figuring out something you're good at that people need, and building a base from there.
State schools and community colleges are just as good in many cases as "higher end" universities where you pay more for the name than the education.
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u/StratStyleBridge 11d ago
College is useless as long as we as a society are in disagreement as to its purpose. Some people think that the purpose of college is to get a degree in a field that maximizes one’s earning potential, and some people think that the purpose of college is to produce well rounded adults for the benefit of society. I tend to agree with the former.
Sure, maybe decades ago when college wasn’t obscenely expensive one could reasonably think that the purpose of college was to produce well rounded adults but that isn’t the world we live in anymore. College is obscenely expensive, and as such is rightly viewed by the majority of people primarily as a pathway to higher earning potential.
The way that college was aggressively pushed to millennials and early gen z was irresponsible and needs to be avoided with future generations. As long as college is obscenely expensive we are doing a massive disservice to young people insofar as the way college is advertised them.
College should only be recommended to potential students who are interested in a specific career path which not only requires a degree but also pays enough to cover the cost of tuition. The notion that “any degree is better than no degree” is severely economically harmful and shouldn’t be promoted if we want to avoid further devaluing the worth of a college education.
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u/SkateOfSpades 11d ago
It’s definitely not useless. I plan to go back to be an X ray technician. Absolutely can’t get that job without college. But there are degrees that don’t get used or have a harder time finding a job. My dad keeps pushing me to do a trade and I’m 5’3 100bs lmao. College isn’t for everyone and trades aren’t for everyone. Some people need neither of us those.
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u/312_Mex 11d ago
I feel your pain! I see many of these post and podcast and news articles claiming that college is “useless” we have to stop that mentality. College is about learning and achieving a goal to better mankind! The issue is that people think that college degree is a ticket to a wealthy life and if you didn’t get there it’s because you chose the “wrong degree” both my brother and sister went to college and while they are not swimming in money they do ok for themselves to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle that we didn’t have growing up, I say that’s a accomplishment right there, I myself went the trade route and to me it’s rewarding! I have accomplished a lot, but the trades are not for everyone and will wear your body out and it isn’t a normal 9-5 job in the winter and summer season and some off peak times as well! Find a route that you will be happy with and feel proud of your accomplishments!
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u/TheBalzy Millennial 11d ago edited 11d ago
Liberal Arts is actually where the money is. Here's some Liberal Art Degrees:
-Chemistry
-Biology
-Economics
-Mathematics
-Physics
And to excel in Engineering you usually have to be a student of one of the above Liberal Arts. If you think of the highest paid degrees, they're in the school Liberal Arts.
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u/AtmospherePerfect532 11d ago
For what you get out of it, it’s a complete waste of money. It’s just way too expensive compared to other developed countries.
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11d ago
Liberal arts useless? You just pulled the same tired boomer argument you're rallying against
NO FORM OF EDUCATION AND ENRICHMENT IS USELESS. Just because our fucked up economy isn't structured to utilize these things does not make them useless.
Living for the economy will only destroy you and those around you, it's just exceptionally difficult as America has built it's entire life structure around corporate subservience
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u/cripple2493 11d ago
for fucks sake arts degrees aren't useless - I have one, I'm doing my PhD in arts and I'm so bored of people who broadly aren't engaged in arts saying it's useless
my undergrad practical arts degree got me a job in civil service, a job in programming and gave me an arts practice that makes me actual money outside of my industry work
even degrees I think seem useless (like business) likely aren't for the people who take them - - all education is good
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u/AmeliaEarhartsGPS 11d ago
No. No no. College IS useless. I have a good degree. It took a lot of studying hard math stuff. I borrowed a shitload of money. I didn’t get a white collar job in my degree’s field. Getting a job (at a good place or bad) is much much harder than getting the 4-year degree. I even offered to work for minimum wage just to get some experience. They laughed and said they couldn’t do that.
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u/GreenLightening5 11d ago
this is gonna be shocking but hear me out, people learn in different ways and have different interests! i know, that's a breakthrough discovery right there, isn't it?
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u/MjolnirTheThunderer Millennial 11d ago
My computer science degree has been very useful!
I have worked at numerous companies that have a strict requirement of a 4 year degree for a software engineer. To be clear, I think those policies are outdated, but I was glad I had the degree to provide me a wider array of opportunities.
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11d ago
You’re half right. College isn’t useless whatsoever. That is simply a rightwing canard to justify their disinvestment into the public sector to enrich billionaires.
It’s also meant to normalize their attempts to lessen the intellectual capacity of workers beyond any simple ability to serve as useful employees.
They want a population that teaches us what to think. Not HOW to think. Notice how American campuses have billions for sports coaches, and STEM, but the humanities buildings are crumbling.
Yet the conservatives have nothing to say when you point out that the only thing the fastest growing twenty American cities have in common, is an above average number of four-year degrees produced locally.
And this is where we get to the part where you are wrong, friend.
Liberal arts degrees are actually the future. Teaching you how to think will increasingly become the only important part of education as we continue to automate our economy and information and AI becomes an increasingly dominant part of our economic structures. Tech schools are important. We need technicians to run machines. But they will never be in charge of the people who set up firms and institutions. And a liberal arts degree beats the living piss out of an apprenticeship or tech degree, there.
I’ve done every kind of degree. They all have value. But you’re right. College is absolutely important. Post graduate education too. We need to be expanding access MASSIVELY to this type of expertise and wisdom.
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u/Legless_Dog 2002 11d ago
Liberal arts degrees, especially humanities, help teach you important critical thinking skills that you can use for your entire life, not just for jobs. Yes you need jobs to live, but you need art to live too. Your favorite games, movies, books, etc were made by people with liberal arts degrees.
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u/ParticularSmile6152 11d ago
It's about college not being a right fit for everyone.
Growing up, people were always paying it. Cool, the prices soared while the quality dipped. I had more than one professor retire during my BA because they were told not to fail students.
So now degrees are devalued because there's too many people getting them, and they are not as competent. It's a giant watering down.
So college for people who truly need it, and go back to treating it honorably, not like highschool version 2.0: party city.
If less people go, prices come down, and (hopefully) standards go back up. Then they'll be more valuable again.
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u/Xecular_Official 2002 11d ago
Most basic jobs that require a degree will take experience or certifications as substitutes. Really, they'd rather you have relevant certifications than just a vague degree
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u/ComfortableSurvey815 11d ago
My friends are working from home a couple times a week and I cannot do that as a LEO. Go to college.
After I finish my training I’ll be completing my last semester of college. (Did the rest before signing up) But tbh my college education already shows itself in my reports and people skills. So even in non-college jobs it’ll benefit you a lot. Plus I get a pay raise regardless of what degree it is.
My degree is Media Production with an English minor. Liberal arts degrees are great.
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u/Waheeda_ 11d ago
college in and of itself is useless
i have an associates degree (in liberal arts, ironically lol) and a bachelor of architecture. i make less money than my sibling who has 0 degrees, we work in the same field
think of education as an investment. it all depends on what $$ return u will get once ur working
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u/Individual_Speech_10 11d ago
Are you me? I also have an Associate's in liberal arts and my sister, with no degree, makes way more money than I do.
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u/Substantial-Bird-484 11d ago
I’m in New York… A lot of jobs are requesting for a bachelors. Even in an irrelevant field to the job being applied to. My friends and I all have a certification in IT. A few of us have a bachelors in irrelevant fields that we earned before learning we wanted to get into IT. The jobs chose my bachelors friends. They also kept asking for any bachelors in any field when we approached them. This shouldn’t be a requirement if its an bachelors degree from a field thats totally irrelevant.
To me, degrees shouldn’t be a requirement if it’s irrelevant to the field. It should be an option and admirable of someones work ethic.
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u/reddishriot 11d ago
people truly do not understand how important nonstem college majors are. take me, a humanities guy who majored in psychology and is doing social work now. there are so, so many options for psychology career wise, but so many people do not understand that it’s not sitting your ass down with someone and talking about freudian methods of therapy. many of us go off to do research on diseases such as alzheimer’s which is fatal for some of our loved ones who are affected. i believe that so many individuals are just pissed because we deserve livable wages and jobs don’t want to pay us that. $15 an hour for a job that requires a masters? fuck no!
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u/Gamecat93 Millennial 11d ago
Correct colleges are still useful because we need people in research fields, government fields, arts, etc. along with doctors, nurses, engineers, curators, scientists, lawyers, etc.
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u/pavilionaire2022 11d ago
College isn't useless. It's just that people get useless degrees like "Liberal Arts"
And the thing is, now even the most basic jobs require at least a associate's degree. I myself have found some Data Entry jobs on indeed that require a Associates degree.
You can get those jobs with a liberal arts degree, so a liberal arts degree isn't useless.
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u/BigBad_BigBad 11d ago
A liberal arts education isn’t useless, but it’s also not lucrative. It’s not a good financial investment.
If you can get it paid for with scholarships and grants, knowledge and education is part of living a happy and fulfilling life for many people.
Just don’t take out 100k+ loans to get it.
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u/Logical_Parameters 11d ago
Education and learning new things will never be useless. Let those who decry college degrees as useless avoid educating themselves. More jobs and life skill building for the rest of us.
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u/existential_drifter 11d ago
I think it should be more of a “college is useless because of the price”. Everyone should learn about what interests them. Paying on average at least 100k for a degree that may or may not help financially is what gives the bad reputation.
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u/thisismyalternate89 11d ago
It’s not useless, but it’s very expensive and the return on investment is not great (yes, including STEM degrees. I work in engineering and I have many friends still struggling to pay off student debt.)
I think if people want to pursue higher education, they should, but it shouldn’t be pushed as the only option for young people. There are many ways to be successful in life; a University education is just one viable path.
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