PJ Media

I would strenuously disagree with MikeT’s comments that there is no purpose to a college education. Speaking as a former welfare-recipient and a current college student, college educations are NOT a waste of time.

Yes, after I graduated high school, I could have gone to trade school and learned to cut hair and spent the rest of my life cutting hair and making possibly enough money to survive, though with insurance and cost of living, that’s not likely. But the important thing is that I would have hated it for every minute of every day and that isn’t what I was taught living (or success) is about.
If it is taken advantage of, college does expand the mind and what’s more, it can eliminate helplessness and the feeling that nothing will get better. This feeling of helplessness is in my opinion, the worst thing for a human to feel because it leads to physical, mental & emotional paralysis. Being able to find a job that will pay the bills isn’t enough when that job is a dead end and the person could do more. If all you have is a basic education & the knowledge to cut hair exactly like you were taught, what can you do with that? what happened to the girls at our local trade school is that they are qualified to work at Great Clips or other budget hair places. That’s like flipping burgers for eternity.

I am not saying that trades are bad, just that the level of education we think all people can live on isn’t accurate. Is people being employed in something (anything) so important that we shouldn’t encourage those who want to, to advance themselves as much as they can? What does society lose by saying that it will help an individual become a taxi driver or barber but works against those who want more?