I've gone round-and-round on this one with myself. I must admit I've lost the fight. On the other hand, when one's opponent is oneself, he also wins.
Current answer of the question: Probably not. (Unless you're a doctor--I kind of demand that my doctors go to school. Back-alley appendectomies suck.)
Lately the question has been at the forefront of my mind, in part because of a post Rod Dreher (the "Crunchy Con") put up last week. It's about a whiny brat who bemoans the fact that he's living with his parents, and school did nothing for him. But worse, he whines about how certain jobs are beneath him. This is no doctor, mind you--he's a history major.
The ensuing discussion in the combox is fantastic. A real discussion (at least as far as I read) and very little of that usual toxic wasteland Internet discussions foster.
I've been thinking about it lately because of the situation I'm in. It's not a bad situation per se--I have a beautiful, intelligent wife, a (no-doubt brilliant and beautiful) son on the way, I get enough to eat to develop my own (food) baby bump, and I have a fine-running truck. Materially, I have what many people would kill for--and do.
I went to college. Several, actually. In fact, collecting registration literature was a hobby of mine for quite a while. The first two years went along alright at a state school in Washington. My course load wasn't terribly ambitious because I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do. Inexplicably, I was so arrogant to think that I was going to be a novelist, and therefore all this PC education was beneath me. (I was half-right). But then the dormant religion bug within me switched to "zealot" and I went to a private Catholic school to the tune of about $30,000 per year. I decided to switch majors and go learn how to fight for Holy Mother Church and for God. One year later, (after excelling in topics that would "do" absolutely nothing for me professionally) I left the school with my faith barely intact. I tried another Washington state school but dropped out before the semester was over, and eventually wandered to Montana to be closer to my family. (They'd moved there to be cattle ranchers after my dad got sick of the county's bureaucracy and their anti-development policies).
I barely graduated with a degree in something called "liberal studies" almost nine years after I'd graduated high school.
No, I don't suppose there was any hope of turning my education into something profitable. In fact, the very word "profitable" seemed beneath me. Oh, to be able to travel back in time to kick my own ass...
It's only now that I have something like convictions about what an education should entail. And I'm of the opinion that a good liberal arts education should never be obtained with the expectation of "doing" something with it, or getting a J.O.B.
My education has certainly not prepared me for real estate investment. In fact, in all nine years of college, I don't recall one professor ever teaching anything that would come remotely near a suggestion that we learn how to support ourselves. At best, we were taught that we should become activists.
I've heard similar things from friends in more "solid" majors. I hear all the time about people who studied the sciences or even finance, and never once learned the basics of how to support oneself.
Anyway...
I don't fault anyone but myself for this state of affairs. My dad, who I'm tempted to blast for not helping his son to make it in the world, who, indeed, practically spoiled me, did try to talk to his arrogant little shit of a son once. Halfway through my excellent Catholic private school year, I was telling him about the neat things I was learning in "The Life and Thought of Hans Urs Von Balthasar."
"That's great," he said, "But how are you going to make money?"
In that one statement held the wisdom of a lifetime. But the lesson was lost on me at the time. Where's that time machine...
The last few months have been more than liberating--they've been transcendent. In the few months that I've been trying to get into the REI biz, I've learned more about myself and the world than I ever did in school. Don't get me wrong--there were some great moments. But lately I've been putting it into context. A great liberal arts education is essential for the soul, and you're lucky to find a good program. But every man, in my opinion, needs to learn some kind of a trade. He needs to learn risk, entrepreneurship and sacrifice. Any jackass who thinks college is the golden ticket to easy wealth should probably be dragged out into the street and shot. (No, I'm not an Ayn Rand fan...)
And here's where I run out of patience with my own hot air...
Current answer of the question: Probably not. (Unless you're a doctor--I kind of demand that my doctors go to school. Back-alley appendectomies suck.)
Lately the question has been at the forefront of my mind, in part because of a post Rod Dreher (the "Crunchy Con") put up last week. It's about a whiny brat who bemoans the fact that he's living with his parents, and school did nothing for him. But worse, he whines about how certain jobs are beneath him. This is no doctor, mind you--he's a history major.
The ensuing discussion in the combox is fantastic. A real discussion (at least as far as I read) and very little of that usual toxic wasteland Internet discussions foster.
I've been thinking about it lately because of the situation I'm in. It's not a bad situation per se--I have a beautiful, intelligent wife, a (no-doubt brilliant and beautiful) son on the way, I get enough to eat to develop my own (food) baby bump, and I have a fine-running truck. Materially, I have what many people would kill for--and do.
I went to college. Several, actually. In fact, collecting registration literature was a hobby of mine for quite a while. The first two years went along alright at a state school in Washington. My course load wasn't terribly ambitious because I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do. Inexplicably, I was so arrogant to think that I was going to be a novelist, and therefore all this PC education was beneath me. (I was half-right). But then the dormant religion bug within me switched to "zealot" and I went to a private Catholic school to the tune of about $30,000 per year. I decided to switch majors and go learn how to fight for Holy Mother Church and for God. One year later, (after excelling in topics that would "do" absolutely nothing for me professionally) I left the school with my faith barely intact. I tried another Washington state school but dropped out before the semester was over, and eventually wandered to Montana to be closer to my family. (They'd moved there to be cattle ranchers after my dad got sick of the county's bureaucracy and their anti-development policies).
I barely graduated with a degree in something called "liberal studies" almost nine years after I'd graduated high school.
No, I don't suppose there was any hope of turning my education into something profitable. In fact, the very word "profitable" seemed beneath me. Oh, to be able to travel back in time to kick my own ass...
It's only now that I have something like convictions about what an education should entail. And I'm of the opinion that a good liberal arts education should never be obtained with the expectation of "doing" something with it, or getting a J.O.B.
My education has certainly not prepared me for real estate investment. In fact, in all nine years of college, I don't recall one professor ever teaching anything that would come remotely near a suggestion that we learn how to support ourselves. At best, we were taught that we should become activists.
I've heard similar things from friends in more "solid" majors. I hear all the time about people who studied the sciences or even finance, and never once learned the basics of how to support oneself.
Anyway...
I don't fault anyone but myself for this state of affairs. My dad, who I'm tempted to blast for not helping his son to make it in the world, who, indeed, practically spoiled me, did try to talk to his arrogant little shit of a son once. Halfway through my excellent Catholic private school year, I was telling him about the neat things I was learning in "The Life and Thought of Hans Urs Von Balthasar."
"That's great," he said, "But how are you going to make money?"
In that one statement held the wisdom of a lifetime. But the lesson was lost on me at the time. Where's that time machine...
The last few months have been more than liberating--they've been transcendent. In the few months that I've been trying to get into the REI biz, I've learned more about myself and the world than I ever did in school. Don't get me wrong--there were some great moments. But lately I've been putting it into context. A great liberal arts education is essential for the soul, and you're lucky to find a good program. But every man, in my opinion, needs to learn some kind of a trade. He needs to learn risk, entrepreneurship and sacrifice. Any jackass who thinks college is the golden ticket to easy wealth should probably be dragged out into the street and shot. (No, I'm not an Ayn Rand fan...)
And here's where I run out of patience with my own hot air...
3 comments:
I too went to a liberal arts college (Wake Forest). The benefit was an appreciation for learning, building a knowledge base. Practical application is nothing without a firm foundation ... ya know - building on rock vs. sand.
Clarence
Oh, I hear you. I was trying to find a comment on Rod's site about this. Some guy basically wrote that as a homeschooling father, he taught his kids the basics--how to read, write and do math. The rest was for "becoming a better person," which is, I think, what a liberal arts education should do.
Where it gets messed up is when people start asking pointless and destructive questions like "Well, what do you mean by a 'good' person?"
If that has to be explained, you're probably more animal than human, in my opinion.
I don't quite understand your remarks about the sciences and finance.
If you study the sciences, then you go and get a job that utilizes your scientific knowledge (lab tech, drug company, chemical company, etc).
If you study finance, you get a job that requires a financial background (financial planning, banking, CPA, etc).
I'm not sure what the problem is here...
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