We don't need no education

In the time it took for me to read this article, plus however long it took for me to start giving a shit, I've had the time to ponder whether a college education is truly crucial to getting ahead in this world. It's not complete, however, without a rant on how this article rings true in almost every regard. And about how it applies to me, of course.

In this day and age, a college education is practically required to get anywhere in life. You want to be a lawyer? Go to law school. You want to teach? Gotta earn a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. The job scene is so competitive and dog-eat-dog that a post-secondary education is the bare minimum for getting a job. You'll need leadership experience, the ability to perform well under pressure, to able to work with other people, and have creative ideas and a drive to succeed. College prepares you for all that while bolstering your knowledge. Anyone who can graduate from college is practically guaranteed a job, unless they decide to go flip rocks on the corner instead of meeting with a lawyer.

But success is what you make of it. Someone could be working a minimum wage deal at a coffee shop or book store or something for several years, get promoted to manager and continue working there for the rest of their life. They didn't go to college, didn't major and excel in a competitive field, but they're just as happy as the person who secured a lucrative position at a law firm. Likewise, someone could be begging for money in a college town for thirty years and they could be just as happy. People who get college educations can hardly look down on them and judge, "Man, why don't you make something of your life, like I did?" because you don't know what their situation is. Also, someone like that is a really big douchebag.

I suppose another reason why you go to college is for the experience you get alongside whatever education you pursue. You meet people, do exciting things, learn about yourself. And in a way, that could be more important than any silly psychology major. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it enlightening? Absolutely. And it is my opinion that knowledge and self-enlightenment take precedent over anything else in life. You could take ecstasy and achieve the same thing; college is just another tool with which "to discover yourself."

The aforementioned article is interesting and thought-provoking, to know that the world's elite, this nation's top students are not only as messed up as the rest of us, but also probably going to do even worse than we are, in the long run. The advantage of a big, public university versus a small, tiny one is just that - the size. In a public university, it's a dog-eat-dog world; the professors, students, and system will chew you up and spit you out if you so much as sneeze, whereas in a school like Harvard, hell, like Claremont or Swathmore, there's individualized attention, as the teacher-to-student ratio is quite small, compared to the veritable crowds that you would see at UC Berkeley. According to the article, once you get in, it's a cakewalk - extensions are abound, you can miss class with impunity, and clemency is available if you ask for it. In that sense, then, you can make the argument that public universities, the schools were the crowds will eat you alive, prepare you better for whatever is out there in the workplace.

I guess a sense of superiority is festering in me when I think to myself "Public school is going to brutalize me, but I'm going to be much better prepared for whatever is lurking under the surface than those Ivy League scumbags." But that could just be the fact that I can't get into an Ivy League even if I mailed them a certain appendage in tribute.

What's life like for the kids that graduate from an Ivy League school? They become rich and famous? Practically swim in the piles of money that their jobs afford them? Live cushy, comfortable lives? For some reason, that just doesn't appeal to me either. Again, this may be because I'm seething in jealousy, but it's also because that kind of life is terribly predictable. Wake up, go to work, do absolutely nothing because you're set for life. I want to be a lawyer, sure, but I'm not just going to go to the office and review briefs every day. I'll dabble in various aspects of the law, maybe go to court, criminal law - I'll make and ensure my life is about learning different things and loving everything I do. Mr. Millionaire from Yale may be able to squeeze in sky-diving and having sex with Gisele Bundchen in between his lunch meeting with Donald Trump and those guys from Saudi Arabia, but that's never the case. You're not living when you do the same thing over and over.

To sum up, I'm not worried about not going to an Ivy League school. I can still get an excellent education from the schools I've applied and am going to apply to. To me, getting an education isn't just learning things that are important to whatever field you want to go into - it's preparing for the next big step. And while I would love to party down at Colombia some day, it wouldn't be giving me the toolset I need to survive in the next life. I do need an education somewhere though, God be damned if I start begging for change down at Telegraph Avenue near Rasputin's.

God, I can't wait for college. Probably will be the most terrifying journey I'll ever take, but I have a distinct feeling it'll be very much enjoyable.

PS. Thanks for the article. Also, thanks for nothing. And for chlamydia. You're supposed to finish your course of antibiotics!