Originally Posted by DiscTruckerMF

One thing that annoys me with society is that my generation was brought up almost being told that we HAD to go to college. College isn't for everyone and it shouldn't be forced on everyone. Education takes a lot of different forms. There are good jobs out there that do not take 4 years of college. Being a real estate agent can be learned on the job as an apprentice and can be a high paying job. Construction and mechanic jobs were almost totally looked down on when I was in high school and I remember wanting to take autos because my dad was a mechanic (he passed away when I was a freshman in hs) and wanted to learn more but I was told by my guidance counselors that I was on the college prep track and I wouldn't be allowed to take it. (or woodshop) Now as a 35 year old looking at moving out of the city to the burbs and buying a fixer upper I'm saying to myself "I sure wish I took woodshop, it would be more useful to me now than my communications degree every was!"

I don't have kids but if I had kids now and they were intelligent enough with good grades and accepted into top tier schools I may have to tell them to simply go to the local community college for 2 years and then transfer just so they could save several thousand dollars. Sadly the curriculum in college these days also means that more and more people end up being on the 5 year plan, not due to kids goofing off but just due to the unavailability of getting into all the required courses. That was a nightmare when I was in school.