Does It Matter Where You Go to College?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/does-it-matter-where-you-go-to-college/257227/

by KeepTalking • 14 years ago

12 33 14 years ago

keiferski8• 14 years ago

You know your value system sucks when the question "does it matter where you go to college?" is automatically assumed to be about salary.

kintamanimatt5• 14 years ago

What metrics would you use to determine quality of education? (I assume, like me, this is what you were hoping this article would be about.)

keiferski8• 14 years ago

Hmm, well off the top of my head:

- Affordability. Not necessarily low prices, but reasonable prices.

- Quality of education, in terms of teaching skill, breadth of courses offered, and the like

- Strength of student community (clubs, etc.)

- Location of the school (rural schools bore me)

- Background of students (I like schools with students from the world over)

- Location of students post graduation. I dislike schools where most of the graduates never leave the area.

jerf2• 14 years ago

You sound like you either have one, or have transcended the need for one.

Try not doing either of those things.

I too used to sing along in happy harmony with the "it doesn't really matter, follow your bliss". Now I'm 33 and my high school circles are filled with people who have wrecked their financial lives on the shoals of that advice. Now I know I was singing with the sirens.

It was already screwed up 15 years ago, as my high school circles can attest to. It's more screwed up now, but now people are seeing how messed up it is. Money matters, especially when accruing lots of debt. It isn't the only thing that matters, but it most assuredly matters.

Don't keep singing with the sirens.

keiferski8• 14 years ago

Maximizing income and minimizing debt are not the same thing.

crazygringo2• 14 years ago

Problem is, what else can you measure numerically?

If you can come up with a single, simple-to-calculate, unambiguous, measurement of happiness or fulfillment we could use instead... please share it with us!

At least salary gives a basic idea of how much your skills are worth to other people in the free market, which is better than nothing, though it may not be very correlated with how happy that makes you...

zethraeus• 14 years ago

It's a pretty useful abstraction. Would you rather measure dopamine levels? (Because there are some good hacks for that one too).

Seriously though, given that an increased earning potential is the big rational reason to go to college, how else should it be measured? If you're criticizing the current paradigm for valuing college, or even for valuing life, those are significantly bigger societal issues than a one liner does justice.

keiferski8• 14 years ago

Increased earning potential is not the big rational reason to go to college. Our society seems to function that way presently, but some people actually do enjoy learning.

_gd3l5• 14 years ago

College doesn't fucking matter in any way, shape, or form in the context of reality and actually doing good, productive things. Nor do people who base hires / who they like on where those people went to college.

jmduke3• 14 years ago

I know many, MANY people -- myself included -- who were impacted positively by college. I found my passions and improved myself tremendously.

I'm not saying college is some panacea, but you're an idiot if you think it "doesn't fucking matter in any way, shape, or form".

qntmfred• 14 years ago

Would you have found your passions and improved yourself anyways if you had not gone to college?

_gd3l5• 14 years ago

How does the fact that it positively impacts some people mean that it matters or is important?

This article is talking about money, employment, status, etc., in the context of education and college. I'm saying that going to college does not in any way mean that someone is more qualified, smarter, capable, productive, etc. than someone who didn't go to college.

I'm saying that if you went to college and discovered, for example, a passion for graphic design, the idea that you'd inherently be better than a self-taught graphic designer is 100% ridiculous. And that if an employer chose you over that person solely because you had some extra letters after your name and could tolerate 4 more years of schooling, that employer is dangerously stupid.

nanijoe• 14 years ago

Each of the last 4 Presidents of the United States went to either Harvard or Yale at some point in their education. Do you really think this is pure coincidence? You should not allow where you went to college to hold you back, but it matters..A LOT.

_gd3l5• 14 years ago

What does that have to do say about the value of college? And how, specifically, does that add to your statement "but it matters..A LOT"?

tomx• 14 years ago

Would you use a doctor who had not been to college?

As you hopefully would not, therefore your argument has a flaw in it, you might like to enumerate the list of professions or activities you believe do not require college level education.

_gd3l5• 14 years ago

I'd never use a doctor, they're not tools.

But I'd absolutely seek the advice of doctors who never had formal education. In fact, based on hard evidence and history, I'd be more interested in what some outside-the-box professionals have to say about a given condition than to have someone recite a textbook paragraph to me that I could read for myself for free at the library.

I can't think of one profession or activity that requires a college-level education in reality, though there are plenty that legally you need licenses, etc. for.

melvinmt• 14 years ago

The bigger question is: Does It Matter If You Go to College?

kintamanimatt5• 14 years ago

Depends. Please go to college if you intend to become a doctor! I hear people frown on "doctors" that are self taught.

namidark• 14 years ago

Well they call it a medical practice for a reason, right?

crazygringo2• 14 years ago

Dr. Mike Ruddy from last week would appear to disagree strongly with you:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-not-one-of-those-fancy-c...

;)

confluence• 14 years ago

I like answering these questions by solving simpler ones.

  Does it matter where you are born?

> Afghanistan vs. United States.

Put you in Afghanistan and you're dead. Put you in the US and you have a shot at middle class. Both are not your fault - and neither are deserved (I hate that word).

  Does it matter who you are born to?

> Rich parents vs. Poor parents.

One can pay for all you need, and support you in every way to best game the system (which is completely rational and understandable behaviour). The other gets screwed by the self same game. Both generally through no fault of their own - no one deserves anything.

  Does it matter when you are born?

> 1900s vs. 2000s.

One situation gives you cholera. The other gives you an iPhone, good health, decent lifespan and an education. Neither was deserved - both greatly effect future outcomes.

Of course it matters where you went to college. It matters more than you think it does, and even more than you now think it does. The world is not a meritocracy - never has been - never will be. Fun fact - meritocracy was coined in a satire since it was so ridiculously false. Unfortunately, people like believing things that are false - it is one of our strengths as humans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis). Karma is bullshit masquerading as depth and is merely a result of faulty (but useful) logic generated by induction machines that we call the brain.

Why do we use QWERTY keyboards? Because some random guy made a couple thousand typewriters that didn't stick mechanically 70 years ago. What does that have to do with modern computers? Absolutely nothing.

The world is chaotic, and exhibits extreme path dependence in path outcomes, which of themselves, are extremely uncertain.

What would've happened if the comet that killed the dinosaurs missed? What about not having a snowball earth to generate all the oxygen you breath right at this moment? The importance of people by the people is greatly overrated.

Everyone is replaceable (even if you are 1 in a million - and nowadays even 1 in a billion), but situations aren't.

Situations are king, path dependence and chaos rule your life and there is a lot of poor reasoning out there. That doesn't mean you have no effect on future outcomes - it just means you have a lot less control than you think you do.

Does It Matter Where You Go to College?

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