College is a Scam.

Let's start from the beginning so it all becomes crystal clear.

America's youth is born and bread these days to think about college. There's the ever-present "What do you want to be when you grow up?" for the five year old mind, and the abundantly pressure applying "You'll never get into a good school if you don't do well on your SATs" for the adolescent mind. By Freshmen year in high-school, guidance counselors are selling college degrees (I wouldn't be surprised to find out they get kick-backs much like doctors from pharmaceutical companies). Sophomore year, they're expecting you to start heading in the direction of a particular major, and by Junior year they're practically cramming a $75,000.00 student loan down your throat!! All of this with the promise of having a wonderful, nice, happy, shiny, beautiful, fun, sunshine-filled life.

Remember I said let's start at the beginning? Well... who in their right mind tells an 18 year old they need to have their whole life figured out, and that the best way to start is IN DEBT?! Debt is debt is debt, no matter how you slice it. There really, truly is no "good" debt. If you owe people money, it's a bad thing, and if you don't pay it back society has to. Monies owed don't just go away if you don't pay them. That cost is absorbed somehow, somewhere.

These poor kids are being conditioned, practically drafted, into a college education. Don't get me wrong, I am all for education! I am currently enrolled in a two year science degree with intentions of continuing through a radiology program. The difference is I am 27 years old, with a specific goal in mind. I am also (painfully) paying cash for my schooling. If we are honest with ourselves, not many of us have any clue what we want to do with our lives when we are 18 years old, fresh out of high-school, and desperate for independence. There are many ways to educate ourselves other than college, and the school of hard-knox with real world training seems an excellent place to start!

There is another problem that ties into this college degree thing. Not only are colleges falsifying the value of the product they are providing, so are employers! Companies these days won't even consider that you are a viable, hard-working, honest, trustworthy asset to their establishment without a degree... and usually it's a four year they're looking for at that! What happened to the Real World experience? When did working your way through a company become obsolete? Many of the degrees these days are useless, and everyone knows it. Ask anyone you know why they're going to or why they went to college. What's the most predominant answer? "You just need that piece of paper"!! We are perpetuating a society that places little value on what people are willing and eager to work toward. There is a big difference between going to college because your parents told you to, and going to work because you're interested in becoming the best at whatever it is that you're doing.

When the 22 year old graduates with a four year degree in anything, they still have yet to do anything! Unless you count the occasional slave labor that has coined the phrase "unpaid internship" where most of these kids are just the coffee go-getters. It is completely unfair to them! And at the end of it all, most of them aren't doing anything degree related anyway! "It's just a piece of paper". My wish is for everyone to have an entrepreneurial spirit, and work for themselves. No bosses, and no employees; both are toxic to eachother. Kind of a capitalistic take on the barter system.