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College
Posted On: Mar 18, 2012 15:19:57 GMT -5
Post by Umbra on Mar 18, 2012 15:19:57 GMT -5
So I dropped my Sociology class to sign up for the Japanese class time that has most of the people I know in it, which means I'm going to be a 2/3 time student again. But there's no reason to rush since I already know I'm going to be taking a third year and only have 16 credits to finish up next year.
Maybe with this extra free time I can get a job. Not that I desperately need money, but it would be good to have.
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College
Posted On: Mar 30, 2012 13:27:59 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on Mar 30, 2012 13:27:59 GMT -5
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College
Posted On: Mar 31, 2012 1:43:14 GMT -5
Post by Umbra on Mar 31, 2012 1:43:14 GMT -5
I can see the next bubble burst happening because of college loan debt. It's so ridiculous that people take on $40,000 in loans to pay for college in an economy that doesn't promise anything.
For the people who can't afford college without taking on massive loans, they should drop out of college, go to the public library, and read books relevant to their interests--they'll get a full college education right there. For free. Of course there's a certain piece of paper missing from the deal, but its actual worth is questionable.
Not that college isn't a good choice--it is, at least for the people who don't have to take a serious gamble to go through with it. It's not worth the tradeoff for people to put themselves in a hole that they may never get out of to irresponsibly draw out loans.
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College
Posted On: Apr 5, 2012 5:45:57 GMT -5
Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on Apr 5, 2012 5:45:57 GMT -5
Telling someone to get an education by picking books at random is a little like helping someone travel by spinning them around until they're dizzy and giving them a shove.
Oh, sure, you'll get places, but there'll be quite a bit of directionless wandering and bumping into things of no particular interest.
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College
Posted On: Apr 5, 2012 12:24:00 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 5, 2012 12:24:00 GMT -5
Yeah, I doubt many people's ability to self-study well, and not because of directionless wandering. Most people are pretty lazy about academics unless they're held accountable, so I don't think many people would get much accomplished if someone just threw books at them and told them to teach themselves.
Plus, at the very least, a degree shows that they know the material to a certain standardized level. I wouldn't really want to hire somebody who said they just studied at the library because I have no way of knowing how well they actually know what they studied.
Hm, on the topic of self-motivation and academics, have you ever heard of unschooling, Umbra? Strikes me as something you might find interesting. I think it has some very profound flaws (just ask Hiro how much I've ranted about it on MSN, ahah), but it's certainly an interesting thing to ponder for exceptionally self-motivated people.
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College
Posted On: Apr 5, 2012 19:02:47 GMT -5
Post by Umbra on Apr 5, 2012 19:02:47 GMT -5
Never heard of unschooling.
It looks like something that might work in a different society, but not this one. There are too many distractions, and mixed up priorities, for it to work in this society.
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College
Posted On: Apr 5, 2012 21:36:02 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 5, 2012 21:36:02 GMT -5
I don't think it'd work in any society. Very few children are mature enough to self-motivate themselves. Although, yes, it is much harder in our society, what with the allure of video games and TV.
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College
Posted On: Apr 6, 2012 14:05:29 GMT -5
Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on Apr 6, 2012 14:05:29 GMT -5
I taught myself everything I know by playing lots and lots of Megaman Legends.
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College
Posted On: Apr 7, 2012 14:00:21 GMT -5
Post by supersonic1453 on Apr 7, 2012 14:00:21 GMT -5
I taught myself that vacuums are a good way to gather money.
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College
Posted On: May 2, 2012 9:56:25 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on May 2, 2012 9:56:25 GMT -5
I wish someone would just tell me I could only major in one thing and consider nothing else. Better yet, just tell me what to do with my life. Haven't got a clue!
"Oh, you'll love college and graduate school! You'll finally be able to focus on the academic interests you couldn't in high school!"
Well, that's great, except I have several academic interests. Two of them are limiting, in that you have to have all your ducks in order from the get-go in order to get into a good program. Wonderful. Spent my entire freshman year studying Classics and nothing towards psychology or linguistics, so I have very little coursework in either field. I can't get research positions because of it, but I need 2 years of experience for graduate school. So, awesome, junior and no research.
Sometimes I think I should just leave hopes of academia behind and do something that doesn't have such specific undergraduate requirements, like law or business. I don't even have any interest in research anyway. I'm much more interested in teaching. You can't teach at a collegiate level without researching, though, and you can't teach psychology or linguistics at the high school level.
I hate being such an awful pessimist. I assume things will fail, so I get discouraged and give up.
blahblahramblingblahblah
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College
Posted On: May 3, 2012 21:22:33 GMT -5
Post by supersonic1453 on May 3, 2012 21:22:33 GMT -5
You can do it. It'll just take longer. I settled for Accounting, so I wouldn't settle for something you don't want to do.
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College
Posted On: May 3, 2012 21:32:54 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on May 3, 2012 21:32:54 GMT -5
Eh, I've thought about putting off grad school to do it, but idk. I hate being "behind." Repeating a year of high school was tough for me to swallow to begin with, and I don't want to tack on another year of college onto that. How many years it takes me to finish my education really probably doesn't matter to anybody, but it bothers me anyway.
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College
Posted On: May 3, 2012 22:16:38 GMT -5
Post by Umbra on May 3, 2012 22:16:38 GMT -5
You don't need to do researching to teach at a community colleges, and those are collegiate level. My Anthro professor I had is a PhD yet he prefers to teach at the community college level.
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College
Posted On: May 3, 2012 22:20:18 GMT -5
Post by Youngster Joey on May 3, 2012 22:20:18 GMT -5
Hm, yes, that's true. Come to think of it, I remember my mother remarking that her biology professor specifically transferred to a satellite campus of the University of Connecticut because the emphasis on research isn't as strong there as it is on the main campus.
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College
Posted On: May 3, 2012 22:27:17 GMT -5
Post by Umbra on May 3, 2012 22:27:17 GMT -5
Well, you don't have to do any research at all to teach at community colleges is what I'm getting at. To me it seems like a less stressful and more casual teaching environment than at major universities.
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