I hear many voicing the opinion that a college education is necessary to live a good life, that you are somehow lazy, stupid or both if you do not choose to attend a college.
(ETA: Not overtly, of course, but there’s an undercurrent.)
In my own case, while I attended college for 3 semesters, my performance delined from tpo 10th percentile to krep. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had depression and anxiety issues that progressively got worse over the years. No-one suggested I seek professional help and at the time it would have been perceived as an insult if anyone had.
From College I went to manual labor jobs until I got fired from my construction job for poor performance. I tried to join the Army, but when my test scores came back, they declared I was too smart to be a grunt and sent me over to the Air Force recruiter.
I managed to stay in the Airforce for 20 years and retire, and it was almost a slow-motion repeat of my college experience. I started out as a fast-burner, making SSgt by the start of my second enlistment, and then the pressure to perform overwhelmed me and I pretty much stagnated. No-one mentored me and so I assumed I had to succeed or fail on my own. There were times I shone, usually when I was tasked to do something I had the skills, talent, and enthusiasm for. I excelled whenever there was an academic requirement, and I earned many college credits through some of the courses I took. Unfortunately, I never shone brightly enough to get promoted to TSgt (Technical Sargent, the next step up in rank).
About midway through my career, my dad died and I went into what I now recognise as a severely-depressed state. It became hard for me to stay fit and under my max weight. It was hard for me to focus and concentrate. I stayed that way until my nephew finally encouraged me to seek help about 7 years ago.
I’m in treatment and doing better, but due to arthritis, the wear and tear of multiple injuries suffered in car and motorcycle accidents (I’ve broken the bones in my left leg below the knee on three separate occasions) I need a cane to get around and I tire easily. I just qualified for disability a couple of months ago so for the first time in nearly a decade, I have enough income to afford my own apartment (as a matter of fact, I’ll be looking at one prospect a few hours hence).
Quite frankly, if I had the chance to return to college, I’d pass*. While my depression and anxiety are controlled, they’re not cured and the stress of having to perform would impair my ability to stay focussed. I’m not stupid but I expect that it’s better for my quality of life if I don’t put my feet to the fire like that. I’ll continue self-educating since learning new stuff is still one of my hobbies.
I guess what I’m saying is that a college education might qualify you to be paid more than other people, but what if money (apart from having enough to get by on) isn’t your standard of happiness? One’s quality of life can be negatively-impacted by the requirements of obtaining a college education, and for some people, that negative impact is just too high.
Of course, some people are lazy and/or stupid, but they’re better than the people who single them out for derision, and some of them, lazy and/or stupid as they may be, are more decent human beings than we are, so I’d be careful about labeling all non-college-educated people with broad strokes of any kind.
- I wouldn’t mind auditing a few classes, but my interests are varied and my attention span doesn’t always stay with me. My brain “thread-drifts”.
