And. of course, a few additional thoughts about higher education occur after I’ve submitted my post.
One is something I touched on briefly, and one that many who do earn a degree don’t seem to have. That is the college experience. While I did work, most of my college friends were on the parental dole and didn’t work full-time, if at all. So I got to enjoy a few years of living in the student ghetto with bright, idle heathens who thought up pranks, argued arcane points into the ground and lived to party. And we all (thought we) had futures. Many remain friends to this day. Just the social aspect beat the crap out of the graveyard shift chemical plant reactor operator life I left behind.
Additionally, the OP mentions a (her/his?) job in software development. My acquaintance includes (as does almost everyone’s) several people with jobs and/or careers in computers. While I don’t do that, my perception is that the field exploded with the advent of the PC and the demand for system-savvy folk so far outstripped the supply of documented techies that it became possible for many to land well-paying jobs without any kind of degree. Just prove you can do it and all that. Then certifications came along. System evolution and acceptance by industry combined to make functionality critical. And I’d suspect that the field will develop criteria that eventually demand documentation, and a college degree might well put you nearer to the top of the pile there. That’s pure speculation.
On the flip side, I’ll note that pursuing a Master’s seems to have become much more prevalent since I went to school. I’m of Labdad’s generation, and very few initially sought post-grad degrees. It changed soon after I went to school, and now the many college-age people I know are almost universally thinking of that. That economic trade-off I don’t really know what to make of at this point. On the one hand, it may help with the initial interviews and first job or two after college. But, for the present anyway, I think that 5 or 10 years into your career it doesn’t really matter that much.
In industry, I should add. I’m aware that government jobs may have educational requirements that preclude advancement beyond a certain point without such. But my present employers knew what they wanted and hired me, as head of my discipline, without anyone asking if I even went to college, much less where or for what.
I started college in 1963 when the most dreaded words in the English language were (to quote the immortal Dean Wormer): “You are now all, all, elegible for military service.”
Law School was easier: Wern’t no jobs fer us English Majers.
After I graduated high school, I was without motivation and seriously considered not going to college. I took six months off, and waited tables. Looking at people who did that as a career, and realizing how very very broke I would be, I found a new inspiration to learn. Onward to school! Now, I have found a dream, and it requires a college education.
I was expected to go. To a 4-year university, mind you.
I wanted to go, and learn something interesting. Preferably involving several languages, and lots of cute intelligent guys, who by the way did not live in my hometown.
Once I got there, I loved it. Pretty much all the time. It was the greatest ever. I got to take neat classes with interesting and cool people, and often wonderful instructors, and was being taught to think in some fashion for the first time ever in school. I got to live in what I considered one of the greatest places ever–there are still things about the place that I just love, though I would find it impossible to live there now. I had to have bad jobs and decent jobs, but all I had to do was cover my rent as much as possible and live cheaply, and my folks helped me out. And, I got out with a minimum of debt, thank you hometown foundation that practically gives money away.
Reading books on topic X is all very well, and I do it a lot now. But if I had a little more leisure time and money, I’d still be taking courses. I don’t personally seem to have the drive to read quite thoroughly enough, and certainly not to research and put together a decent paper on a topic (the skill to do that one thing well took me all of college to learn) all by myself. The discussion with reasonably intelligent people, and others who think they are, is valuable to me, as is the great and inspiring influence of a really good teacher. I’ve been lucky enough to have a few.
I had a fairly abysmal HS education, and a lot of what college did for me was stuff that really ought to have been done earlier. If it had, possibly I would not have needed to spend several years at an expensive public institution. But I did need that experience to turn into a person who could start to learn on my own.
Why I went to college…
I was and still am very interested in the natural world. That means a definite leaning towards the sciences. Stuff like geology and botany and physics were fun courses. I really enjoyed them.
But I also enjoyed history, psychology, anthropology, art, music, etc. So I guess college fit my mindset.
College was my first experience of being with a lot of other people who seemed to like learning. It felt nice! I actually liked most of my educational experience, and saw it as a way to learn from people who not only knew a lot, but often had a passion for their subject.
I also wanted to change my “social class” My Dad went to 3 years of school in his whole life, and Mom to about 10 years. This was the main factor in limiting not only how much they earned, but also determined their set of friends. I don’t mean that in a critical or snobby way; I have an enormous amout of respect for what they have accomplished in their lives…but your educational background will be one of the most important determinants of who you have as friends, and often who you may marry, and so forth.
However, I don’t think college is for everyone. If being a great cabinet maker is your passion, go with it. I greatly admire folks who are skilled practitioners of their craft.
I went to college (well, we call it university here) because my parents expected me to. That’s the simple truth.
Did it help? Yeah, actually, it did, for two reasons:
There is absolutely no question whatsoever that in the world of business, having a degree makes life easier. It made it easier for me to get my professional designation. It made it easier for me to get a visa to travel to the USA on business. It makes my resume look better. It made promotion easier. No doubt about it, it means something.
I did learn some things in university that I have applied in my career, even though it was an arts (Economics) degree that does not precisely match my job.
