Do most people really need to go to college/university?

[Jovialis]

I find college to be unnecessary for the vast majority of the human race. The problem is that it takes an IQ of about 120 to be fit for college. Because of lowering of standards the average college graduate in the USA has an IQ of 90. This is absolutely appalling. These people should endeavor to take on occupations that are better suited for their abilities. Regarding Healthcare, my wife is Canadian, and I go there quite often. I mostly hear people lament of the extremely long wait times for even serious appointments. During the pandemic her family had to get the vaccine in the USA, because Canada completely mismanaged the rollout. Regarding the weight issue, I think it has to do with poor eating habits on the part of many people, as well as soft-drinks. I don't understand why people are so obsessed with sugar, I find it disgusting in coffee or tea.

 

[Jovialis]

The biggest issue today is that it is not possible for someone without a college degree to have a normal standard of living. It once was possible in the 80s and 90s. But instead of getting high powered jobs, most people pay high tuition and fees for a non-lucrative field. Universities in the US who are among the most stridently liberal left wing institutions, create massive income inequality by saddling young people with debt; luring people who have no business in college.

 

[Maciamo]

The biggest issue today is that it is not possible for someone without a college degree to have a normal standard of living. It once was possible in the 80s and 90s. But instead of getting high powered jobs, most people pay high tuition and fees for a non-lucrative field. Universities in the US who are among the most stridently liberal left wing institutions, create massive income inequality by saddling young people with debt; luring people who have no business in college.

Student loans and student debts are a problem almost exclusive to English-speaking countries (USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ). It's virtually unheard of elsewhere because tertiary education is either free or very cheap. Or in the few countries where it isn't, poorer people just don't go to university.

The problem is that in the Anglosphere tertiary education is not seen as a fundamental right provided by the state, but as a way of extracting as much money from customers (sorry, students) as possible.

There are pros and cons to both systems. At least, (top) English-speaking universities are rich and can provide very high standards of education, notably by being able to afford the best professors and top-notch infrastructure. That's why the world's top universities are typically American or British. But they are usually very expensive. The average tuition fees at an Ivy League university is now $60,000 per year. Imagine spending 10 years there doing a BA, MA and PhD! So it ends up serving a small international elite who can afford them (let alone people who have connections to get in, as top US universities are becoming more and more exclusive). So once again the US system favours the elite at the top. That's a two-system country : a great life for the 1% and something more closely like what you'd expect in a developing country for most of the population.

Compare that with studying at a top European university like the Technical University of Munich, Heidelberg University (Germany), KU Leuven (Belgium), Delft University (Netherlands) the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), or Paris University, which are al ranked in the top 50 worldwide, but where tuition is completely free or is just a symbolic sum of a few hundreds euros. After 5 years of study you end up saving $300,000 compared to a top US university, enough to get a good start in life.

The worst is Americans who spend princely sums on bottom range colleges (or even community colleges) that won't help them at all in life and will just straddle them with debts for years.

The Japanese system is actually not better. They copied the American system of high tuition fees, but the quality of teaching is rarely as high. But what is really ridiculous in Japan is that people just vie to enter a famous university (like Tokyo University) just to say that they studied at a prestigious institution and with little regard for the subject they study. That is because most Japanese companies only look at the name of the university on the diploma, and will teach graduates everything they need to know for their job once they join the company! Japanese corporations can afford to do that as they still believe in life employment within the same company (although it's been eroding of late). In other words Japanese people spend crazy sums just to get a piece of paper that said they attended such or such university, rather than on a useful education. It's like a fashion thing. They behave toward universities the same way as they do with brand clothes and accessories. They are willing to pay premium fees for the name and prestige!

 

[Jovialis]

I find college to be unnecessary for the vast majority of the human race. The problem is that it takes an IQ of about 120 to be fit for college. Because of lowering of standards the average college graduate in the USA has an IQ of 90. This is absolutely appalling. These people should endeavor to take on occupations that are better suited for their abilities. Regarding Healthcare, my wife is Canadian, and I go there quite often. I mostly hear people lament of the extremely long wait times for even serious appointments. During the pandemic her family had to get the vaccine in the USA, because Canada completely mismanaged the rollout. Regarding the weight issue, I think it has to do with poor eating habits on the part of many people, as well as soft-drinks. I don't understand why people are so obsessed with sugar, I find it disgusting in coffee or tea.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016028962200023X

Many college graduates and even MA and doctoral students fall outside the range of the intellectual capacity to actually perform adequately in college. To me this is abhorrent, and serves only to ruin the country further.

This is the reason why the USA will ultimately fail. Because the so-called educated people are dullards. But I'm sure most of them are non-lucrative degrees, that come with a big price tag. Academia is the source of the extremist woke ideology, they are causing dysfunction in society by handing out degrees like toilets paper, and they are causing mid-witted people to go into debt. Of which they will be bailed out by the people who are actually capable. This is a house of cards that must not stand, it needs to come down.

 

[Jovialis]

Shockingly, there's people with an IQ of 75-110 account for half of the Grad/Prof degrees! It makes perfect sense considering what goes on at college campuses today.


Frankly, the fact that people with an IQ of 75 are in a college setting fills me with an intense hatred for the state of this country, the people in it, and far-leftists in general (they have facilitated this, with their stupid ideas of nurture over nature). It de-legitimizes academia, and makes it a sick joke.

 

[Maciamo]

Shockingly, there's people with an IQ of 75-110 account for half of the Grad/Prof degrees! It makes perfect sense considering what goes on at college campuses today.


Frankly, the fact that people with an IQ of 75 are in a college setting fills me with an intense hatred for the state of this country, the people in it, and far-leftists in general (they have facilitated this, with their stupid ideas of nurture over nature). It de-legitimizes academia, and makes it a sick joke.

What I don't understand is how people with IQ lower than 90 (or even 100) manage to pass all the exams required to obtain their degree, let alone to become professors! How is that possible? Are exams so ridiculously easy in the States?

 

[Jovialis]

What I don't understand is how people with IQ lower than 90 (or even 100) manage to pass all the exams required to obtain their degree, let alone to become professors! How is that possible? Are exams so ridiculously easy in the States?

They curve the grades, give people extra time, and assistance. Sometimes if a student gets a bad grade, they complain that they are treated unfairly, and the professor is bias or racist against them. The administration usually capitulates to the demands of the student, because they're afraid of bad PR. Also, sometimes students take online classes and cheat their way through it, with very little supervision.

Also, I am sure a lot of these lower IQ students take degrees are in super easy subjects, where they can plagiarize their way through.

 

[HelenPowers]

Formal education is still very important nowadays. I know that a lot of people think that now it's not that important to have a degree and diploma to get a good and well-paid job, and I partly agree with it. If you like and want to work with your hands, crafting something, then it's possible to do without a degree. The same if you want to become a professional athlete; you need to practice a lot and work on your skills, and learning something like history or math is certainly not a priority.
On the contrary, there are spheres like medicine, the legal sphere, and engineering, and I think most will agree that becoming a good specialist with enough skills and knowledge is important without a university.
Also, there are a lot of online course materials that can help you to learn something and then find a good job, for example, in the IT sphere, PR, and so on.
It's good that now we have a choice and variety of possibilities, which will help each to achieve their goals.
But university is not only about a diploma; it's something more. It's a place where you study, communicate with others, and deal with different situations. It's the place where you can learn how to communicate properly, deal with problems and situations, and gain very important experience, which will certainly help you in life.
I'm a student, and it was my decision to apply and spend four or more years studying. I study social work, which is interesting to me, and such a major provides me with a lot of different career opportunities. Besides, I have different extra courses, which help me to improve my knowledge in different spheres. Yes, it's hard to study, and some of the courses I find not that useful, but it's still a part of the process. And I also learn something new every day thanks to them. For example, this week, we have been talking about domestic violence, and it turned out to be a huge problem nowadays. I found so much info about it, about the situation in the USA, Europe and so on. Different research reports, I also came across this page https://edubirdie.com/examples/domestic-violence/ with different shors papers about it, the causes, effects, possible solutions and so on. I want to say that my education helps me not only to get a diploma but provides info about everyday life, problems, and situations. And I also hope to find solutions that will help me to understand and maybe do something later to change the situation. I also can participate in different exchange programs, which is very useful and important.
I believe that education is definitely not for all, but it's a choice. And I think that it's better to study if you want to do it, if you're ready to face all the challenges, and not just because someone wants you to.

 

[samuelwilliams]

In my opinion, it really depends on the individual's skills, goals and situation. While both of my parents were able to support our family without college degrees, things were different for them growing up. They worked multiple jobs and married young, but still managed to send all six of us kids to college!

These days, a college education opens up more career opportunities since many jobs require a degree. When I lived in Norway, most of my colleagues had master's degrees. I also met people who went to good schools and had successful careers, but struggled when wanting to start their own businesses. On the other hand, some college dropouts seemed to easily start their own successful companies. But then these college dropouts may have very successful parents that can guide them well.

It's true that college isn't necessary for everybody. Ultimately, people need to weigh their options and think about what environment helps them learn and achieve what they want out of life. For some, that may mean going to college, while others prefer learning on the job or starting their own path early. It is also important to remember that traditional businesses also struggled during the pandemic.