In a world of mediocrity, who needs smart people?

I've thought a lot about my choice not to go on to higher education. I love learning and always will. That's for sure. There's always something so exciting about learning something new, or finding a way to use something old in a new way, or finding a way to use something new in an old way. What I dislike is the established system of education. It's a mass-producing assembly line made to churn out millions of people. Education wasn't made to be mass-produced; education is supposed to be hand-made (or home-made). Only a few centuries ago, people learned skills directly through apprentice-master relationships. I'm not saying that bringing education to the masses isn't a good thing. I'm saying we need a better system that has the advantages of knowledgeable educators and direct educator-student interaction.
Kia Kroas :=: 28 Jun, 2008 03:11:50 pm CST6CDT last updated: 23 Nov, 2008 07:26:02 pm CST6CDT

I know why education fails in the United States' public schools: there's no (good) quality-assurance mechanism. I can understand the difference in education between states--after all, you can't expect a completely exact system for a land so vast. However, state testing is pathetic. The standardized requirements have been degrading over the years. A high school education doesn't mean as much as it once did. No Child Left Behind? You've just made the entire herd as slow as it's slowest member. Are we going to go by the "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" rule? If so, does that mean a school is only as smart as its dumbest student?

Anyway, here are some of the main details that I compared in my decision not to attempt to enter into a college or university after high school.

Advantages to going to a college or university

• Common experience
• Social interaction with peers
• Parties
• Smart and sexy girls
• Sex
• Academic connections and networking
• Advanced/Comprehensive subject matter
• Certification
• More money later
• Beautiful campus
• Ease of entry and completion
• Beautiful Campus
• Prestige

Disadvantages to going to a college or university

• Trapped for years (usually 2 or more)
• Costs time
• Costs money (which can be offset by scholarships, but...)
• Scholarships cost time and effort
• Essays and homework
• Engages you as part of "the system" (and I'm a rebel)
• Grades and/or other performance accessments...ugh
• Must read books (that are usually big and boring)
• Study?!? I have to STUDY!?!?

Advantages of going to work (freelance)

• Work experience
• Real-life experience
• Follow my ambitions
• Quicker acquisition to money
• Create my own stuff
• Freedom to do whatever whenever
• Learn whatever I want,
  however I want,
  whenever I want
• Define my own worth
• Youth doesn't last
• Colleges and universities will still be there if I fail
• Some meager work benefits (medical, dental, health, etc)

Disadvantages of going to work

• Taxes
• Very high probability of failure
• Little to no help from peers
• Must exert more effort (work harder)
• Lack of professional degree/certification
• Employer perceptions
• Low likelihood of promotion
• Difficult to find intellectuals to converse with
  (my ideas will get lonely)
• All of my closest friends are heading to college

I don't need a piece of paper that costs me four years of my life and tens of thousands of dollars to tell me what I can and can't do.

In comparison, the only real advantages I will miss by not going to higher education will be the networking with people and comprehensive study. All the others I can supplement through some other method, or don't care for having. The disadvantages are too great for me. I don't want to spend my time doing unnecessary work that no one will ever use because someone (or something) tells me that it will help me get ahead later. I can't estimate the certainty of having a job position open when I graduate. I can't leverage the time and energy required against the results--if any. It's too much risk.

The advantages of going out on my own, on the other hand, fare a lot better against its disadvantages. I like the freedom of having my time to myself to spend however I like, even if my life is always boring. I'm willing to work harder for satisfactory rewards. I really believe that I am capable of meeting my ambitions. It will also test the strength of my friendship. The only big disadvantage is finding intelligent people to converse with...and I can do that by sneaking into colleges and pretending to be a studying student.

I'm gonna try that sometime. It'll be fun. As long as no one I know rats me out too early, I think I can pose as a computer science major. Gotta get myself a pair of thick glasses and dress shirts with the pocket protector things one of these days.

I am not going to pay money to learn.

Not in this day and age. I know I'm a lot better off than the people in third world countries scrambling just to get a primary education, and it might seem pompous for me to have said that...but I stand by it. In the position I am now, there's no reason to do that. Open Initiatives are propagating everywhere, from academies to hardware to software. And it's never been easier to get a college education, or at least a taste of college courses, from your house (although you would not get the certification or degree). Google for Open CourseWare if you don't believe me.

The relative value of a college degree is declining also. With so many people getting degrees, there's a lot of competition in the upper tiers. Then there's the criticism about colleges gaining millions in grants, and marketing to (and accepting) students who have no chance of graduating. It racks in income if those students keep trying over and over. Of course, in the meantime, there's also talk of popular colleges and universities being more picky and snobby with their entrants. (They must keep their current "standard of excellence" after all.)

I feel sorry for those people who try so hard. I really don't get it. Why don't they find something else that they're good at rather than trying to be a doctor or lawyer or whatever? If they truly believe in it, they should work with more enthusiasm and dedication. You know that a person is talking about a subject they are interested in when there's a sparkle in their eyes. People need to look for that and follow where it leads.

So looking at it in another way, I'm actually helping other people by not making more competition for them. Aint I nice? They should thank me for that instead of criticizing.

Academia just isn't for some people. I'm one of them.

I really wanted a be a scientist when I was a kid. I liked plants and animals and was pretty much curious about everything. I won't be able to achieve as much without being part of a university research team. These days, those things just cost too much money. But I'm willing to put that aside for now. Science will be there if I fail.

The field I am going into now--computer science and technology--gives ample room for people to experiment on their own time. Programming language documents are everywhere on the web (and they're mostly free). It doesn't cost a lot of money to experiment either. So I'll be able to get easy experience from that.

Wish me luck people. I'll need it.

Just as a conclusion: I'm not as retarded as I sound (sometimes)

Now if out of nowhere someone offers to pay me $25/hour to go to some college or university, I'd be stupid not to take it. Get paid that much to learn? There's gotta be a downside....but hey, at least try it out.

Or if someone hands me a one million dollar scholarship that can only be used for educational purposes like tuition or books, I'll hurry to file applications to CMU, MIT, UC Berkeley, Rice, Stanford, and Princeton. It's a million dollars, who would throw that away? I may be lazy, but I'm not (completely) stupid. It's a million dollars telling me to go mingling with the tingling. I'm not going to find smarter girls elsewhere.