NemZ wrote:Depends HIGHLY on what you're going back to school FOR. If it's just to stall for time then you're probably wasting a hell of a lot of money while not earning any or really getting closer to a job... not the best plan. I'm still paying off my student loans on the education degree I have no expectation of every using again, for example.
I am well aware of the college problem. I've seen what you describe happen to so many people, and I continue to watch them occasionally complain about their student loans on Facebook. But I'm not just some liberal arts or education major, I'm in software engineering. I'm learning something that's actually in demand and pays well, at a school that's serious about getting its students into jobs -- just yesterday I got an email inviting me into the school's honors society, which boasts of job and internship opportunities.
To be blunt, in most cases these days I feel college is a waste of time and money for all involved. In some cases you do need a degree in something just to get a foot in the door, but in many careers (or if you already have a degree) you'd be better served to buy a textbook (used) and teach yourself.
I tried the equivalent of that, for 4 years. It didn't get me anywhere. Call me a product of the education system but I simply need to be told what to do to get anything done. My history has demonstrated that I need a consequence hanging over my head, and a path to follow (and not just any path, but one that convinces
me that it's worth following), in order to accomplish things. I've worked harder (and learned more in) these past 3 quarters than I did in the entire previous 4 years precisely because I was convinced that it would actually amount to something in the end, and because I finally had deadlines (with consequences) and a grade to motivate me, as well as a social context in which to do all these things and have it count as "work" (rather than "idleness") and therefore not only get my family off my back but have them praise me for it and give
me my self-esteem back because I was no longer a dreaded basement-dwelling "NEET", but that lofty and honorable title of "student".
When I was on my own, I just couldn't accomplish anything. I had all the time in the world and most of it was spent goofing off (video games, writing porn), and getting down about how much time I spent goofing off made me spend only more time goofing off in a vicious cycle. I couldn't stick to any plan I set for myself because I had no assurance of a payoff, no consequences for not sticking to it, and no idea how much would have been the right amount of work to do per unit time.
Now that I'm in a program, I have all these elements that I was missing before. Yeah I don't have a job yet, but I'm learning at a crazy rate, and most importantly I
feel better about what I'm doing and where I'm going.
Which is not to say that college was truly necessary for any of this. I blame my own wiring more than anything else -- a need for structure that is one of many reasons Aspies thrive in academia. Or it could be because the academic structure is all I've known my entire life and I've just grown into it like a cube melon, and maybe I wouldn't be so dependent on it if I'd done self-directed learning from a young age. Regardless, I don't mean to imply that my experience is universal or is in any way a justification of the college-industrial complex.
Reichu wrote:Already tried that and brought me naught but misery. (Forcing myself through one major just so I can get a bachelor's so I can finally get access to a totally unrelated postgrad program is so wasteful and unintuitive, I don't even...
JUST LET ME DO LIBRARY SCIENCE FROM THE START, YOU FUCKWITS.) I'm never going back to school unless I have a really,
really good reason to. (E.g., two associate's degrees get me absolutely nowhere in the world of employment after I actually put some effort into looking for a job.)
If I'd known that's what you were doing going to college I'd have tried to talk you out of it myself.
I assumed you were studying biology!
Both of my parents studied library science. It didn't pay, so they (or at least my dad) switched career tracks quickly, and we do very well now thanks to that wise thinking. Dad became a tech writer because it was literally the only thing he could get with his skills, and eventually worked his way up to-- Well, I don't want to give too much about the family away, but his field now has nothing to do with any of his degrees. We do very well for ourselves now, and it's precisely because my parents (specifically my dad) acknowledged reality. What that means in English is, he abandoned what he thought would be his dream career (dreams are surprisingly malleable and inconstant) in favor of what would pay money, and learned to love it. Now he continues to do it because he
wants to -- it has become his passion, and, as far as I can tell, he (and the rest of us) have been happy ever since.
I wish he would just send me an email saying "Hey Asuka-chan, I got your emails and I worry about you too. Love, Shinji"
Also, Toji has a jealous ex who is constantly rude to me and also hangs out with other females frequently. As for Kensuke, we used to be in a relationship for six months and he dumped me because his mother told him to do so. Then he started a rumor about me trying to break up another couple at school and I got confronted by my friend's boyfriend asking if I started the rumor, which I didn't. I later found out my ex started the rumor and tried to tell my friend's boyfriend that it wasn't me and that it was my ex who started it. I tried to clear my innocent name, but a teacher said that it's gossip for talking about another student. 
I don't think it's gossip if you know who started the rumor and just want to clear your name. Kensuke also is still in love with me, despite the fact that I'm taken and have Shinji. 
After dating younger guys and ones closer to my age, either older or younger, both can be really immature. 
