Since it was implanted in our little minds when we were young, by our parents, grandparents, relatives, and teachers, we were told to go to college, major in something, and graduate. Once that happened, one could obtain a job and work making honest to good money. Oh boy did they lie off their wazoos to us.
How many of you have graduated college? How many are doing something in their chosen field? Are making honest money?
Or does this picture of black and white with no hope in the world pertain to you: No job or doing a job that requires a high school diploma and making 8, 9, or maybe 10 dollars an hour? If you choose the later, then you would be classified as "underemployed".
Are you the only one at your "job" that has a college education? Do you feel like you've been lied to by everyone and now notice that graduating college doesn't guarantee anything anymore? Are you frustrated? Are you bitter? Do you even regret going to college? Do you regret majoring in something that has lead to nothing while you should have majored in something that could easily land you a job?
Nothing in a certainty in this world anymore. There is now a surplus of people with bachelor degrees in the United States. On top of that, a shaky economy (although it will improve) and companies outsourcing jobs over seas for cheaper labor has also made it hard for those with a higher education degree to land a job. The bachelor degree has now become the new high school diploma of yesteryear. Also to add salt to the wound, companies are now adding "experience" to entry level jobs. But that contradicts the term "entry level" when it's suppose to be a position for someone with no experience. Right? I thought so!
Even though we have heard and read dry facts and figures how some with a bachelors degree should earn about 41,000 starting off vs someone who has a high school diploma earning 28,000 a year, while someone with a masters degree can earn 50,000 or more, we all know now a days that those figures mean nothing. what the figures fail to mention is what degree you need to have in order to earn those kinds of salaries.
There are people with bachelors degrees working at places like Walmart and making 9 dollars an hour, waiting tables, working in other retail places, working as secretaries, working in factories, doing anything that is far beyond and below what those people who graduated from college thought they would be doing.
Also, another point to add is that now people are saying go and get a masters degree thereby making you standout more compared to all of the sea of people with bachelor degrees. But then again those people also fail to say which masters degree program one should apply for.
But would getting a masters degree help you? Maybe, maybe not. It's the same uncertainty scenario with a bachelors degree. Though the old saying "knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have the better you'll be" could be practical in some cases, it doesn't apply for everyone. You can have a masters degree thinking now you should get a job. However, you lack experience thereby having companies pass over you for someone else. You apply, apply, apply, but nothing happens. Now you're back at the same spot where you had that bachelors degree and no job prospects, only now you have a masters degree but no job prospects.
And now people are racking up school debt like racking up flies using flypaper. Some people might have a little debt or some might have 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 or more in debt and can't find a job or get something that has them earning far less than expected. How are they suppose to pay off their school debt if they're only making 9 dollars an hour working at a coffee shop? More importantly, how are people suppose to earn a living if they are working at a low paying job or are unemployed because they can't find a job because they don't have enough experience or they are overqualified? What then? Where's the light at the end of the tunnel? When does the nightmare end?
Kermit the frog once stated "life's like a movie, right your own ending". Although that's a good philosophy phrase to help you get to your dreams, now more than ever those dreams might not come true. Even with hard work you put into going to college and graduating, you might not get to your dreams if you have a lot of road blocks that I have mentioned above in my little essay.
Does my rant tell you not to go to college? Simply put it, no. But for those who are in high school, in their early years in college and don't know what to major in, or someone who is older and is thinking about going to college for the first time or back to college, I suggest you major in something that has a future such as engineering, accounting, becoming a nurse, a doctor, or becoming a banker. Those can easily land you into something without too much time, especially if you do an internship.
What about me if you might have to ask. Yes I graduated college over three years ago with a bachelors in history. I even got certified to teach social studies in grades 4-8, applied to 30 school districts, and even went to 5 job interviews. Did that help me? Nope. Did I get a lot of job interviews? I got one and that was with a school district I did not even apply for at the time, they found me. But alas, I did not secure that teaching position. And on top of that, I've been working low wage jobs making 8, 9, and 10 dollars an hour at places requiring nothing more than a high school diploma.
Has college helped me at the very least? Nope, other than doing research, improving my study habits, and writing 15 page essays. Do I regret going to college? All the time. Do I think college is a waste? Indeed I do. Will it be a waste if you go? I don't know. It could be if you major in the wrong thing.
*This rant brought to you by the higher institute of learning where going to college improves you in more ways than you could possibly imagine*