Wall 'o Text Time, Guys...
It's really a personal choice. Me, I never wanted to go... ever. Not since I learned about it have I ever actually thought "**** I wanna/gotta go to college". No, it was always "****ing Hell no I ain't going to school for any longer than what's required!"
I mean my parents went to college but never finished, so there was kind of always that pressure to go there because they never finished and they wanted me to have the opportunity to make more money in life. But, their choice to get married instead of finishing school shouldn't really have an impact on me as far as this goes, so I really never cared about any of that.
Besides, the way they talked about college didn't exactly make it seem pleasant. All I ever got from what I was told was "you work yourself to death, end up in debt, all for a piece of paper that really doesn't prove jack **** --" and then my dad would just go off on rants about how he was the best candidate for certain jobs but because he didn't have a Bachelors degree the second or third best candidate got picked instead... even though my dad proved he was better for the job in question. Of course this was back in the days when they tested you first before bothering to see if you had a degree or not (and shooting you down or not by that and that alone, I mean).
Then I look at all of my friends and family who have gone to college, one of whom just graduated and he's in debt (in the negative he tells me), doesn't have a job, lives with his girlfriend and her parents (she worked, luckily for their rent while he was still in school), hated school, mostly hated all the bullshit classes he had to take (like having to take both Economics and then Feminist Economics because Fem.Ec. was the only class he could take for some reason - yeah, that tells me no one wants to take the class so they set it up to where you have to take it to pass). Hated all the work he had to do constantly, broke out in hives a few times from the constant stress of it all, got sick quite a bit, felt pressured to maintain perfect ****ing grades (because he was never told what he currently was making) while maintaining social relationships... so lack of sleep was the end result.
So finally he has his degree and he's finally decided to go into... charity work. Which doesn't exactly pay very well. It's managing so he gets paid just not a lot.
That poor ****. Not worth the effort, if you want my honest opinion.
But from all I've gathered about college, a degree isn't worth the time, money, or effort. Thing is, most people hiring for good jobs - or even ****ty jobs now - want you to have a degree. Which is stupid, you don't need a degree to run mail back and forth between people in a law office (I **** you not, there are places that do this).
Thing is, with all the debt you get it's just not that worth it.
As for myself, I was told "we're too broke to send you to college so if you don't wanna go, get a job and pay rent or if you do wanna go to college get a job part-time and go to college part-time".
I attempted college at one point but wasn't allowed in because I didn't have a physical diploma. I was homeschooled and got a certificate of completion when I finished, meaning I passed high school, but that wasn't acceptable for a ****ing community college so I would have had to pay to order a diploma from the school I was enrolled in (they offered them but they were pricy) plus having to churn-out another $45 to re-take an Accuplacer test so I didn't get stuck in a no-credit pre-Algebra class if I went to college. I wasn't about to take an extra math class and not get any credits for it.
Of course I royally bombed the math portion of that test (like I got 140-somthing on the reading part a 3 out of 5 on the writing... and then a 42 on the math, out of a presumably high possible score considering another person in my group got 150-something). So, yeah, royally bombed that part of the test but every other part of the test I passed with an average or way above average.
Point is, I wasn't about to pay money for a class I wasn't getting credits for.
But in the end it wasn't just the diploma thing, all the science classes were full all year round already so I couldn't enroll in college without a science class. Actually there was a few classes available but... I couldn't fathom going through that again, not without one of my cousins (the scientist out for a position at ****ing NASA) there to explain everything to me in the most simplistic way humanly possible... and Hell, he tried that and even then it went over my head... and over his mothers head (she was teaching me English and Math while I stayed with my Uncle for homeschooling - she was staying there too, along with her son, and she used to be a teacher so yeah). We were basically staring at him looking so confused and were all like "wut?" during the whole thing.
Eventually my Aunt had to get out the answer book so she could actually know what answer to lead me to.
And this was over Astronomy and Geology, both of which are boring as Hell to me. Astronomy I can manage with slightly but Geology? Yeah, I cheated my way through that.
I was begging for Math and English when it came to Geology, and I hate Math and English. At this point the only subjects I had that I actually knew how to do on my own were Government/Economics... which I got done with in a few months since I put off everything else and just did that.
Government I get, Economics I grasp, but everything else I had to learn that last year in HS? Hell the **** no.
I can't even do division, what makes you think I can do algebra? **** no, I cheated my way through math classes my entire life because no matter what I did I could never grasp numbers.
So this brings me to a big issue I have with college. They make you take classes that you don't even need. I get learning these subject in elementary, middle, and high school but in college - which you have to directly pay for - why take a bunch of bullshit classes you don't need or don't want to take? Hell, you're paying for it you should at least be able to pick what you take.
Now back then I didn't realize this but now that I do know what I want to do, people are pressuring me to enroll in an art college.... which are even more expensive and effectively useless for what I want to do since all art colleges I've come across (with the exception of CalArts) tend to focus more on graphic designs, animation, video games, so on so forth.
And I'm over here all like "I draw, paint, and make polymer jewelery and that's all I wanna do" but for whatever strange reason my parents, who don't know jack about art, seem to think I can learn things at an art college that I can't learn just by Google. Besides which, art degrees don't go many places unless you go into animation or design.
Point is, I haven't found one even potentially affordable art college that could offer me anything anything I didn't already know... by which I mean things I'd want to know. You can teach me how to animate, but what good will it do me if I have no interest in being an animator?
And CalArts is out of the question by virtue of it being in California.
Well, anyway, I really don't see what college could teach me to further what I wanna do. The only thing it could do for me is give me a piece of paper to flaunt around in the future, but I'd effectively be paying for paper and that just seems stupid. I think all this emphasis being placed on going to college is a problem really, because you have all these kids churning out money to get a degree then it ends up going nowhere for a good portion of them.
In the end though it's still a personal choice.
Speaking of which, I'm reminded of a couple of times this neighbor boy of mine asked me "so you're done with high school right?" and I say yes and he asks me "so what college are you going to?" and I say "I'm not going to college" and then he just gives me this utterly confused look like he never considered not going to college was an option. His brain tends to break after asking me that so normally he just shuts up, for once in his life, about it while trying to figure it out.
That or he's being his arrogant little **** self and choosing not to converse with someone not in college - like I'm stupid or something. I mean this kid is really obnoxious and arrogant, thinks he's superior. He tries to be nice sometimes, but he always ****s it up.
Anyway, point is his parents have drilled it into his head that college is the only option so when I say I'm not in college he wither doesn't understand it or thinks I was just too stupid to get in.
I think one time he actually did say "so when are you going to college then?" after I told him I wasn't because he assumed that it was my intention to go at some point. Then I probably said "I don't plan on going at all" or something and I'm sure he got really confused.
Though that's less like pressure and more like brainwashing, isn't it?
Well anyway, I can get further a long in life if people backed the **** off me and let me actually work on what it is I want to do rather than keep hounding me to go to college and/or get a job. Then they go and claim I'm not taking my art seriously. But really it's just that they keep making it to where I can't do it. Because they keep me so busy. If I went to college or had a job I'd never get anything done. I'm sure if i went to college I'd get sick of art just like I got sick of everything else I was ever good at because school made it boring, irritating, judgmental, and would likely be prone to committing homicide one day when I finally had enough of practically being insulted.
And yes, I get my art work practically insulted each time the **** subject comes up. They say they don't mean to be insulting, but really... calling my work 'immature' is insulting.
No, as much as I like comic books saying my artwork is only good enough to be in a comic book does come off as pretty **** insulting.
Well, sorry for the rant there but as I was thinking about all this I just got really pissed off.
Long story short is, I ****ing hate school so why in the world would I pay to go when it would just overwork me and do nothing good for me in the long run?
That's how I feel about it, so obviously I hate the pressure there is about going to college. It should be a personal choice and that's it as far as I'm concerned.
