The Game of School

Allow me to admit this, I don't know much.

It seems the more I learn, the less I really know. There's just seems to be more questions arising from acquired knowledge.

There. Honesty clears the path.

Here's my question:

Uncollege.​

Opinions??

 

I actually agree with the whole premise even though I have many degrees and am working on more. Some people do not need a degree to have a successful and productive life. There are a number of occupations, sales for instance, that require little education and yet offer the potential of making huge sums of money.

In many cases, however, a degree is the key to get in the door of many rewarding jobs. Without a degree, they will not even look at you. I would suggest that an individual earn a degree and then follow their dreams, even if they are unrelated to that degree.

This idea is dangerous in another way. I can foresee many lazy young people taking this movement to heart because they do not want to go through the tremendous effort required to earn a degree. I expect that there will be many who use this concept as and excuse to cop out and may very well, as the author states, end up in their parent's basement eating jello shots.

 

I agree in this aspect that they state on the webiste: We believe that college is not for everyone.

Kudos to you for at least trying to figure it out before you spend $85K on a degree in Bitterness Studies from some SWPL University.

 

Uncollege

Actually, I find myself along life's roadmap somewhat further from the starting point than I like to admit:bandit:. My eldest child however is a senior in high school. My research along these lines is to aid her in making wise choices.:scared1:

 

My 17yo son, asks me why he must learn "x" since it has nothing to do with his "future job" blah blah. It's very simple. "The path" you talk about at Uncollege also misses the point, and if one believes that college is the only path to a vocation, then you're going to be sadly disappointed as you hold your BA in liberal arts.

College is an inclined journey, marked by 120 mini barriers. The incline isn't huge, most people make it 1 year, 2 years.... Every now and again, the barrier is too high, and people stop. The purpose of the 4 year long incline is to demonstrate endurance. The purpose of the barrier walls are to demonstrate that you have the ability to jump them, no matter what they are. Doctors don't use calculus, but people who can pass calculus make better doctors. Managers don't use chemistry, but the kind of people who can pass chemistry make better managers. Engineers don't use art history, but the kind of people who can (also) pass art history make better engineers. The "kind" of people who finish are the "kind" of people who get a credential, and the "kind" of people with that credential are in another category. Degree holders- learners- completers- doers- choose your adjective.

It doesn't make them smart or wise. It makes them credentialed, and it's one way - not the only way- but one way of weeding from the others. The others, are people who may be all of the same things, but they can't document it. They have no proof. They have no credential.

Since your website opens with debt statistics, you'll be glad you found this website. The resourceful and bright people in this community have found ways to jump barriers and shorten the path. So, sometimes you just to think smarter, not harder. Use the "game of school" to learn the rules, then beat them at their own game.

That's my two cents. :kiss:

 

Steve Kemp of Antioch School of the Bible and Church Planting calls the degree "Cultural Currency". This term gave me a greater clarity in thinking through the need for creditentials.

 

Don't you think though that it is possible for those "kind" of people to exhibit their ability in an entreprenural rather than an academic way? Unless of course you are talking about licensed professions.

 

Yes. I said so in my post.

 

So you did.

 

I think it is part of a bigger movement toward more student-controlled learning. Traditional education perpetuates the lie that there is only one way to learn and if you don't learn that way too bad. In fact, sitting in a desk all day listening to someone else explain things (even if that person is intelligent and articulate, which isn't always the case) is often the worst way to learn something - it too frequently stifles creativity and motivation and doesn't allow for real-world application. With the growth of the internet, anyone can pretty much learn anything at any time. I applaud this organization for pointing out that you don't have to go to college to be well-educated. And just because you do go doesn't mean that you are going to be any better at your job if you hadn't. It also looks like it got inspiration from the work of John Holt (who coined the term unschooling) whose work, in my opinion, any student would benefit from reading.

 

Maybe a little. Now if I could only get paid for such things.

 

As long as people who decide not to go to college find another way to educate themselves then its fine.
For me, the confines of the traditional university felt more like an impediment than a benefit, so I skipped computer science classes to spend more time coding at home.
I was working as a computer tech by day and writing little video games by night and those skills prepared me well for the professional software development world.
Now that I have more money, time and perspective, I am knocking out courses and degrees because I choose to, not because society says that I must.

Undegree reminds me of 7-Up commercials.

 

Need another Poll Choice

You forgot "*Yawn*"

Phillip

 

College isn't necessary unless you have a certain career in mind. You honestly can learn pretty much whatever you want on the internet these days... and I'm sure some day that will qualify as "Life Experience"

 

I've neither heard of this before or agree with the premise except on a very limited scale.

1. Exceptionally intelligent people will succeed regardless of degree. This is not an emergent property of uncollege and we don't need uncollege for exceptional intelligence.

2. There are plenty of people who don't go to college now by their own choice or lack of interest. There's no need to advertise this approach for people who don't care.

3. The people who are going to be viewing this site and thinking hard about the premise are those who are moderately intelligent and would benefit most from the credential. In this case, paying attention to this site will not increase their intellect and may actually hurt their chances.

4. The site is developed by people who were home schooled and went on to structured institutions of learning because the added attention given them likely gave them an advantage when taking standardized tests. Unfortunately that advantage is offset by the home schooled child's lack of experience with formal structure in learning required to scale to a large number of students.

So uncollege is likely best for people who have had the advantages of home schooling and the desire to keep that freedom of structure for a significant period of time. Entrepreneurial jobs work that way. Most others don't.

So set up a blog about uncollege and get traffic by presenting an argument that will resonate to the common person who is in that moderate intellect range (tuition). When traffic goes up, start monetizing the site by offering consulting services and coaching to "uncollege" yourself. (which ironically is one of the options on the main nav).

What you're seeing on this site is a smooth scam aimed at people that don't have the advantages these kids had and a godsend to those that were brought up similarly. Unless you're in a very specific niche, you're still going to lose money here. This opinion is not reflective of my thoughts on the founder of the site. He's motivated, he wants to succeed in a real way because he's figured out how to hack the education he has. When he's 40, he'll likely be a successful entrepreneur. But I'd bet that his firm will have lots of conventionally college educated people working for it.