Couch 78: Put your feet up and stay a while

I may beg to differ on that, because that Education is costly (no matter where you decide to go to school) and if you can't get a career out of it I sort of see it as money wasted.

I do agree on trade school being a waste if you can't get a job, a good friend of mine decided to attend a trade school sometime after (I'm not sure if it was right after) finishing High School and now he works at a pizza shop (he is now the manager of it but it is still not what he went to the trade school for), I have said this to him before but I believe that it would have been best for him to have started a career right after High School (especially since he went to Vo-Tech in High School which is sort of designed for you to start a career right after High School) and he sort of agrees with me on that.

honestly, i think one needs to seriously evaluate going to college. i know too many of my friends who are saddled with debt (from a *state* school and not even the top one) and struggled to get started in their careers (if they even ended up able to find a job).

i was lucky. i got a full ride and even though my degree is utterly useless (and always has been), at least i didn't have to pay for it. i want to go back to college in a few years and try again for something i really want now that i'm old enough to have lived my life and seen the world a bit. asking a 17 year old what she wants to do with the rest of her life... yeah, that didn't work well for me.

I feel fortunate to actually be well employed on art degree. Phew!

I agree SD

Knowledge is something no one can take away from you... Education is very important! I know someone who got into a top medical school with a BA in philosophy... In today's world you need a broad education..that can be used in many areas....

I graduated with a lot of debt and it took me 10 years to pay it back but I would never be making the kind of $ I do without that degree... Education is an investment in yourself.

It's also a good place to look for a life partner.

however college doesn't necessarily mean one is educated. there are plenty of ways to learn.

formal education can be investment in yourself, but it's not a guarantee. the mantra that college was something i had to do was crammed down my throat... and a few years after we all graduated the economy tanked. i would totally have made a different choice about heading off to college right out of high school if i knew then what i know now :P

college isn't always the smart or the right choice.

i agree that college is not for everyone. I do think our education system - including college - has become so lax that it often is not useful for many things and the U.S. needs to go back to valuing education. I think it is very narrow to view college for only as a direct career path and I acknowledge it can be expensive.
I do believe if one looks at it as a broader learning experience - it can be very useful indeed.
I teach at a university and believe for those who apply themselves, the education and experience is valuable. I think learning how to think like a lawyer is very useful whether one intends to practice law or not. I believe the same is true about many other disciplines. I believe it is useful to be well - read, to learn dead languages, and to study the humanities.

There are some students who should go away and grow up before spending money on it, and there are those who are not capable, and there are those who learn important things that are not from the classroom and so on.
I believe all sorts of things are learned at college for a lot of people and that the learning is valuable. Not always pleasant. Not always connected directly in a clear path to making money or a career. Not always learned from classes or professors. But valuable nonetheless.

For this kid, any delay in getting away will feel like a tragedy. She feels really trapped. She and I discussed that debt might be worth incurring both to get a broad education and finally be able to be free to say what she thinks and have her own ideas without constantly being shot down. I think both the physical and the intellectual freedom of college will be so good for her. She is really very bright. My D has created a list of colleges that offer a full scholarship to students with a certain GPA and ACT test score, and then she will help the girl study to try to get that score. D says the other girl is smart enough, that should be doable for her.

[childish whine deleted - thank you for the hugs, which will unfortunately be deleted when I edit this...]

Bye for a bit. I can't come here when I am feeling this horrible.

Well, we ended up with the kittens back at our house. The vet would not keep them. The shelter so far says they will not take the kittens because they are strays. I think there is a huge difference between a stray where the owner might show up and be mad if the animal is re-homed, and a litter of FERAL kittens whose mother is gone. My MIL had indicated that she would keep them until a shelter would take them, and she tried having them at her house for the day, but found it too overwhelming to try to give formula to 4 kittens. So once again, we are in a position where we have kittens who need formula AND I am supposed to go out of town. My poor H. He is trying to be nice about it (probably because I have been really low for the last week and keep breaking into huge sobs over D's friend's situation AND feeling totally overwhelmed by the thought of having these kittens and the huge guilt for dragging H into this again). This time, I checked on canceling on the plans to go help at the competition, but I have a volunteer "job" at this competition and it is one that management does not have any one who can take over. He says it is fine. D is saying she may stay home and help with them. I got up three times during the night with them and each time, they are a little easier to feed. Hopefully, by the 8 am feeding right before I leave, they will be drinking from the syringe easily and formula will be no big deal for H. One of them is already slurping down the wet kitten food, formula slurry that I have in a shallow dish for them to try.

I have a wicked headache. Hopefully by the time we are on the road this morning, it will be gone. I was supposed to be gone until Monday afternoon. If D comes to the competition separately after school Friday (which was the plan before the kittens), I think she and I will just come back Sunday instead of staying. If D doesn't come, I am kind of stuck with Monday because that is what I agreed to with the people I am traveling with. Monday is important to them so their horses have time to rest after they are done competing on Sunday.

whine, whine, whine, right? First world problems.

i think for the right people college is great and i won't pretend i didn't learn a lot there. i'm definitely academically minded and i want to do graduate school (but first i'm going to do a post-bacc in something i actually want to do). i think i just bristle sometimes as the insistence people go. i read recently in someplace in europe it's very normal for kids to take a year before jumping in and that's something i'd like to encourage in my own kids.

however, yes, this girl sounds trapped and college would be a welcomed escape.

Reminder to self - don't read posts by the children until after coffee.

College has been watered down ever since it became mainstream back in the 70s and 80s.

my first two years were such a waste. stupid gen-eds. they were the exact same classes i had in high school and a few were worse than my high school ones. i was able to get out of some because of AP classes. i'm hoping to utilize some of the programs now through our state university for when my kid gets older (they let you do the last two years of high school through the university which gets a jump start on gen ed - i'd rather do that even if they decide not to go to college at all because at least if they do, they'd have that done).

I do wish that my college had more elective options. I remember having to drop "Business and Entrepreneurial skills for the Professional Designer" and I've always regretting doing so. My schedule was so conflicted because professors didn't like teaching mon or fri.

Whew, this work-trip is wearing me out!! I'm too tired in the evening when I get back to my hotel from the office to do much of anything but eat a quick dinner, soak in the whirlpool spa and then go to bed by 9pm. I'm bushed again today and headed to bed now. BUT I go home tomorrow afternoon! Yay!!

Children?? What? Where???

She means us.

Can't sleep... I think it is a mixture too much caffeine, asthma/allergies, and the fact that I am going to see T in 12 hrs and I am still incredibly pissed at him!

I'm up way too late too Healed….hope you can tell T you are pissed! That's a long time to hold in anger!!

I know it is.. it has taken a lot of self control to keep it in, and not email him and tell him. Though, I do feel a bit bad, that really I am pissed over something, that probably really shouldn't be. I don't know...

Humph!!!!!

Every neighbourhood has a crazy old cat-lady, the couch has SD

I do not mean you CE. I am referring to some of the self identified under 23 crowd.

I am more cranky than crazy.
I have been tested.