Although I’ve decided all the courses I’ll be taking in the coming academic year, and I’ve easily gotten into the “leading” colleges and such for a bachelors degree, I’ve still got a bone to pick with formal education.
Its 4:31 am and I’ve got no inclination to make this an interesting rant, so i’ll just be telling it like it is.
Alright, so I’m from this well-educated background where all my relatives (male) on my mom’s side are doctors (the women were all house-wives, of course). My mom has just completed her PhD and so has earned that title herself. Except she’s more of a computer doctor than a people doctor. On my dad’s side there isnt much education bu my father has studied and worked his ass off to be where he is today (mom too, of course, fighting the house-wife title and such). So basically both my parents value education and so do I. The value of education, however, has translated itself into the value of good grades and degrees from leading universities. Basically, my parents had to fight for a formal education and expect me to value it as much as they do. But I, being the privelaged brat that I am, am inclined to think that there are better ways to learn. Ways that do not have you feeling like you should jump off a skyscraper if you dont get into a good university.
The grades/status issue aside, the fact that one has to streamilne one’s intrests, however variegated, in order to have a “aluable” or “credible” degree, basically the fact that one has to specialise in only one feild is again an irksome aspect of formal education. Also, the fact that learning *stops* once you finish your degree and get a job is also..rather bothersome to say the least. To those that say we specialise because there isnt enough time to learn everything in the given time frame I ask, why does there have to be a time frame? Whay do we have to stop learning at all? Why is it impossible to get a job if one is a self-taught expert as opposed to a universty degree holder? I would pose several other questions, of course, but you get the gist.
But lets assume for a second that the above two issues dont bother me or have been solved or simply dont exist anymore for whatever reason…why the fuck does getting educated COST this much?! Why is not education free?! (Why isnt aeverything free, really? but thats a topic for another rant) People complain about poor people eating up tax money, being unemployed druggies that cant ge their shit together and all of that, but no one really stops to wonder why they are where they are. How difficult must it be for a smart poor kid to get a respectable degree? I’m not even talking IV league universities (though why not?) I’m talking any damn university that is globally recognised. I understand that teachers have to be payed, books have to be bought, buildings have to be made, all of that counts toward increasing fees but SERIOUSLY, non-profit my ass.
I would go on, but its 5am, I’m incredibly sleepy and I have a feeling tomorrow will be a long do, so I’m going to nap for an hour and a half and then get my behind back to the registration process I’ve gotta finish. *sigh*
PS: admittedly the title sound smore interesting than this rant. I might write something more interesting under the same title some day soon.
