Five reasons why high school students should say 'no' to college

[Gnarwhal]

This article isn't overtly Catholic, but the authors are, or at least one of them is. I think it's part of a large discussion worth having about how Catholics ought to consider college, how we can encourage a growing movement of tradesmen, skilled labor, technical training, and (most importantly) vocational pursuits within the Church.

Also, if we (or our kids) are to go to college, where should they go? The Newman List is the go-to for finding colleges that would be socially and academically safe today, but what about some of the institutions not on that list like Hillsdale College? It's not Catholic, but it's a historically conservative school that has stuck to classical approaches to it's subjects. It seems that, at least in conservative circles, it's gaining a reputation as a conservative Harvard of sorts.

Anyway, the article has some good points that I think are worth not just chewing on but perpetuating in our own discussions with others offline.

Accordingly, young Americans should think twice before handing over the keys to their minds, their country, and their future to an overpriced, obsolete, and now clearly corrupt institution.

We strongly encourage Zoomers to avoid the college-industrial complex altogether: instead, stay local, focus on building the cardinal virtues, learn a trade, and marry young.

Five reasons why high school students should say 'no' to college

 

[Oleaster]

This article isn't overtly Catholic, but the authors are, or at least one of them is. I think it's part of a large discussion worth having about how Catholics ought to consider college, how we can encourage a growing movement of tradesmen, skilled labor, technical training, and (most importantly) vocational pursuits within the Church.

An important discussion. I was born in 1972, and U.S. education was already in the proverbial outhouse when I entered the system. Back then, I felt like one of very few “in-the-know,” and I chalked up my unusual perception of the system as being awful to a combination of above-average intellect and above-average travel. I believed it had to be the combination, because I was surrounded by fellow above-average students in the advanced placement/honors/“gifted” program who didn’t seem to find the system as awful as I did. And I gravitated towards other frequent travelers, none of whom seemed to find the system awful in quite the same way as I did. It seemed to require the experience of passing through multiple school systems filtered through a strong intellect to put the whole picture together.

I started working at a bookstore in high school and stuck close to bookstore work for several years. So when Coupland’s Generation X came out (1991), I was able to read it for free behind the counter, and that book provided the apropos term “McJob” to describe what I was doing to pay rent & bills. Mary Edwards Wertsch’s book Military Brats came out the same year, and it supplied the term to describe me and children raised like I was, while introducing me to the sociological concept of subcultures. A couple of years later came George Ritzer’s McDonaldization of Society. Putting that info together helped crystallize my understanding of the hatred I had (have) for “the system.”

The McDonaldization of literally everything includes the McDonaldization of childcare and education, segregating children into subcultures (nerd, jock, band geek, etc.), spawning the “Diploma Mill” that spits out automatons to occupy all the many gradations of McJobs. Next comes the McFamily and the McMansion leading to the McGrave. (It’s fine if you join a McChurch along the way, but please keep that to yourself.) In my opinion, the system is not a good thing gone bad. It was bad from the start, yielding its natural fruit in due season.

If I could live life over and choose some parameters, I’d choose to be raised and homeschooled by a Catholic homesteading family. Upon entering adulthood, I would sit tight on the homestead and try to expand it for my own family, or perhaps enter a monastery or the priesthood. We all need water, food, clothing and shelter, which means we all need a homestead. And we all need God, which means we need the Church. From my perspective, everything else is extraneous. Education (especially theological education) is a blessing, but laypeople are capable of educating themselves outside a formal system, especially laypeople joined together in a self-sustaining agricultural community.

There is some irony to my response, as I myself have obtained an advanced degree (for which I am grateful) and have not been able to transition to homesteading, although I thought I was getting close before Mrs. Hogwallup up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T. She must’ve been lookin’ for answers. Anyway, I slaughtered that horse last Tuesday...

 

[Gnarwhal]

before Mrs. Hogwallup up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T. She must’ve been lookin’ for answers. Anyway, I slaughtered that horse last Tuesday...

"I think it's starting to turn..."

Great reference, I love that movie.

 

[Oleaster]

"I think it's starting to turn..."

Great reference, I love that movie.

Hehe. Good ol' Coen brothers. Barton Fink is a fave too, where things get all balled up at the head office.

 

[WarriorAngel]

This article isn't overtly Catholic, but the authors are, or at least one of them is. I think it's part of a large discussion worth having about how Catholics ought to consider college, how we can encourage a growing movement of tradesmen, skilled labor, technical training, and (most importantly) vocational pursuits within the Church.

Also, if we (or our kids) are to go to college, where should they go? The Newman List is the go-to for finding colleges that would be socially and academically safe today, but what about some of the institutions not on that list like Hillsdale College? It's not Catholic, but it's a historically conservative school that has stuck to classical approaches to it's subjects. It seems that, at least in conservative circles, it's gaining a reputation as a conservative Harvard of sorts.

Anyway, the article has some good points that I think are worth not just chewing on but perpetuating in our own discussions with others offline.



Five reasons why high school students should say 'no' to college

Get them young... indoctrinate and slide in a political / immoral agenda.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Get them young... indoctrinate and slide in a political / immoral agenda.

Exactly. It's like a breeding program to churn out good little communist foot soldiers.

 

[Wolseley]

I would not recommend college for anybody, unless they display an absolute brilliance for something like medicine or engineering. For literally everyone else, it's nothing but a waste of money. You'd be better off buying the kid a full set of The Foxfire Books as a graduation present and teaching him how to subsistence farm, because the huge, interlocked economic system we currently live in is not going to last too much longer.

I went to college and got a Bachelor's in Western History with an English minor. I don't regret my college years, and I learned a lot of cool stuff and I met a lot of great people, but it didn't do diddly-squat insofar as helping me obtain a job. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have gone to college; I would have stayed in the Air Force until they literally threw me out due to old age.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I would not recommend college for anybody, unless they display an absolute brilliance for something like medicine or engineering. For literally everyone else, it's nothing but a waste of money. You'd be better off buying the kid a full set of The Foxfire Books as a graduation present and teaching him how to subsistence farm, because the huge, interlocked economic system we currently live in is not going to last too much longer.

I went to college and got a Bachelor's in Western History with an English minor. I don't regret my college years, and I learned a lot of cool stuff and I met a lot of great people, but it didn't do diddly-squat insofar as helping me obtain a job. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have gone to college; I would have stayed in the Air Force until they literally threw me out due to old age.

The authors of the book and article did a podcast episode together a couple days ago, and they summarized their position very well. I enjoyed listening to it. One thing they mentioned is that historically university was only for the absolute best and brightest, the elite - aristocracy and exceptionally gifted individuals to equip them in matters that were necessary for leadership. They were classical curricula that involved subjects like arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, philosophy, rhetoric, etc. Everyone outside of that class of individuals who merited a college education plied a trade, that was the rightly ordered path of every individual outside the clergy. It allowed one to raise and support a family financially, physically and emotionally.

Opening the university gates to everyone has absolutely screwed absolutely everything up.

I don't regret my BA in Communication Design per se, but I also see full well how I could've accomplished everything I've done without it. And the more proper education I've received in history, literature, philosophy, etc I could've simply gotten from checking out books at the public library. That part actually angers me cause I feel like I fell for some kind of Ponzi scheme by believing I couldn't learn these things anywhere but a university.

 

[Oleaster]

Opening the university gates to everyone has absolutely screwed absolutely everything up.

Yes. Plus the outrageous prices per credit hour have put many people into too much debt for them to pay off on their McDonald's income alone. Now, even with a PhD in Trans Fats Studies from McCheese Community Development Project, a licensed fry cook is forced to take a second job at Arby's just to keep a Netflix subscription.

 

[Chrystal-J]

The first thing they asked my daughter-in-law at the university was her "pronoun".
At least she got a scholarship, so she won't be paying for this indoctrination.

 

[Wolseley]

The first thing they asked my daughter-in-law at the university was her "pronoun".
At least she got a scholarship, so she won't be paying for this indoctrination.

If anybody ever asks me that, I'm going to reply, "You may refer to me as 'Your Imperial Majesty'."

 

[Gnarwhal]

The first thing they asked my daughter-in-law at the university was her "pronoun".
At least she got a scholarship, so she won't be paying for this indoctrination.

How does she feel about that? Is she wise to their game or does she kind of buy into it?

If anybody ever asks me that, I'm going to reply, "You may refer to me as 'Your Imperial Majesty'."

My pronouns are Your/Majesty

 

[Chrystal-J]

How does she feel about that? Is she wise to their game or does she kind of buy into it?

She thinks it's ridiculous, but is just keeping her mouth shut so she can graduate.

 

[Gnarwhal]

She thinks it's ridiculous, but is just keeping her mouth shut so she can graduate.

Smart girl. Glad she's not paying for it either.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

How does she feel about that? Is she wise to their game or does she kind of buy into it?



My pronouns are Your/Majesty

In work they added personal pronouns to our email signature template. I chose to ignore it but thought the exact same thing as you. I was going to put King Emperor. Lol

 

[Gnarwhal]

In work they added personal pronouns to our email signature template. I chose to ignore it but thought the exact same thing as you. I was going to put King Emperor. Lol

Dude if I ever work somewhere that forces it I'm going to mock the entire concept and say I identify as a toaster.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

Dude if I ever work somewhere that forces it I'm going to mock the entire concept and say I identify as a toaster.

I already made up my mind that I will never do it. I put up with all the liberal shenanigans and the virtue signaling CEO but my decision is that when it crosses the line to trying to force anything on me then I tap out.