This Higher Education issue is driving me crazy. I know degrees are sometimes useless because students really don't learn that much in college, but at the same time it is what a lot of companies want. I have one brother in my hall who knows his stuff but he hasn't been able to get a job because he doesn't have a degree, because he didn't need one when he first started out.
The watchtower article pointed out that what most people need is a high school reading/writing level to get a good job. Unfortunately, people aren't even getting that in high school anymore.
On the other hand, I also have a sister in my hall who is able to earn a nice amount of money by teaching music lessons and pioneering. Problem is, if you don't have that sort of skill then you really can't make that work.
I look at myself and I don't feel like I had any choice but to go to college. I don't have any natural skills that I could use at a job. I look at my mom who never even got her Associates and she has trouble finding anything but a receptionists job. It takes in money but not enough to support a family or probably even herself if she needed to.
Then I look at Ben who is working at a Lexus dealership and being trained on the job on how to be a mechanic. The only schooling he actually gets are workshop type things that all the mechanics go to.
I think Kam pointed out the most important thing to remember- it really is up to the individual. If you can get through life without higher education then that's awesome. I don't think that everyone can, though.
That reminds me of a conversation we had a pioneer school. Everyone was saying what they did for a living - most people did some kind of manual labor, like house cleaning or something else where they could set the hours. I was in the minority that worked in an office. It's really about how you want to spend your time - it's great if you can pioneer, but not everyone would be happy in that kind of a job. I think it's like living at Bethel, it's wonderful, but some people would just not be happy doing it.
Yeah, I really wanted to go to Bethel for a while. Then we visited and I realized that it would drive me crazy. The strict schedule for when you get up and eating with everyone and all that.
To me your choice of education while you're young is similar - if you know you can hold your spiritual responsibilities down now and that an education will give you the latitude to move around in your job in the future, I think you can do it. On the other hand, not everyone wants or needs that latitude. To me, a job is just a job; it's just money. But I think we've all worked with someone who absolutely hated their job and it made every part of their life miserable.