Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Joys of Higher Education

Isn't the system of higher education an interesting one? First of all, you shell out thousands and thousands of dollars to learn things you're never going to use again. As we all know, once you accept that oh-so-important first job, they completely retrain you and you slowly forget everything you learned in college. After shelling out all that money for tuition, you have to shell out hundreds more for books that you're never going to read and the professor rarely refers to. At the end of the semester you may sell that book back for a fraction of what you paid for it even though it has seen little more use than when you first bought it.
Since you've spent so much money on school, you'd think you would try to get your money's worth. Here's an interesting situation: you actually are excited when the teacher doesn't show up, cancels class, or let's you out early. Wait! What? That would be like going to Wal-Mart and saying, "I know I've given you $10, but I really only want $5 worth of product." If we saw someone do that we'd think they were crazy!
Here's the real kicker: We put ourselves through all of this for a little piece of paper. Can you believe that? After all the money we pay and all the time we invest, all we get is a lousy piece of paper? I realize you get all of the knowledge, etc. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about tangible rewards.
On top of all of these things I've mentioned already, now I have to worry about being shot! Campus was virtually shut down yesterday because some bored college student who probably had waited too long to study for a big test, handwrote a letter saying that there would be a shooting on campus and placed it in the payments box at his/her apartment complex. I realize that the administration had to take action in case there was a shooting, but come on! Today there is a cop on every corner. Do you want to know what troubles me about that? They can't prevent a shooting! They're not checking bags at the doors to make sure no one has a gun. They're just making sure that if something does happen, they can respond quickly. Is it just me, or is that a little troubling?
Here's another thing to think about: if the entire police force in our county (plus some state troopers) are on campus, who's going to stop a person who decides it would be a great time to rob a bank?
Just some fuzzy thoughts to fall asleep by. Have a good day!

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Wow, you're just full of inspiring thoughts today! I guess my job may be the exception to the rule that you don't use what you learned in college. No one retrained me for my job and I am actually using what I learned. If my books weren't in boxes in the garage somewhere, I think I might use them. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. That's scary about the shooting threat. With the way the campus cops look, I doubt they could stop anyone on a good day! They just like stopping people for going 26 in a 25!

Anonymous said...

All I can is I am glad I am a LEJA major. Sounds like job security. As far as everything else I agree. But, unfortunately it is what is demanded of us to be successful. It is real sad that some of the most successful people I know have G.E.D. s . HA!