School or my own way?

I understand that part all fine and well. But 90% of the people I know with a degree didn't end up working in that degree at all. All it gave them was 30 years of loans to pay off for nothing at all.

 

and do you have a degree? or did you just work your way up that way?

 

I'm going to assume that statistic is not entirely scientific.

Honestly though you more or less sound as though you've already decided what you want and were just looking here for reassurance following a dispute with your mother.

I know that a degree is no guarantee of a job. However, it greatly increases your value in the eyes of employers, and increases your chances of obtaining any job at all.

A person with a bachelor's degree in anything has way, way more doors open to them than someone with only a high school diploma.

Put simply, there are many advantages to having a high school diploma + a bachelor's degree.
Comparatively, there are zero advantages to having only a high school diploma.

If you think you can work in a bookstore and be content, then do that.
My only contention is your own self-sustainability should be the foremost thing in your mind. I don't know how it is where you live, but in the U.S., you can't really afford to live on minimum wage, which is what a bookstore cashier is likely to make.
Also, those low-level income job wages don't usually scale all that well to the ever increasing cost of living.

 

I worked my way up. But as I've said, you'll have to do exams and stuff whatever job you go for. For instance I'm a first class first aider (various one day courses), I can drive a fork-lift (few expensive lessons and an exam), I have my health and safety tickets (pass a test) and a bunch of other thing-gummies like a working in confined spaces card (three day course) and a advanced scaffolding certificate (various three week courses, exams, course work and things like getting people to video and photograph me working)!

 

Just a final thought though, if you only want a simple, enjoyable job, surely that can wait? If you continue your schooling and spend that time learning what you want, you can always come back to a job that requires no degree after you've finished.

Overall, just make sure you're happy dudette. And only you can really decide.

 

Unless you're going into a field that requires extensive training and study (if you're even thinking about this, THAT should be your major) what you major in doesn't matter a WHOLE lot. It's more to show that you can buckle your ass down and work at something.

But of course you knew this. I think neodude is spot on.... you want reassurance following an argument with your mom.

Especially today, even more so in the future, you won't get a job that's not physical labor or sales clerking without a degree, and MAYBE a degree specialized to that job. Sounds like you're just too lazy to do what it takes to get a better job than what you have now. Do you have no desire to move up? Yeah, you can "work your way up" on a construction site, if THAT'S what you want to do with your life. But most good jobs will not even consider you if you don't have a degree, they might have HUNDREDS of other applicants who have degrees, and that shows them that these other people went through and finished what they started, even if the degree is not related to the job at hand. You and your "some college" shows that you're lazy and dumb, and can't finish an undergraduate degree, which is NOT a hard thing, really. Why would they hire you for a job that could involve half a century of commitment and promotion to what could be a very high level, if you can't even finish 4 years of extended high school?

If you KNOW what you want to do with your life, and you KNOW you will NEVER need a degree, go do it. If there's any doubt, you're going to be one of those suckers going "back to school" so you can get a real job, just as half your peers are retiring, because you blew it off when you needed to do it. And what if your construction firm goes belly up in ten years? What will you put on your resume? Some community college, ten years driving nails? I know I wouldn't hire you, if I saw that....

Or maybe you can deliver pizzas long enough to work your way up to manager of a dominoes.... what does that top out at... like 17 bucks an hour?

Without a degree to fall back on when you realize scanning barcodes on books doesn't make a living wage, you're screwed.

You realize that in a decade, apple and amazon will be the only bookstores, right?

 

Not entirely, of course. However, of all the people in my life with a college education, well over half of them did not end up in the field they went to school for and were struggling to pay their loans off.

Actually, not at all. I'm still undecided and I posted this before I talked with my mother about it.

And honestly, that's one of the only reasons why I would be staying right now.

This is actually something that's been on my mind alot, not because it would be a reason to stay, but because with as much as my loans are racking up, I have no idea if I could ever obtain a job that could help me take care of my cost of living as well as loans.
I'm aware that it is an investment, but there's a difference in making an investment that you can actually realistically make, and making an investment that you can't realistically survive on after making it.

 

pretty much responded to this generally in my last response...

but to the bolded text, I certainly hope not, and not because of my desire to work there, but the simple concept of no bookstores is very sad to me.

Also, I'm not sure how you got that I'm lazy from my post....but that's your own perception. Assume what you will.

 

Wish I could help ya, bunnie...I'm kinda in the same indecisive boat...

 

I'll add another reason - connections.
Universities are places of learning and culture, as as such, they not only attract the brightest and most talented of young minds, they also attract the attention of older, established members of society who are seeking to bestow their benefactions upon some worthy recipient.

And regardless of what you are going to school for, you can end up forming powerful and long-lasting connections with eventually important people in whatever your field of study is.

For instance you say you briefly went to art school?
I can't imagine a better place for an artist than a university.
In my personal experience, from the brief time I was enrolled, I made several friends whom I still talk with to this day. One of them was a young art/business major who has since graduated and now opened and owns an art gallery in downtown Savannah.
Were I a visual artist, picking up my phone and giving her a call is all I would have to do in order to have my art displayed in one of the cultural and artistic hot spots of America, where it would be seen by thousands of people on a weekly basis.

Similarly, I was also able to gain the tutelage of several of my professors.
One of them was head of the English department and was a published author, and had fantastic connections with some professional publishers. As a writer that is a very exciting prospect.

These are just isolated examples, but along with credentials, they exemplify the true value of a college education - the opportunity to form connections with like-minded individuals that can open even more doors and further your hobbies/career.

Again, I don't know how it works where you live, but at least in the U.S., people who take it upon themselves to become educated are usually financially compensated for it in many ways, and in the event of loans, often times deferments are available.
I think you have a lot more options than you realize.

 

Hmm. I've seen the statistic that a Bachelor's degree is worth on average about an extra million in income over the course of your life. Obviously some people with zero education do very well for themselves, and some people that have degrees are useless. Getting a degree is merely stacking the deck in your own favour.

Now I've worked my share of labourish jobs (construction, surveying, falling trees, wildfire fighting), which tend to be the only types of jobs that pay middle-class salaries without requiring some kind of extreme talent or capital investment (ie: being self-employed). I enjoy them now, but I wouldn't want to be swinging a powersaw or a hammer around at 45. The sad reality is that most jobs that don't involve hard labour or capital risk are poor paying and frankly kind of dehumanizing.

If it matters, I have 2 undergraduate degrees and a teaching certificate (finishing the 2nd degree in 7 days).

 

Heres some more of the same Bunnie... I never had a choice about going to college. My folks made me. So I did, 3 weeks after high school I was in a summer school crash course in organic chemistry...And I got organic and crashed...fooled around with several majors that well meaning adults told me I should pursue. They all sucked. Flunked out and got drafted. In the Military I had an ephiney...I will never work under someone less intelligent than myself. (Hey Major Penrod, you can still get fucked). With that in mind I had to get an education. I always knew I would be good as a counselor even from when I was a kid. It's not the biggest money maker but its what I wanted to do. After the Army I knocked out a Bachelors degree in short order. After about 10 plus years I realized I wanted my Masters. A two year Masters doubled my earning potential and gave me the freedom to call my own shots. The one thing I would have done different would have been getting the Masters degree sooner and then getting a PhD...Oh well

 

increase your earning power and go to school. i think if youre open to the experience, you will find something you really like

 

it's rude to read someone's journal...

maybe the busiest dominos in the world... i used to manage one of their competitors for about 11.50.




college is pretty pointless unless you know what you're going for. if you get a degree just to get a degree, you'll likely end up doing the same thing you would have done without the schooling, but you'll also have huge debts. employers don't give a shit about education, the only way to get a job is to know somebody. if you really want a good job, you just have to get out there and befriend everyone you meet, and eventually one of them will give you a high paying job instead of the person who is actually qualified for it.

 

What? Must be a B.C. thing man. All the jobs around here that involve hard labour and great risk are poor paying and dehumanizing, including government.

 

Really?

The jobs that pay well that don't require much education:
Logging, Mining, Construction.

The payout for contract falling is often above 500 bucks a day. There just aren't that many of them left.

the jobs that pay shitty that don't require much education:
The service industry, call centres.

 

I'd say people like loggers, miners, and construction workers aren't unskilled laborers, and aren't in the TRUE soul-destroying industry. They all make a livable income, and while uneducated, still earn a certain respect for being red-blooded "true" Americans.

If you really want to die on the inside, become a dishwasher, or a stock boy, or something of that nature.
Zero respect, no money, and worked to within an inch of death.

 

It boggles my mind that people do these jobs for the pay they give, when realistically better jobs seem so easily available.

 

I'm open to any suggestions, lol.

 

If you're Canadian, willing to live in a rural community and can pass a drug-test (they only test you before hiring), I can give you the name of a sawmill that can't get enough drug free people (ie: is constantly hiring) and the wages start at $22 an hour plus overtime.

Or go to the oil-patch where the situation is the same.