Opinions: College is a waste?

[Tchuck]

So, in your opinion, it's a sin to strive to become better than others?

It's not a "sin", as such, because you won't actually be better than others. Ever. Status is a myth and buying into it will only make you crazy and neurotic.

But is stagnation any better? The way I see it, trying to be better than others at least gives you something to do in life, whereas just accepting things as they are and not motioning to improve just sounds plain boring. And, imo, unworthwhile, might as well be dead.

[Clem Fandango]

So, in your opinion, it's a sin to strive to become better than others?

It's not a "sin", as such, because you won't actually be better than others. Ever. Status is a myth and buying into it will only make you crazy and neurotic.

But is stagnation any better? The way I see it, trying to be better than others at least gives you something to do in life, whereas just accepting things as they are and not motioning to improve just sounds plain boring. And, imo, unworthwhile, might as well be dead.

How about enjoying life? How about helping people? What about philosophying? Thought? Love? God? Sticking it to The Man? Honestly, there's so much to life besides just competing, and you'll never actually win, so why bother? Write a book, start a rock band, drop acid.

[Tchuck]

So, in your opinion, it's a sin to strive to become better than others?

It's not a "sin", as such, because you won't actually be better than others. Ever. Status is a myth and buying into it will only make you crazy and neurotic.

But is stagnation any better? The way I see it, trying to be better than others at least gives you something to do in life, whereas just accepting things as they are and not motioning to improve just sounds plain boring. And, imo, unworthwhile, might as well be dead.

How about enjoying life? How about helping people? What about philosophying? Thought? Love? God? Sticking it to The Man? Honestly, there's so much to life besides just competing, and you'll never actually win, so why bother? Write a book, start a rock band, drop acid.

I understand where you're comming from. But can't some people enjoy life by competing? Surely people have different values. Some may, and do, get a lot of pleasure and happiness in competing with others. I'm just thinking it's sort of close minded to think you can only enjoy life in a certain way.

I can totally see the stoic basis from where you're comming from, but even them advised doing your work the best you could and looking for ways to improve yourself

[Clem Fandango]

Some may, and do, get a lot of pleasure and happiness in competing with others.

Maybe it's just not something I can understand. Why bother beating someone when you gain nothing tangible and are making other people feel bad? I know someone who is extremely intelligent and basically kills herself trying to out-do others academically, she loves getting high marks and loves how people react when she does, but if you talk about how she's intelligentshe doesn't seem to care at all. It seems like a kind of neurotic perfectionism - like goodness cannot simply exist, it must be obtained.

 

 

I can totally see the stoic basis from where you're comming from, but even them advised doing your work the best you could and looking for ways to improve yourself

Well I think it was more about practically improving yourself, like getting rid of vices, doing right by others etc. Obviously I'm all about that,

[3niX]

Well...

 

 

It was rhetoric - I was using the word "data" synonymously with the word "numbers"... and you told me that analysing data could be a "real treat". Even if you're analysing the amount of bongs and naked women your company has at its disposal, you're still looking at a screen all day. Maybe we have a different idea about what constitutes a "treat"

Maybe we really are different in that sense. However, my problem with that statement is the vagueness of it. Like I said, data analysis is a really wide field which can involve many interesting tasks and jobs. Your idea of a data analysist seems to be that of a nerd sitting behind his desk and looking at spreadsheets all day. Youre just stereotyping a whole field which you seem to have no clue of.

 

 

What? The motivations exist totally separately to the acts themselves, and it's the motivation I take issue with.

And I take issue with how you just sort of claim what everyones motivation is and then judge it. I can just as easily apply analogous claims to everything and everyone. Would that make them true?

 

 

If you lived in the Soviet Union and wouldn't get paid any more than someone flipping burgers, would you still do it? It's the motivation, not the mere fact that handsome pay is involved (obviously John Lennon made a fair bit of money, but that doesn't make him a sellout). You should know if you're just trying to one-up people or if you genuinely want to be an engineer.... what do you want me to tell you?

I dont want to sound like a complete pedant but engineers were highly regarded in the soviet union (perhaps even more highly than today). And yes, Id still do it. Which sort of was my point. You cant make a blanket statement which generalizes over all the people

who are studying or have studied in a college. At least not without something more solid (like a survey) backing it up.

 

 

Oh, and you can totally study that sh*t at trade school.

I think the closest thing to my field is mechatronics (which some trade schools do teach) but our curricula is much, much more specialized on manufacturing. So in a way... no.

[K^2]

With exception of art, perhaps, any interesting job will involve data analysis.

[sivispacem]

With exception of art, perhaps, any interesting job will involve data analysis.

This. Research, data analysis, trend mapping and policy advice all go very neatly hand in hand, and are often done by the same people in many institutions. I absolutely adore working on projects that follow that pattern. Much more fun, informative and challenging than most of the menial crap that's out there.

[ha! ha! ha!]

what is trade school? can someone explain about it? sorry I live another place/country ;;

[Jabalous]

In my area, college is free and you are given around 260$ monthly if you are studying Natural sciences, Engineering. Medicine, Computer science..etc, anything that's not a human science, because in this case, you get less money. If you have a desire to learn something, you would be able to without any need for a professor lecturing you every morning, but if you want to learn Electrical Engineering for example, you would need to conduct experiments for varied courses, but the tools and equipments couldn't be available in your area, or they could be expensive, so you will need a college that provides these tools. Programming for example, is a very self-learning process that doesn't require any college, you can even master it better than someone who has a Doctorate in computer science.