Why Not College?

With a free ride to college on the GI Bill, why not go to college? So many people have to struggle and work hard just to have enough money for a college degree, it would be crazy for me to pass on such an opportunity. I am still sitting the fence somewhat on the issue, but here are the advantages of a college education as I see them and the reasons I have chosen not to seek a degree. (At least not right now.)

First, a college level education is require in order to hold many jobs such as a doctor or a lawyer. I am not interested in this type of career. A second reason is that statistically, college graduates get better jobs and make more money that people who have not attended. Again, this tends to apply mostly to the administration type jobs in the big city that I wish to avoid and making the most money I possibly can is not on my t0-do list. Third advantage I see in having a college degree, is that it is easier to get hired. While this may be true as a whole, I know quite a few college graduates who are finding it difficult to get hired. From my own limited experience, I have found that being willing to work hard at whatever you do, can carry you just as far in the job world as a piece of paper saying you have acually completed something in your life.

Other ideas that I have either heard or read have helped to reinforce my decision to put off college for now. The are so many people who get a degree for one thing and end up finding out they hate that kind of work so they do something else. There seems to be this idea in our culture that you will never be successful unless you have been to college. Part of it comes from those people back in the day who wanted to send there kids to college just so that they would have an easier life. How many time have we heard, "you don't want to end up doing ______ all you life do you?" as a threat if we don't go to college. Now days, college seem to be more of a thing you must suffer through in order to get a job that will pay you the most for doing the least amount of real work. Just look around and you will see that the most successful and happy people are not the ones with the "good jobs", but the guys who are not afraid of getting their hands dirty and who have a healthy dose of common sense and personal ingenuity. Our culture tends to ridicule the painters, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and other manual labor jobs as being inferior. However, as we as a culture become educated to the point of forgetting how (or just becoming to lazy) to change the oil in a car or unstop a clogged toilet, these are the people who will continue to happily thrive at their jobs.

Perfect Fulfillment

I do not know if it is exclusive to certain people, just a guy thing, or what, but there is this drive I have for perfect fulfillment in everything. I am thankful for this or else I would end up a penniless sluggard for lack of doing anything, but I also envy the person who can take what they have and be content. For me, broken things have to be fixed, old things have to be repaired, and no matter what I have, I always want to improve upon it. My sense of fulfillment in life becomes tied up in accomplishing these things. This may appear on the outside as a good gift, but in it are the roots of many evils. Nothing is every perfect in this sinful, fallen world. No matter how new something is, it will eventually break, and more likely sooner than later. Even non-material things like relationships are always shot full of problems. The danger is that I will give to much time and effort to these things and never be happy or that the sense of how endless this work is will take hold and push me into despairing. Like everything in life, there is a delicate balance we must keep in order to avoid the extremes at either end. For me this means knowing when enough is enough and keeping in my mind the things that transcend this world with it's numerous imperfections.