Well.....actually..... :-) That's exactly what college sells.
I don't regret my degree one bit, and it's opened doors that would likely have been closed, otherwise. But, 95% of what I was sold in college was complete BS. For instance, I was told that I'd get my degree (BS, Electrical Engineering) and walk out into a (GOOD money, at the time)$40,000-$50,000 / year job, handed to me by recruiters that were lining the gold-paved streets, waving banners with my picture on it, and chanting my name. Of course, I believed it.
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That did happen to a handful of engineers that I graduated with, either because they knew someone, or were able to land a good interning job while still in school. The rest were like me, starting out on the bottom rung, and working stupid hours to climb our way up.
I'm no dummy, and I got a solid education. I can't imagine what would have happened if I was a little farther to the left on the IQ bell curve, with a lesser work ethic, a degree in "Lesbian and Gender Studies", and a massive ego from being told how special I was for the first 21 years of my life.
I was lucky, in that my parents (Dad, especially) taught me that the best way to get ahead was by working your butt off, and that the world didn't owe me a thing. So many kids today don't have parent who love them enough to let them fall on their face, and who are tough enough to lay down the law ("You can move home, no problem. But these are the terms: You'll have a job by the end of the month. You'll perform the following chores..... etc").
So many kids today don’t have parent who love them enough to let them fall on their face
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How true. Enjoyed reading your comments.
Enduring a few hardships is part of life. And you learn valuable life lessons from them. Most successful people have failed a time or two in their lives but in many cases they learned what NOT to do, and that led to future success. Some go so far as to say that failure is the best teacher. The real school that really matters is the School of Hard Knocks.