It's not all about financial aid and credit hours, you know. It's not about car insurance or meal plans, not even parties and study groups. It's not about reading or writing, and it isn't even about a degree.
What's a degree anyways? It's a piece of paper saying you spent time and money. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't need a paper to prove that. I do it every day, and I can learn just as much without that institution that gave me the paper, and without paying that institution to give it to me. I suppose a degree proves knowledge too, but only in the vaguest sense.
Some say a degree is a must-have for a successful life. Well, there's two assumptions there: 1) that hardly anyone has led a successful life without a college degree, and 2) that we define success the same way. Now I'm still young, but I know of a multitude of successful people who do not have a piece of paper with a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. written on it. End even then there are many who were simply awarded degrees because of their success.
A degree says nothing about YOU. It says nothing of who you are, what you want out of life, or what you've gotten out of life so far. It says nothing about your spiritual orientation or the ways you derive satisfaction from this consumerist society you're a part of. It doesn't even say where you want to place yourself in that society.
Funny thing is, aren't those the more pertinent questions you have to answer as you're looking for your place in the world? Having a degree does not answer those questions, so why spend tens of thousands of dollars to get that paper? Money can't buy happiness they say, so how would it buy a piece of paper that can give you happiness? I'll let you in on a secret, here. Money can't buy knowledge, either. It can't buy enlightenment, it can't buy love.
Maybe I'm just caught in the system, because here I am registered for 15 credit hours and taking out a couple thousand in student loans a year, taking on a part-time job to fill in the gaps, and I find all my time is taken up in pursuit of that piece of paper.
Thing is, there's no way out. What else can I do besides fighting against people who already have degrees for a night-time job at McDonald's? That's a career, right there. For those who don't have degrees anyways, and even for some who do.
What I want to know is, how come every option I have in life at this point does not lead to satisfaction or to fulfillment? Or even to a worthwhile spending of time?
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