Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on ""Free" college is a lie." video.

  1. Fully agreed on the idea that basically anything public isn't free. If it's public it's paid by taxes, so it's technically and correctly funded by citizens. The only way a school or university can be free is if it's fully funded by charity. Then yes, you are not paying for it. Saying something public is free should be classified as false advertising, period. As for college education... well, I'd be careful about generalizations on both sides - both that everyone needs it, and that it's totally worthless. And I should be on Louis' side since I have two bachelor's degrees and am currently unemployed. :P BUT, even though I'm not an US citizen, I know from experience that there are terrible teachers and terrible institutions, and I totally find the current student debt industry in the US appalling, it needs to be said that there's still value in higher education even if a whole lot of students ends up not making good use of it one way or the other (by choice, or by circunstances). People going through higher education and ultimately failing to pursue a successful career in the area is something that can be attributed to a very diverse list of reasons. Sometimes it really is because higher education was worthless. But then there are people who go through universities, pay a ton for it, and still don't take it seriously. Of course if you spend all your time partying, chances are you are not taking much more than immediate gratification for it. It's also not only go to classes, pay attention and do your homework. The level of involvement needs to go beyond that or it's simply not working. There are people who go into areas of knowledge without proper research of what the job really entails, and end up trapped there taking too long to realize that the job wasn't for them. There are students who don't pay attention to building a professional web of contacts during their terms ending up orphan after the course is over. A very big part of higher education is outside classrooms. And even though the ridiculous high prices of US universities should, it's never guaranteed that you'll get a job out of the gate. This needs to be something you are activelly seeking while still studying. I also agree that depending on what career you choose, having a diploma for it might mean less. And save for a select few careers, a campus is like a bubble - you'll possibly throw away a whole bunch of stuff that was taught there once you get into the workforce, and it's strongly disconnected with reality. Which is why something I always tell students looking for tips, that they need to get multiple internships and take advantage of business incubation projects as fast as possible - if they intend to open business after graduation that is. But there is no single solution. At least for the courses I personally attended, I personaly am not using a whole bunch of stuff that I learned there, but it's not exactly worthless. Well, perhaps some stuff is completely worthless for me, but it wasn't worthless to someone else in my class. Some courses just need to cover a lot of ground for the diversity of professionals that will come out of it. Say, I had a course about operational systems and artificial intelligence during CompSci. Personally , I never used it. But other classmates are now employed in related areas. But understand, I still consider cases like Louis' exceptional. The harsh reality is that the marketplace works against people without higher education looking to open business or get jobs. And I agree that often times that's a distorted reality, and that it's sometimes unfair, but here are some numbers I dug up quickly (sorry if there's something out of place): http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/ https://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm/ I can agree that some of that is definitely created by this market generalization around higher education and qualification (which is a false equivalence for several lines of work), but some of it might not be. The discrepancy is too big to be caused by only that. And while it's definitely true that lots of people without higher education can, do and did succeed in their careers much like Louis, thinking things will go that way for you is the same as thinking that higher education guarantees you a high paying job or a successful business. It's neither one nor the other. There are several factors that are often disconsidered... how you make use of what's available to you, opportunity and timing, dedication and decisiveness, how the economy is doing, what jobs are available, etc etc. So be skeptical. I have this position because Brazil has fallen into the trap of glamourizing little to no education sometime ago, and we are paying heavy prices now because of that. We went through 2 and a half populist presidency terms that preached how higher education was worthless, how we should elect a president and several politicians without it because they'd be closer to the brazilian people's condition/reality and would know their needs, and that the fact that the president never ended primary school didn't disqualify him for the job because he worked his way up the ladder. The current deep recession the country is dealing with has mostly to do with corruption, but also a lot to do with mismanagement and terrible decisions that came from the lack of qualification of a wave of politicians that got elected because of that reversal of values. It's billions if not trillions of public money wasted on half assed projects and asinine decisions that you wouldn't believe. Not that having higher education would guarantee otherwise, but if ignorance wasn't glamourized, perhaps we wouldn't be in this bottomless pit situation we are currently in. So, if you decide not to enter some absurd student debt to go through several years of higher education that you don't even know will add something of value to you, I fully support the idea. But never give up education. You don't absolutely need a formal institution to get it, but if you are not going for it, get education some other way.
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