Is College Really Worth It?

Over a month has passed since I have graduated from college and I find myself questioning whether it was worth it or not. Sentimentally it was, I had the time of my life, memories I'll die with and people I'll never forget. On the other hand, financially that is, I'm not so sure. As we all know college education isn't free in this country, unless you're an exceptional student or athlete. Over the last 30 years, the cost of tuition has sky rocketed to the point where attending college will cost you and your family an arm, a leg and years of debt unless you're fortunate where money isn't an issue. It has become the social norm that if Americans want to live the "American Dream" they must earn some sort of college degree in order to do so. There is a misconception that there's a correlation between which school one attends and the wealth they acquire.

Picking a college or university today has become comparable to buying a car. You can choose to go with the economical Kia or the luxury Mercedes Benz (if you have the money). It just comes down to what you're willing to spend. At the end of the day they're both cars that will get you from point A to point B, it's just a matter of paying for the bells and whistles. Colleges and Universities are no different. You can choose to attend the state school which will average you between $7,000-20,000 a year or the private school which will run you between $30,000-50,000. Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to both but the education does not differ. When I was in the process of determining which school to attend, I narrowed it down to 2 schools. One was around $15,000 (at the time time) and the other was almost $30,000. I then took the education into consideration, how different/better was the education at DOUBLE the price? It was the same. The Kia's the same thing as the Benz when you break it down to the basics. It's 4 wheels with seats and an engine that will get you to and from places you want to go. You may have barely enough money for the Kia or you may have enough for both cars but the fact of the matter is they're both the same.

The concept of college on a basic level is quite comical. You pay to attend a school where professors tell you to read textbook(s) that will cost you your other arm and leg. Then they "teach" it to you and you take 2-4 tests/quizes or write a bunch of papers over a semester and they give you a grade. After 4 years (maybe less, maybe more) of doing this they give you a piece of paper with the school name and your name on it. It's the most expensive piece of paper you've ever bought in your life. Just like a car, you're paying for the name and just like a car company these colleges and universities just want your money. There are some who accept the suckers who are willing to pay more.

Anyway, back to my question; is paying for higher education really worth it? My answer is no. The higher education system is just another product of capitalism. If these schools weren't out to make a profit they would no longer exist. My solution is: the internet. Yes, the internet. The virtual world of endless information. I probably learned more from the internet in my 4 years of college than I did from my textbooks and most of them were online. Why does it make me more qualified for a job because I paid tens of thousands of dollars to have professors tell me to read textbooks for 4 years than a person who read them on the internet for free or a fraction of the cost? Oh yeah, it's because they didn't get the expensive piece of paper saying they did so. Society tells us we need to obtain this piece of paper to be considered better than someone who doesn't have it. Eventually people are going to realize how overrated and overpriced higher education is and we're going to turn into a nation of self-educators. Just ask Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates to show you their expensive piece of paper.

http://www.elearners.com/college-tuition/

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/24/news/economy/public_tuition_soars/index.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2007-01-12-college-tuition-usat_x.htm

http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/28/cx_dd_0728mondaymatch.html

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html

Revolution: Is America Next?

Over the past month the unrest and revolts in Northern Africa and the Middle East have to leave people throughout the world wondering, where is the next revolution going to take place? These nations all had something in common which led to these uprisings; an unstable economy with a government that never acted on their promises to the people. In Egypt for instance, dictator Honsi Mubarak’s 30 year rule over the nation came to an end last week after weeks long protests and mass demonstrations forced him out of office and the country. It’s estimated that over his 30 years of rule he accumulated anywhere between $4.8 and $64 billion from the state! It only took the people of Egypt 30 years to get fed up with their leader who was stealing all the money that was supposed to benefit them. Over the past 30 years in the United States a similar thing has been occurring. Instead of one leader for 30 years we get to vote on a new one every four years figuring the next one will be better than the last or make our lives better. But all these candidates do is whisper the sweet little nothings in Americans ears as if they’re trying to pick us up at a bar. Of course we all fall for it every time or we just don’t care. Even this past election, Barack Obama promised us “Change We Can Believe In” and we all bought it. Hey, after Bush an empty can of Lysol could do a better job as President of the United States but you can’t fault Bush, blame politicians and big business over the past 30 years. During this time politicians and big business basically came together as one. Our country isn’t run by the government anymore it’s run by big business who force politicians hands to benefit their own interests not the publics. Our “democratic republic” has turned into a country of Honsi Mubarak’s. They take our tax dollars and what do we get? A nation that’s in debt up to their eyeballs, where 1% of the population owns 95% of the wealth. When they coined the phrases “live the American dream”, “the land of opportunity” and “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, is this what was envisioned? A nation with a government controlled by big business and a majority of citizens who can’t afford the house they live in. It’s time to take back “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The Weatherman Group, an American revolutionist group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, had the right idea and started the movement but failed because it was a time when middle-class Americans had jobs and were thriving. Now the middle-class is disappearing. The gap between the classes is widening and soon enough we’re all going to move abroad to compete for jobs that no longer exist in this country because big business wanted to save a quick buck. Where is our government to protect these jobs for Americans? Jobs are disappearing, unemployment’s rising, our debt is growing and there seems to be no end in sight. It is up to the American people to make the changes needed to get this country back on its feet not the POLITICIANS. It’s time for the American people to grow a pair and follow in the footsteps of the Wisconsin protesters.

Here’s some food for thought courtesy of Michael Moore’s documentary Capitalism: A Love Story:

· From 1950 to 1963, individuals paid 91% or 92% of their income above $200,000 to the federal government. Today that tax bracket pays between 33%-35%.

· Increases in productivity and wages since 1973 are examined in the 2007 paper "The Productivity to Paycheck Gap: What the Data Show" by economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Baker writes: "The real hourly wage of a typical worker is only slightly higher in 2006 than it was in the seventies."

· By 2008, total household debt grew to nearly 100% of the GDP.

· According to the American Bankruptcy Institute ("Non-Business Filings"), in 1980 there were 287,570 personal bankruptcy filings in the United States; by 2005, that number soared to 2,039,214.

· According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Goldman employees and their families and the Goldman Political Action Committee contributed almost $1 million to the Obama presidential campaign.

· Robert Rubin, the former Secretary of the Treasury, was a top executive at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. While at Treasury, he worked to deregulate the banking industry.

After he left the Treasury he was paid more than $126 million in cash and stock from Citigroup in the span of a decade.

Thank You Mark Zuckerberg, We’d Be Lost without You

As I sit here trying to find the words to write this, I already find myself distracted by my own topic. You’d think being distracted by the topic you plan on writing about would make it a whole lot easier of a task, but as the old saying goes – easier said than done. Even when it’s not the topic of my paper I find myself distracted by it when trying to do school work. It’s almost as if I use it as a procrastination tool, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Over the past seven years this distraction of mine has become a worldwide phenomenon and craze for over 500 million people. This distraction is Facebook, a social networking website that is not only a distraction but also an addiction controlling the lives of millions of users who waste countless minutes and hours using it.

Recently Facebook dethroned Google as the “#1 Most Visited Website” and its creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named “Time Magazine Person of the Year” which is two prestigious honors in this country. Basically it’s like being knighted by the Queen of England. As much as Facebook and Mark “thank” their users for their support, shouldn’t we really be thanking them? After all where would we be without him and his network? Most likely we’d unfortunately have to leave our house and go out in the real world to meet new friends and interact with our existing friends face to face! Imagine that; face to face interaction. That’s like asking someone if they still buy CDs. The thought of such a daunting task already makes me want to curl up in the corner of my room. But wait! Even when you leave your house your Facebook is still with you, right there in your pocket or purse. How you might ask? Well, Mr. Zuckerberg took it upon himself to keep you connected to his network at all times via your cell phone. Isn’t he so kind? So now when you’re out with your friends in person you can ignore them by burying your face in the device that at one time was meant just for phone calls. Everyone knows you’re not cool if you’re not updating your status every other minute of the day away from home. Your 500 “Facebook friends”, a quarter of them you actually may be real friends with, need to know your every move throughout the day otherwise how would they ever survive? 2010 was the year where we stopped talking to each other and being in the same room someone didn’t mean they had your attention anymore.

The United States alone has over 30% of all Facebook users worldwide, the most in the world. As of June 2010, the age group that made up the largest percentage of Facebook users in the United States was 18-25 at 29%. Add in the age range 13-17 and that percentage climbs up to 39%; meaning the majority of users are students. If you walk around university and college libraries across the nation you’d see that a majority of the students are on their Facebook account while “doing” and/or “attempting to do” schoolwork. According to Facebook.com users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook, which means that, an average user spends about 1,400 minutes a month on Facebook. A user approximately spends 12 whole days a year on Facebook alone. 12 days! 21% of these Facebook users are in high school and 28% are in college. Just imagine what a student could have done with 12 days! Students are wasting meaningless hours checking their friends and non-friends profiles, viewing pictures, stalking status updates and making new friends. These hours could be spent doing something productive, instead of being procrastinating and distracting themselves when it’s time to do homework or study. Or maybe these students could continue what they’re doing because I’m pretty sure what Suzy Q wore in that picture from the other night or John Smith’s status about what he ate for dinner are way more important than grades. Psh grades…overrated. Grades are out, Facebook is in.

When Facebook was first developed in 2004 it was designed for Harvard students and slowly it grew to other colleges and universities so students could connect with one another not distract each other. Then only those over the age of 18 could create an account. Now it is designed for anyone and everyone over the age of 13. Even if you’re younger than 13 and know how to use a computer and the internet, which is basically everyone in this day and age, you can create an account. Just make up a birthday saying you’re over the age of 13 and you have yourself an account, it’s really that simple. We’re already teaching kids in elementary school to stay inside on the computer and interact with their “friends” through a keyboard and computer screen. I don’t know about those of you who were in elementary school pre-Facebook era, but I was told to get out of the house to “play” with my friends. Not build some imaginary farm on Facebook.

So ladies and gentlemen forget the books, forget the grades and forget real life all together. Get to a computer or cell phone immediately and get on Facebook because that’s what life has become. We must ask ourselves how did our parents and grandparents ever survive without Facebook? Because I know for sure I can’t. What past generations did was so passé. Go out and meet people? Chat with your friends face to face? Unheard of. Facebook is great! It keeps me “connected” to all my “friends” and family. I can finally interact with those people from high school I avoided and see how splendid or terrible their life is now. My aunts and uncles can finally see their nephew has mastered funneling beer in my new pictures I put up. They're so proud! And that company that was looking to hire me, even prouder! I can’t tell you what life was like without Facebook. But thank god for Mark Zuckerberg. My life is now complete. Screw food and water my diet strictly consists of newsfeeds and status updates.

We need to step back and take a look in the mirror at what our lives have become. Does Facebook make our lives better because we’re more connected to people than ever before or are we too connected? There are countless times where I’ve seen drama caused by Facebook whether it’s a picture, a status update or someone just dropping in and writing on a wall. We’ve all turned into “Peeping Toms” spying on one another for no reason other than we’ve become addicted to it. What a rush!