College

Just clicking around, I came across this post at a blog entitled Maverick Philosopher. The proprietor, one William F. Vallicella, Ph.D, makes an important distinction between "education" and "credentials" that I think is often uncontemplated.

The story he tells of his "overeducated" friend rings very true to me. I wish our society could grapple with the fact that some people are meant to go to college and some people aren't. One group is not superior to the other; they're just different. But the roadmap of the middle-class American life now includes a college education, so all kinds of people with no business or interest in going to college do.

I myself am not one much for "grunting and sweating and schlepping heavy loads," but instead enjoy the "effete and not quite real" life of the mind. I doubt I'll ever have a "real" job. But so many people I encountered in college gained nothing by it except for the piece of paper. A "real" job would have made them much happier and been more productive for them than four not-exactly-wasted-but-inconsequential, years.