DeltaboundRedux

Yup.

There’s a logical fallacy called “appeal to authority “.

The older I get, the less impressed I am with college titles. College pats you on the head for regurgitating the the teachers words. But a free Google search is probably more accurate. And much less expensive.

90% of colleges/degrees really only say “I’m an idiot because I went into multi decade debt for this piece of paper because I was told to do it, in a field no one cares about at a school no one has heard of. Please hire me.”

Knowledge is not wisdom, or expertise.

crewdawg

Some of the most successful people I know (some went to college, some didn't) don't really push their kids to go to college because they don't believe it's really needed to succeed and/or accumulate wealth. Obviously for many jobs it's the cost of admission, but it's appears to be a big money pit for many, along with being a racket for colleges. Actually going out and gaining experience is one of the best educations you can get. Unfortunately for our career, even though I don't really agree with it, it's pretty much a requirement.

rickair7777

It's probably not. If their parents are some of the most successful people you know. For the rest of us, yeah about that...

The left side of the bell curve have no business in college. The extreme right-hand edge don't need to finish if they have a great business plan (ie bill gates). But if they want to work in established industry/govrnment they need to finish, at a good school, and then a year at Oxford... that's how you prove where you are on the bell curve.

The rest of us in the middle need college or some sort of vo-tech, depending.

Better to already have the degree while you're getting experience, pays better in most industries. In aviation you can actually get started and get a little ahead sooner if you skip college... but then you'll stall out and be stuck most likely.

There are creative ways to minimize cost, especially for aviation where you don't strictly need a brand-name sheep-skin or network.

rickair7777

Meh. That was then, this is now. They wouldn't even give him wings today, unless he was fly helos in the army. Still need a 2-year to compete for that.

Yeager was also reasonably one of the best test pilots of the golden age. In his peer group he should have been an astronaut and walked on the moon... but he didn't have a degree. So you could make a case that college would have gotten him further in life.

crewdawg

Ya, I didn't mean talk in absolutes, we are pretty much in agreement.


There sure is...

badflaps

You could make a case for education, I served under him, he was very abrasive and burned many bridges. The fact that they threw a premier fighter jock into B-57's during 'Nam speaks volumes.

NuGuy

While this is true in general, the youngsters smart enough to game the system are typically the ones that don’t need it in the first place.

A while ago the kids around here figured out they could GED out of their last two years of high school, replace it with two years of community college, transfer to a “name brand”, meet the credit requirement, and graduate with the same diploma at half the cost, not to mention graduating 2 years early.

Needless to say, once this made the rounds, the local school district got wrapped around the axle because not only was it peeling off their most capable students who were then skipping the standardized testing, but it was increasing the apparent drop out rate.

Seneca Pilot

People in West Virginia are very straight forward for the most part. It is easy to read that as abrasive. Also doesn't make for very good politicians. If you have any perspective on the way he grew up, the abject poverty, the fend for yourself life he had as a young boy, you can gain a better perspective on his ways. His education came the hard way.

badflaps

I'm sure the West Pointers took that into consideration.

rickair7777

I wasn't going to say it, but he had a long-standing reputation as a tool and that was still apparent long after he retired. Many successful people from rough backgrounds learn along the way that honey catches more flies than vinegar. Maybe college would have helped with that?