Cubdriver

There is some truth to this because at a tender age college fills the head with not only things that will substitute for careful self-originated thinking, however valid such ideas may be, but with thoughts that in most cases have no purpose other than to turn the person into a hirable commodity. When this person gets hired the increased income provides a certain insularity from the usual prods to self-development, such as physical labor, poverty, or social discomfort. It is known that college a degree increases the lifetime earning potential of anyone possessing one. Taken only as an investment, college is worthwhile. But I doubt that millionaires are uneducated as you claim, sir, and I challenge you to produce factual support of such a conclusion. The last time this topic came up someone brought up facts in support of an opposite conclusion; this was the thread about the top 20 money-makers in the US which is still currently on our board. It showed that all but 2 out of the list were educated, many with graduate degrees.

SkyHigh, I think you did not have a liberal arts education. The term "university" means universality of knowledge. If you had, you would know that our society traditionally passes down much of its best wisdom by this system. The so-called liberal arts education is designed to create a broader mindset by showing that standard questions in regard to all the things currently under the sun have been posed and dealt with over countless ages by minds that are usually more insightful than our own. Even if ones own thinking happens to be more advanced in some way, which happens from time to time, that does not mean there are not multiple highly-developed bodies of thought in all their splendid complexity which offer useful, enriching, and worthwhile material from which to gain. From my 8 years of college I learned that my own thinking was almost never unparalleled or unsurpassed by that of some scholar, artist, or scientist no matter what the subject or cultural background. I admit I am a pretty routine specimen as a man, and there are many out there with more intellectual talent, but a person sufficiently gifted not to need a traditional education is a laughable concept and such a person would still benefit from finding out what humanity has concluded over the last millenia.

My own path was to grow up in the household of very educated people, then go through a period of examination and rejection of their traditional educational values, followed by a coming back to embrace their values for what they are. I spent 15 years learning about other cultures than my own during this period, and I studied a variety of alternating ideas about what is the human condition and what constitutes the best goal for us as a species. This enriched my appreciation of the traditional western style of university training and offered me insight into where it fails... and I do think it fails in some areas. One of them is, higher education tends to be misused in our culture for monetary gain at the exclusion of the larger purpose which is to develop fine sensibilities and a more complete understanding of the cosmos, which incidentally is not a fault of the system per se but a fault of the user.

Educated people are just people. You can lead a soul to all the truths of the universe, but he or she still may not wish to participate. I am of the opinion that college students should be required to pay for their educational costs as they incur them, because this builds sincerity and interest in what they are studying rather than a sense of one-sided ramming. I also think there is some value to delaying college until the late 20s, because at the age of 18 no one has an idea what adult life is like nor how an education might improve it. But to equate a university education with staid thinking and a lack of creativity is silly, and I think you are on unsupported ground. I will glady retract my opinion if you can provide some empirical proof that millionaires are not educated. Even if they are, it will not disqualify the merit of getting an education.

If you think the PhD's you have contact with are not smart, try taking one of them on in their chosen field and you will see what little you know.

And lest you think that I am angry with you about this, I am attaching a picture of my father and my uncle.

skyknight

Become an Airline Proctologist. Work with management asses every day.

seaav8tor

Surgery.... If you truly are talented, intelligent, capable then become a surgeon.

I don't know if SkyHigh is correct... (we have not hit bottom in pay for a flying career); but the trend line adjusted for inflation does in fact show over a 50% cut in pay for like work since deregulation and so far, there is nothing to stop the downward trend.

I'm getting close to the end of my career, it hasn't been all bad; But, just as I got significantly less than the generation before me, I see everything in place for the new guys to get way less than I did. No pension, more work, less pay, etc, etc. I can tell you the "I will be happy no matter what as long as I'm a pilot" will not last you entire career, just look at the guy to your left age 60-65. Do you think they were all that grumpy at 25?

Now go down to the marina and talk to the guys on the boats 65' and up. Then go to a VLJ show ( I just went on the 19th Jul ).

Surgery....

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm

Pilotpip

I guess you haven't heard about the crisis in many communities because OB-GYNs are leaving the profession in droves because of insane insurance rates which are driven by high rate of malpractice suits.