Why do people go to school?

Question

Apparently it's a waste of time. Students these days get dumber, lazier, and more pathetic as time goes by. Many students cheat at their homework, schoolwork, and just life in general. So why go to school if your just going to lie and cheat your way through. I understand there are a lot of good students and a lot of students that actually make something out of their education. But why go to school if your going to be dumb to begin with? I think students should only go to school if they're planning on doing something with their lives. Leave me some comments.

people "supposedly" go to school to learn but they don't.

You don't need schooling or an education to have a life. I have many friends who have dropped out of school and have successful lives and careers.

school doesn't = a job

going to school doesn't always make you smarter

I graduated 5 years ago and witnessed students first hand getting dumber by the second

you can learn everything that you learned in school in the outside world

anything in life is possible but you don't need an education to get you there you just need a will.

i learned lots of things from school.....but i could've learned all that stuff out of school as well. i also learned not to go back either

people that go to school still get in as much trouble as people that don't go to school.

I am quoting angel eyes here for a minute. she states "Without an education no one can be anything today, except maybe a burger jockey." this is not true at all. i know poeple who haven't gone through all the extensive education in which they are making enough money to support their family and pay for their bills and live life with no worries. Also if you work at Mc Donald's flipping burgers you make more money then those who are struggling with part time jobs while going to school. I had a friend who flipped burgers and got paid $12/hour to do it. so you don't need an education to have a job. besides a job is a job no buts and ifs about it.

Answer 1

Great question, we recently discussed this in my labor economics class. I am an economics major.

Your right many students do mess around, schools are lowering admission standards so more people can get it, and generally their is alot of grade inflation, meaning teachers are giving everyone good grades.

Students go to school to use the degree as a signal, meaning it means they have certain abilities, and learn certain things in school. You don't just learn education, you learn how to be social, deal with others in dorms, be around people you don't like. All those are valuable in the work force. But students also have to meet deadlines, juggle huge loads, work, and have extra activies such as clubs. This tells an employer the person has learned good time management skills.

Its really the schools fault so many people are screwing around now days. If they lower admissions then the quality of education in class room goes down becuase peers wont have as good class discussions.

And of course you go to school if your planning to do something with your life. By not planning to do something with your live means you plan on living on the street? Or working for a job that does not require a college education.

Also, the benifits you get from going to college arn't just monetary. Many people get the prestige of saying they have a specific degree. They get better work enviroments, better health care, better retirement plans, better vacation, better chance for promotion.

Even if students are lazy, its only fault of the school. That only means firms hiring will only look to schools who don't have that problem, when its time for them to hire.

Yale recently implemented a policy where no matter what only the top 10% students in a class can get an a. If you have 20 people in a class room, then everyone will be competing for the grade. It will increase the amount of human capital and decrease the amount of slacking off students are doing.

I think what you see is just depending on the school, students at good schools don't make it. Students and ok schools can easily get by. But you notice the students at the good schools are serious about what they do, well they would have to be or else they would not meet the strict requirements to get into a good school.

Your right, many people can be sucessful without school. Bill gates, Mr. Dell, they both dropped out of college and have accumulated billions. But look at number of people who did. Any ceo or officer of a 500 company will have a degree and usually an graduate degree to.

Nobody is saying you have to go to school to get a job. But proof shows the majority of "good" jobs with the benifits one desires come only with a college degree. If you like construction then a college degree is not for you. If you like being a life guard then no. If you want to work as a financial analyst then yes you have to have a degree. And no you don't have to have a degree to accumulate millions of dollars, be a business owner.

Many people in school go to school and at the same time try to start a business, if it takes off they drop out. They have backup plans and plans. They don't just say hey i'm going to make millions so i'm not going to school.

I saw your extra comments and they are all truth. But they are extreme cases, and it all depends on YOUR personal preferences.

And usually if your working for someone your capped on how far you can get promoted within a company if you don't have a degree, no matter how great and smart you are.

I blabbed, i really didn't look over what i wrote. I didn't proof read, and i type 135wpm. So forgive the grammer.

Answer 2

Public Schools.

Answer 3

I'm an undergrad, and I was surprised to discover how many people still don't take school seriously, even at the post-secondary level when education is an optional undertaking.

It seems to me that a lot of people go to school ONLY to get a degree so that they can get a good job. While it's important to me that my degree be useful from a practical standpoint, I choose to view my education as an enriching experience. I work hard so that I'll actually learn something in school, and so that my degree has value to me personally and not just to my prospective employers. Unfortunately, many students don't care whether they really take anything away from their education or not. I've met people who think that they're only paying tuition to get those extra letters behind their names. The mentality is that if one can get a degree without breaking a sweat, then why bother? You'll still get your credentials and your job in the end; what you actually learn is secondary and rather unimportant.

Are people really lazier today than they were in the past? I'm not sure. I haven't lived in my parents' generation, and of course you have to take into consideration the hindsight effect. People always think that things were better when they were younger than they are today. Even though I see many bad students, there are also many great ones who love to learn. However, I have read a few interesting articles on the topic of today's lazy youth. A particularly interesting one blamed materialistic television programming. The theory goes that young people see so many shows that glorify wealth that they view a luxurious lifestyle as 'natural' and 'the norm.' The prevalence of such shows suggests that anyone can become rich rather easily. The illusion is cast that you too can be wealthy without really having to work for it.

If it is true that most students really don't care, that carries huge ramifications. Not only have people lost their love of learning, but students will be entering the workforce with a compromised skill-set. When employers recognize this, that will cheapen the value of a university/college education, negatively affecting those of us who really have learned something in school.

Most places of higher learning try to prevent this "cheapening of credentials" by strictly enforcing policies of academic integrity and kicking out students who fail to reach certain expectations. If schools didn't do this, education would be worthless (economically speaking) and we would see the demise of post-secondary institutions. However, it seems that some individuals still manage to slip through the cracks.

Answer 4

Many of today's kids are "dumb" because they have chosen not to learn, yes, there are always those few with learning disabilities that slip through the cracks, but that doesn't happen as much today as when I was in school. And I'll grant you that there aren't as many dedicated teachers who try to help those students who are lagging behind, however, as the world is today if a student isn't trying it's his or her fault and no one Else's, period! If they have a teacher that refuses to give help where help is needed there are people to report that lazy teacher to and there is NO excuse for being a lazy student! Without an education no one can be anything today, except maybe a burger jockey. I'm sick of kids who blame their parents for a school's or their own shortcomings when one or both just don't want to try. You can't really believe that you'd rather not know how to read and write because you plan to live off your parents the rest of your life. WAKE UP! They aren't going to live forever. Go to school, learn and become the next Bill Gates. THEN you can be lazy all you want.

Answer 5

The "school" u are talking about is probably from grade 1 to grade 10. Honestly, I've cheated on tests and skipped many classes only because those classes did not matter. I was a pretty smart kid and could teach myself most things so i didn't find any of the class time effective. Until I got to grade 11, and 12 however, class did get hard and having matured a little and realizing the key role education plays in our society, I've managed to stop cheating on tests, but I still skipped classes only because i had better things to do.
Now I'm a civil engineer student working on my Bachelors, and even though I was a bad student, as long as you have a passion for something, and work at it, anything is possible.

Answer 6

You are right. "When I think back at all the crap I learned in high school - it's a wonder I can think at all"

Home school is more and more proving to be a better or equal education because it eliminates a lot of the crap and is more "real world". Though I must say that there are a lot of families that don't feel they have the ability to homeschool for a variety of reasons.

It's nice that people can make a choice based upon their own personal circumstances and either way find a way to provide for their family in the end.

Peace!

Answer 7

Well i must say i agree with you at some point in your statement.
I'm sure the practice of schooling did'n started out this way,it's a place for children to gain knowledge and hang around with kids their own.

But i went off track some point in history and everything went haywire,students are more concerened about the results/rankings getting an edge infront of others and some would do anything to obtain it.Through time more and more followed the crowd and hence our situation now...

It's sad to say we went too far to fix the problem and i must say without the "papers" you would go no where in life not to mention having your "dream job",thats why it essential for every kid to have an education even though it's not the same as it used to be.

Answer 8

I understand you. I've gone right through graduating university, but along the way, I've seen people getting better or great marks for just remembering some things for a relatively short time, but not getting marks for thinking or being able to use the information they were memorizing. I've been shocked with rumours, proven true, that prof's don't read some exams, just give the usual marks anyways, so, if you studied harder, answered exam questions more thoroughly, and deserved better marks, but didn't get better marks.
I've been shocked, after graduating, high school, and after university, having a tough time getting a job, competing with nepotism and office politics instead of education, knowledge, or intelligence. I'm also amazed that they teach propaganda as "history", but won't teach kids true factual history. But you know, I'm glad I have education, I know and see and understand things in a different light. Its nice to know things and to be able to think better than myself if I didn't go through the discipline of education, despite the system's flaws.

Answer 9

Maybe YOU didn't learn anything from school. I certainly did.

So you don't think it's necessary to know how to read to get through life? How about simple math? How do you decide which credit card to get if you can't understand interest rates? Or even read the agreement you're signing?

Everyone should have AT LEAST a high school education. I think it should be a requirement for being able to vote. If you can't understand basic issues, you shouldn't have a chance to screw things up.

Answer 10

Many students are so bored that they stride through the curriculum without any brain strain. Why is it that they put the so far advanced with the so little bottom feeders? They try to make a system where everyone is equal, yet we need a system where those who excel are put on a higher level, and those on the slower learning levels put in extra special teaching care. Somehow it's just not happening. This causes those who excel to become lazy for the simple fact that there is nothing more for them to achieve. Talk to your congressmen..