EducationMasturbation

So lately with all the graduation speeches on the news, and my own mother finally graduating college; I've been thinking about the impact and importance we seem to place on education. Myself being a college graduate with an and Associates Degree and a Bachelors Degree in Graphic Design. After graduating college, it took me about 2 and a half years to find a full time job in my field. In a way it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth in regard to my educational experience.

Could I have gotten a job in my field with just a high school degree? NO, my high school guidance counselor even gave me grief for taking "too many art classes, and no honors classes." While to the average student, I suppose honors level classes look nice on a transcript, however for an artist, obviously your portfolio is graded higher than your academic scores. It seems like the high schools are more concerned with making your learning experience hard, so that college seems easy. I was a B/C/D student in high school, then when I went to college, I miraculously became a A/B student. WHY? What's the point in scaring students into thinking "if high school was this hard, college must be horrible." Maybe if my high school was a little easier, I would have had better grades and more confidence to apply to a 4 year college, rather than the local county college. Plus, the arts departments were ether being demolished to make way for a new cafeteria, or were given PC with no design programs on them. The only function they ever filled was to type out text in MS Word to print and glue on to projects.

Could I have gotten a job in my field with just my Associates Degree? Maybe, but nothing that I would enjoy doing. The teachers at the school were way too old to be teaching graphic design, which is a field which forces you to stay on top of things. By teaching us the extreme basics, and filling our head with pointless outdated knowledge, I feel like I was wasting time. And it turned out I kind of did, since when I transferred, I wound up losing about a year worth of classes. What is the point of tenure for teachers, sure job security is nice, but if you're essentially training a workforce for the job field, then you should be forced to keep on top of things, just like any professional. Now my father is a teacher also, but he's taken classes in graduate study, and goes to seminars to keep up with things, and teaches a basic level class.

Could I have gotten a job in my field with my Bachelors Degree? Potentially yes, however I didn't. I certainly learned a lot about design, but I had little experience and no clue how to search for a job. The experience was by my own initiative to get an internship, and do freelance work, but the average graduate had no experience what so ever. After graduation, my school did nothing to help with the job finding process. I had a nice portfolio, and a resume but no real leads on a job. By the time I actually found a job, my portfolio was outdated, and I barely showed any student work.

Do I regret going to college? No because I learned many skills on the way to my degree, which helped me in the long run. However, a lot of what I learned on my own is what made me have the skill level I have now. I was able to take things further, and am able to adapt to various diverse jobs. I'm still not at my dream point in work, ideally I'd want something that was well organized, busy and allowed me to utilize my skills to their fullest.

Is college necessarily for everyone? Definitely not, I know plenty of people who didn't go to school who make a lot more money than me. Plus they don't have as many student loan bills to worry about, and have been working professionally longer than me. If you're willing to dedicate yourself to get the skills you need without college, you will find that you are judged more on your skills, dedication and abilities in the long run. The stigma that you need to have a degree to so somewhere in life is ignorant, and doesn't apply to everyone's career goals.