So, like I said College more than anything should be about learning "Critical Thinking".
Many of you might think Critical thinking is just being critical for it's own sake. No.
Critical thinking is actually about not accepting ANYONE's statements about anything unless they can prove them to you or you can at least prove them to yourself. This saves everyone a whole lot of grief.
What if someone told you they were from another planet and they came here to save you? Would you believe them?
In the 1960s there were lots of people one could pick up hitch Hiking who talked like this. But, believing them was never a good idea. It usually just meant they had taken too many drugs and were no longer normal people and likely you should let them out of your car as soon as possible before they did something you might regret very soon or (you just might be dead).
So, being rational (as much of the time as possible) allows people to actually have a future.
And, part of actually have a future instead of not having one or dying is definitely "Critical Thinking"
where you might listen to anything people might say but that doesn't mean you believe a word of it.
So, it sort of goes in one ear and out the other unless it has some actual meaning to you. So, unless you can prove what they are telling you, why should you believe it? You can pretend to because you are polite but inside you have no reason to believe them.
So, survival is often about learning to formulate the right questions. And if college helps you do this then I would say that college is useful to your future. But, if it doesn't you might want to question why you are going there?
This I believe needs to be a primary concern for all parents and potential college students. If you don't learn there to formulate better questions regarding your life and future then what are you doing there?
My oldest daughter went to college at age 18 and realized she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. At age 25 she realized what she wanted to study and went back to school while working part time. Now, even though it is a lot of work she realizes why she is doing this, so she is happy to be doing all the work now. However, not everyone can afford to do this. So, if you can find what you want to do by age 18 it's a lot easier than if you are living with someone or married with kids when you go back to school.
But still, learning to formulate the right questions regarding your life and future will create your future. Without this, you might not have a future you can stand to live. And that would be unfortunate.
For example, in my own life I had infinite choices "I could be anything I wanted to be."
What was wrong with this?
The problem was my parents had never been to college. So, they really had no idea how to guide me through any of it. So, I basically flew by the seat of my pants. I studied Computer programming and computer operations and got a part time job with the Glendale Board of education. Then, from this one job I got a job automating a whole Warehouse for Drugstores which was interesting. And from that job, I got a job working for an Automated accounting business with millions of dollars of computers to work on and with. I realized though I was suited logically to computers I wasn't suited emotionally to this life because basically I have always been an out of doors person and never a person happy in an office anywhere. So, by age 21 I realized I needed to change careers. So, I did. I went back to college to become a psychologist. But, before I finished that degree my live in girlfriend got pregnant and I had to financially support the 3 of us.and I realized this wasn't going to work at all if I was still in college trying to support everyone and make everything work. So, I took college courses whenever I could until I was about 40 and wound up with about 8 years total of college studying Computer Science, Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy. I found studying whatever interested me the most moved my life forward the most in all ways. Steve Jobs found this out while he was at Reed College in Oregon.
When you can be: "anything you want to be, sometimes that's too much" especially when your parents haven't been to college to be able to guide you at all through the mistakes they made in regard to college. However, learning to formulate the right questions can often brings answers, if not from you, from your friends, your relatives or teachers.
Remember, ask the right question and you have a future. Don't learn to ask it and your life might be over. Because in the end life is about finding something you can stand to do without hanging yourself or something like that. So, remember this because everyone to some degree is like this.
What saved me was my son being born at age 26. Then if I felt suicidal it didn't matter anymore because I was a Dad and had to stay alive so my son could grow up. Now, he's 41 and I have two other biological kids. The youngest is 19 now and my oldest stepson is 44. So, if you are a caregiver type of personality like I am sometimes getting married and having a family will completely save your life.
So, if you learn to formulate the right questions you might just want to survive your life. I did.
When I was 18 I took an interest test at the unemployment office in California. According to my interest test I should have been an Airline pilot or a Forest Ranger. I didn't do either of these things even though I wanted to be an Airline pilot or an Alaskan Bush pilot growing up. But, I didn't do this because my father made me promise not to get my pilot's license until after he died. This didn't mean I didn't take flying lessons because I did. It just meant I didn't solo until after he died like a promised him. His brother went missing from a plane during World War II in 1942. Since all this was very top secret no one is even sure if he actually died or not because his body wasn't found.
But, I eventually realized what I like the best: Owning businesses
I learned this by being taken advantage of my employers from the time I was 10 years old. So, by the time I was 21 I sort of wanted to retire from making money for other people with my labors. So, by the time I was 28 I started my own businesses and found I liked this a whole lot better.
The whole trick with any small business is learning to wear may hats. Because at first you are business owner, salesman, manufacturer, accountant, driver, postman whatever, etc. However, as your business grows you then understand all aspects of it as you train others to do some of those jobs as your business expands over time.
However, even discovering what you might have fun doing for work doesn't happen without a lot of self questioning along the way.
Because there is nothing as sad as someone who makes up their mind what they want to be only to discover after 4 to 10 years of college that they actually hate that profession and would rather die than do that the rest of their lives. And so often because of Student loans they are sentenced to this kind of hell.
This is why you need to be sure what you want to do before you spend years studying to do it. Ask the important questions now.
If you have $100,000 in student loans from something like a law degree or becoming a doctor often there is no turning back. So, be sure you ask the right questions first so you are happy with your life rather than living in hell while trying to support your family while paying student loans back until you are 45 or 50 or never.
Even the Obama's student loans were not paid off until they were in their 40s from both becoming lawyers.
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