As I've mentioned in my introductory post, I'm a university student. I pay around 8,000$ a year for tuition alone, and then another odd 1,000$ for books. Now, by no means is my family rich, but we're not poor either. We're "rich" enough that I don't qualify for a student load, but "poor" enough that my parents cannot pay for my tuition. I want to go to school, but I can't pay for it... This leaves me with a dilemma.
In order to go to school, I have to work. And I work pretty hard... I'm a full time worker, and a full time student. How is that possible you ask? I go to work from 7am to 3pm, come home, eat something quickly, and try to catch my bus to make it to school on time for a 7pm class. At least I have the weekends free, haha. All of this would be fine, if I was actually taught something.
I find the only time where I did any learning was in most of my first year classes. The professor would ACTUALLY go over the material, and explain it in their own way. After completing my third year, I find that more and more professors are simply reading out of the book instead of actually lecturing. This is very discouraging for me, because that means I have to go over all the material on my own again, and understand it on my own! What's the point of going to class then?
It's a little ridiculous if you think about it. I'm paying so much money, in order to work my ass off and get a stupid piece of paper that says I completed "school". I'm not really paying for an education, because the professors are hardly doing anything. I'm paying to know what books I need to read in order to pass an exam. Good use of my money huh?
Society places so much value on a university education, but honestly from my experience, it's mostly bullshit. You're paying to learn on your own. Why pay at all then? Why aren't you able to study on your own, read whatever books you'd like, and then opt to take a certification test of your knowledge. Obviously this test wouldn't be free, since somebody would have to mark it, and there's costs associated with processing. Even if it costed 1,000$ to take the test once, it'd still be cheaper than the 36,000$ (8,000 a year for four years, plus textbooks) you'd end up spending on an "education". This would be an alternative solution to getting a degree, and a more practical one for many people. But alas, it's obvious that the whole education system is based around business first, education second, so this will never happen.
