College vs High School?

[Guest]

As someone who has their bachelors degree and is currently attending graduate school(as my work is helping pay for it all), I can definitely say that college is better. Though my college experience was pretty bad. 

The only fun part of HS was the social aspect and hanging out with my friends. Ever since day 1, I hated it. When I graduated I was so glad to be done it. It felt like a giant waste of time as I can only recall a handful of information that I actually learned. For example, here in the US, our schools primarily teach American history and rarely discuss the rest of the world. I thought it was silly when I heard that there was an Advanced placement European history course- aka “AP Euro”.  The equivalent was a regular American history class asking me to remember the first ten amendments LMAO I was “fortunate” to go to one of the best school districts in Southern California, but man this was a joke.  It did not help that I had a lot of personal things going on with my folks during that time either. No, I would never go back even if you paid me. 

As for my college experience. I began with community college(also known as junior colleges in some states) which was very reminiscent of HS. The barrier to get into these colleges is very low. Like if you have a pulse, you can get in basically. However, the coursework that you complete is transferable to a 4 year program at any university here. These programs typically have you complete your first two years of college and then have you transfer to a 4 year program to complete your program of choice. Here’s the huge catch though. Everyone’s first two years of college are the same as they made it a requirement to complete TWO YEARS of general education before you can fully get into your major. You can use AP credits earned in HS and/or test out of a few classes, but everyone has to do this!!! 

The main difference is that if you are at a university, your tuition is much higher! You would have to pay 5-10 times what you would be paying for the same general education class at a community college. I found it incredibly stupid that people would go to the famous schools and brag about going there right after HS…when in reality they would be doing the same thing as I would be doing and ending up in a boatload of debt. Everyone I personally know that went straight to a university owes over $10,000 in debt, I’m not exaggerating. It was then when I noticed that schools are no different than brands and are purely businesses. They prey on people to get into debt for degrees that are not guaranteed to get you a job. In fact, I have begun to see a lot more advertisements from Universities stating that there is no guarantee that their degrees will improve your quality of life. 

Another qualm I have is that the coursework was not very challenging as I later found out that college level math for undergrad…is basically algebra and elementary stats ffs. Apparently many people cannot complete basic math or English, so the standards are very low. Thankfully the tuition was dirt cheap in comparison to the universities. I was able to use financial aid and federal grant money to help pay for my bachelors. Thankfully, unlike my university counterparts who began there earlier- I owe nothing in terms of student debt. 

As for social life, it depends. If you interact with clubs and with your community, you can get busy. I tried a few clubs my first semester and I met so many fake people that I ended up quitting all together.

There is also a huge liberal bias across these campuses here in California. I don’t consider myself left or right wing, but the lack of respect people had at the schools for opposing opinions was ridiculous. People would get into shouting contests if you did not agree with their ideology. Professors would side with this insanity at times and tried to teach their specific biases at classes instead of the truth. When I began attending, I assumed colleges and universities were open minded academic settings that students can respectfully discuss on various topics, but I was wrong. 

I continued attending university as many mid level jobs here required a degree. Unfortunately, the pandemic began as I graduated and I could not find a good job for almost two years here. I went through a few different minimum wage jobs before I finally landed this account manager position where I am currently working. I thought it was my degree that helped me secure this position as they wanted 5-7 years of office experience(which I did not have), but I was later told that they picked me as I proved to be dependable and great with people. They did not care at all that I went to school. No one else in my office went to school and some of them are making six figure salaries. 
 

I was reluctant to even go back to school, but my work offered to pay for grad school and pay me a lot more money than the others, so I find myself in this current situation. I will say that graduate school is pretty much the same bs that I had to deal with years ago and I am frankly tired of it. 

[Envy 6,000]

It's a bit complicated for me, as things always are! Lol

I would say college is better than high school in general. However, my college years were (have been...) rife with health issues, depression, etc. The fact that I have to say "have been" says a lot. I should have graduated altogether longgggg ago. College has been rough for me... High school was rough in its own ways, but health issues were barely present. It's led me to really romanticize my high school years over the years, but I'm learning to appreciate the years beyond. High school had marching band, which was an incredible experience, especially given the high school I went to. Sadly, I couldn't join a college marching band due to health issues.

But as I said... college is overall a better experience. For one, high school is very structured - same schedule everyday, and at a really early hour to start for teens. College has been variable for me. At my last university I had no classes before 9am at any point and most of them were not that early. I had a lot of days to sleep in, some days I didn't have class until 10 or 11am! Plus, you'd have those days where a professor or two can not make it, and you are free. This is an appeal that college has that nothing else has. High school and before is rigid. Jobs are rigid.

The classes in college? I have had many more memorable classes than in high school. There were some great classes in high school, but you have more freedom in college and more subjects to explore. Like I loved AP European History in high school, but in college I got to take a class specifically on Medieval England!

Also, musically. While marching band was an amazing experience I haven't gotten to experience post high school, but college has symphonic orchestra! My high school probably has that now, but back when I was there orchestra was purely strings. I love classical music and all, so getting to play in orchestras has been great!