Why is going to college selling out?

[Felch]

Originally posted by yavoon
I've never heard that going to college being selling out. but I grew up in hawaii so not many black ppl. maybe its a black culture thing?

If by "black culture thing" you mean "ignant ass niggaz thing," then yes. However, blacks shouldn't be judged by their worst examples anymore than whites should be judged by the KKK.

[yavoon]

meh I knew someone was gna take offense to that. When I say black culture ppl generally know what I mean.

if it was something positive like "omg big black penii" yall wouldn't have ne problem=D

[nationalist]

Re: Why is going to college selling out?

Originally posted by Albert Speer
never understood this... why is it that when someone is trying to make something of themselves by going to college and all that some people start saying they selling out or trying to act white and all that? makes no sense... to try to succeed means you selling out?

is this kind of idea prevalent in other areas or is it just a lower-class thing?

thanks

No, its something that jealous stupid people say to try to downplay the superiority of more intelligent people.
I am poor, and I come from a poor area. I worked hard and earned scholarships to get me where I am today.

Where I come from going to college is admired, something both looked up to and aspired to by many people. These people are poor, these people are from the lower class, but these people see a value in education as a way to better one's lot in society.
If minorities see going to college as something to be ashamed of, then I feel no sympathy for their plight. It seems like an excuse to me, something that people say when they didn't put in the effort to even try to make something of themselves.

BTW, aren't you white? Why is it a bad thing for you to act "white"? I think that being ashamed of who you are, not whether or not you go to college, is selling out.

[nationalist]

Originally posted by Troll

I say if you want to attend a higher educational institute, fine.

If you dont, then dont.

This approach doesn't work that well anymore. Where are the majority of people who graduate from High School going to get a job nowadays? This isn't like the ffties or sixties, where someone could go straight from high school to the local factory and live comfortably. Today, most people who graduate high school and don't go on to higher education are stuck working in the lower echelons of the service industry. A BA is seen as something that is almost standard, sort of like a high school degree was 30 years ago. Most places of employment expect their applicants to have a degree, simply because it is so damn easy to go to college these days. Masters degrees are swiftly becoming the dividing line between those who merely make a living and those who can live in relative ease.

[Amesjustin]

I think it is a lower-class thing, not so much a black thing. I have friends in the latino community and on Native American reservations who have experienced this. I myself am 1/8 latino and 1/8 Native American, but 3/4 caucasian and consider myself that only due to higher proportion.

My family grew up relatively poor, and I got involved in a lot of bad things. In high school (1989 through 1992) I was the kid with the long hair and leather jacket smoking pot and stealing hubcaps when I should have been in class. By the time I was 22, about half of my friends were in jail, a mental hospital, or dead. At that point I got my GED, went to college, got my degree in Computer Science and 2 Microsoft certifications by the time I was 25. Now I am 28, am the senior Database Administrator for a large national company, and I am about to get married.

Although my family and a few of my childhood friends supported me, almost all of the friends I had made since Jr. High accused me of selling out. If that's what I did, so be it. It saved my life.

If your 'friends' criticize you for going to college, just leave them behind and don't look back - they were never your friends to begin with.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Troll
So how am I selling myself short?

Think of how much better you might have been

You will note I also said...

It's a fact, if you have a college degree it is more likely you will succeed...

Some don't need to go to college to succeed, and there are other who do go to college and fail big time.

But it is a FACT that if you have college degree, you are MORE LIKELY to succeed

[MRT144]

im 19, and i dropped out of high school when i was around 16 and ive learned a lot in life. i learned that college degrees are what helps you gain an edge in the competitive world and helps keep you from working ****ty jobs that 17 year olds get.

college is also a lot of fun from what i hear, so why the **** not?

[Zero]

Originally posted by MRT144
im 19, and i dropped out of high school when i was around 16 and ive learned a lot in life. i learned that college degrees are what helps you gain an edge in the competitive world and helps keep you from working ****ty jobs that 17 year olds get.

college is also a lot of fun from what i hear, so why the **** not?

I can see how college is fun and it helps you gain an edge, if you goto a good private school, but I'm starting to doubt whether going to just decent state university schools really helps you at all.

[Amesjustin]

Originally posted by Calc II
I can see how college is fun and it helps you gain an edge, if you goto a good private school, but I'm starting to doubt whether going to just decent state university schools really helps you at all.

Unless you are going into law or governmental research or something truly highbrow, it really doesn't matter.

[Ming]

While it might not help as much as it used to... To not have a degree still puts you at a terrible disadvantage...

[nationalist]

Originally posted by Calc II
but I'm starting to doubt whether going to just decent state university schools really helps you at all.

This depends. Many jobs just want to see a college degree, and don't care what college you got it from so long as you have one. Also, if you go to a big state school (Penn State, FSU, WVU, etc), work hard, and do well on your LSATs, MCATs, GREs, etc, you'll be in a good position to go to a decent grad school. Besides, some state schools are very high quality (University of Virginia, William and Mary, U.C. Berkely, U.N.C. Chapel Hill).

However, if you go to a super huge state school and **** off, you're not putting yourself in a great spot.

[MRT144]

calc II, I guess it depends on profession or vocation. for audio engineering its more of what you know, and who you know rather than where you learned it from. I think that holds true for more professions than just audio engineering

as for good state universities, i have 3 of my close friends going to UC berkeley, 1 going to UC santa cruz, 1 going to UCLA. Most of them love where they go, only one hates it but thats cause he doesnt know what he wants in life. to be honest i think they are all going to great schools for what they want to do and i wouldnt discourage them in any way because they arent going to a private school.

[DarthVeda]

Going to the community college, er, disco with books, THAT's the sellout.

[Loif]

Originally posted by obiwan18


Crabs in a bucket.

The crabs pull on each other's legs. so that none of the crabs climb out of the bucket.

Obiwan, I like how you think. You made me smile. Believe me, that is usually tough to do.

You sound like a Maritimer. No I'm not one, I'm in Alberta. I have been there though (Corner Brook NF) and have family down that way.

No, I'm not hijacking this thread. Speer, take it from someone who went to university late in life. Do it now if you can. Don't worry about what your friends think about you. You are not "selling out", you are changing your life and hopefully the lives of those around you.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Loif
Speer, take it from someone who went to university late in life. Do it now if you can.

Very very good advice there Albert. It's much more difficult to start over later in life. A friend I went to high school with didn't go to Varsity as soon as he'd finished, took a few years off, picked up other complications and responsibilities and then ended up starting his first year while I was doing my last.
He found it much tougher and greatly regretted not having gone right away, and this was a delay of only a few years to boot.