[silverquiet]

As a child who went through this, I could not put a child of my own through that system; I couldn’t do the pointless teacher-pleasing busy-work and it took a piece of my soul and childhood away. On the other hand, I totally understand the necessity of it. Squaring the circle on those two contradictory feelings was quite simple for me - simply don’t have children. I thought I was a bit unusual for that, buy it seems that this is more common than I thought; fertility is falling throughout the developed world and I think super intensive parenting expectations have to be at least a part of that.

[bokoharambe]

Is it really necessary? I'm not seeing it.

[silverquiet]

I have friends who did not go the college degree route and it is very grim.

[otoburb]

But perhaps a cheap(er) school, almost by definition not quite as competitive, could still be better than "no college degree whatsoever".

[bokoharambe]

I was thinking more along the lines of "does schooling have to be awful" than "should you go to school." I apologize for being unclear.

[silverquiet]

The majority of Americans do not have degrees but do have jobs that are necessary for society, which isn’t to say that they pay well.