
Without Higher Education you are in a dead end - i04n
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8utmmWoBSBY
======
danjoc
I get what he's saying. I believe the debt I acquired in college really messed
up my life.

But there's also the fact that college is now free in Germany, and that offer
is open to Americans. I actively tried to persuade a family member to at least
consider Germany as an option. After all, what could be better? Free degree,
travel Europe on holidays, no drinking age issues.

She didn't consider it. She's going to a college nobody has ever heard of in
the US and spending $45K annually for the privilege. At least I tried :-/

~~~
pkaye
Does Germany pay for room and board while studying?

~~~
kenny87
free means tuition-free. so yes, students have to pay for living expenses,
books, etc.

~~~
alexvoda
But i think it still ends up cheaper than just the tuition in the USA.

------
toomanyrichies
The decision to attend a private 4-year university has got to count as one of
the biggest mistakes I've made in my young life. The 19 weeks I spent in
coding bootcamp have been orders-of-magnitude more useful to my career than
the 4 years I spent in college. Most people will never know less about life
and what they want out of it than they do when they're in high-school. So in
my mind it makes no sense to give someone like that the responsibility of a
choice that will cost them and their families between tens and hundreds of
thousands of dollars (depending on whether they choose public vs. private, in-
state vs. out-of-state, etc.).

Knowing what I know now, I would have jumped at the chance to study for free
in a place like Germany (as per danjoc's comment). That sounds like the
perfect way to minimize the costs of what college purports to offer- a chance
to broaden one's horizons and investigate possible directions one wants to
take with their life.

~~~
reaperducer
I think the key phrase here is "young life."

When you get older, read more, travel more, experience more, you'll understand
the value of a well-rounded education.

Or maybe not. Perhaps confining yourself to a one-track life and career path
will prevent you from seeing, or being considered for, other opportunities in
life. You'll never know.

~~~
toomanyrichies
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not demeaning the value of a well-rounded
education. I agree that it's vital to a full life. My point is that colleges
don't have a monopoly on well-rounded educations. For me at least, America's
higher education system (and really, its high school system as well) depleted
rather than fostered the kind of curiosity needed for life-long learning.

I'm using "young life" in the sense of "up to that point in my life". I'm now
in my mid-30s and on my 3rd career (first in sales, then as an overseas ESL
teacher, and now as a software developer). I've travelled to 20+ countries,
lived in China and Europe, and had many wonderful experiences along the way.
I'm grateful for the many careers I've had, which allow me to state with
confidence that my current career is a great fit for me. But none of my
experiences required that I attend the college I did and go into deep debt to
do so. While (as you said) I'll never know for sure, my guess is that debt
probably cut off just as many opportunities as it gave me.

------
johannsg
From the man that brought us such classics as “If Meat Eaters Acted Like
Vegans - Ultra Spiritual Life”
([https://youtu.be/z0O_VYcsIk8](https://youtu.be/z0O_VYcsIk8)).

~~~
madez
I know what I'm writing is kind of superfluous, but not all vegans are like
that. There are vegans who try not to disclose the fact of them living vegan.

------
truetraveller
Why has this article been yanked off the HackerNews home page?

