Quote:
Originally Posted by MickMcGeough
Investing four years of the prime of your life (and thousands of dollars) into getting an education so that you have something "to fall back on" is possibly the worst advice I've ever seen given.
Far better to spend that time traveling, exploring your interests, dedicating yourself to something you love (frivolous or not), etc. Figure out what makes you tick before investing those years into education, because once they're gone, they're gone for good.
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I'll assume that when you say worst, that you're exaggerating, because the worst advice I've heard people give is to go to LA and try their hand at acting while waiting tables in TGI Fridays until they are 40+ with no other options beyond waiting tables.
Traveling, exploring your interests, dedicating yourself to something you love is generally something most kids out of high school are not mentally and emotionally prepared to do. Many kids who take that gap year have very little to show for it, other than the realization that working retail or service sucks and they need to do something more productive. Maybe that realization is an important part of the process. Generaly, dedicating themselves to something they love is not something that happens for many kids. At 18, many of these kids still need some guidance to determine how to begin exploring the things they may like and how to go about doing it independently. A lot of this maturation process can occur in post secondary settings.
Safety net doesn't mean forever. And i guarantee that anyone who has gone to school has also has opportunities to travel / work / explore other interests whether it has been in the summer or another course they may have liked. I know several people who've travelled / studied / worked abroad during the post secondary process.
Considering that most adults change careers several times in their life, having something reliable isn't a crazy idea to help support you in between transitions. A safety net does not mean 4-6 years of some high academic university degree, it might be a 2 year stint in a trade that interests you, or a one year certification course in something else.
Besides, I don't know about you but 18-21 (assuming kids go to university right away) should not be prime years, as far as i'm concerned your prime years should be 25-55 when you're living the bulk of your life the way you want to. You might as well say that high school was when you peaked.