Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

happy wrote

I think college is a great thing to attend if you have the means to attend.

College is so much harder if you have a hard time focusing, getting debilitating anxiety or stress, panic attacks, etc.

College is also a huge time commitment. Year after year of studying stuff you wouldnt necessarily choose to read or write about, telling friends and comrades that youre busy with school.

That said, going to college wont make you a worse person/anarchist and you'll likely be much more educated than if you chose to self study.

Will tuition, room, and board be reasonable and affordable? Im sure you dont live in the US with absolutely fucked higher education prices, but I dont know what it might look like where you live. Maybe that money could be used for something else that would be more enlightening or helpful to you.

9

ego_mutt wrote

I didn't go to college because of ADHD, yeah. My GPA was shit as well

1

An_Old_Big_Tree wrote

I think it's important to compare to the alternatives and not just consider it on its own. Generally I think most of our options are shit so we need to weigh them up and choose the one that provides the greatest range of possibilities.

5

blog wrote

Academia is noxious and middle-class as fuck, but you can learn useful things there. Just be constantly critical of everything around you and stay on your toes. Universities are where the ruling class experiments with co-opting radicalism.

3

rot wrote

could always go to a community college and take some classes

2

celebratedrecluse wrote

As uncle Iroh once said, "Life happens wherever you are".

If you want to go into a field which requires degrees, go for it. If you don't have a clear idea of what work you want to find, or what degree you will need, then definitely don't go-- college is basically useless, if you don't have a specific goal, because they teach you nothing meaningful before you declare a major & start getting access to the technical knowledge & jargon that they withhold for gatekeeping purposes.

Either way, I would recommend not getting involved in campus-based activism. It will burn you out, it is very difficult for poor students to change the behavior of multimillion dollars businesses (unis), the turnover is almost as bad as the fast food industry's (entirely new group of people every 1-4 years) and you will extremely annoyed at the libs around you the entire time. I would recommend trying to engage with other forms & settings of political action: antifascist organizing might be your kick, but also you can do tenants or labor unionizing, start building neighborhood associations/community gardens, do jail support & police/prison abolition, creating queer-friendly spaces outside of university bubbles, etc. Just don't get mired in university organizing, regardless of whether you chose to go to college or not-- in my opinion, you'll seriously regret it.

2

techlos wrote

it honestly depends on what you want to learn. If your interests lie in STEM areas, then chances are you can self-educate via online resources - it's what i did, and it worked for me. That being said, it's still probably worth getting involved in university stuff for networking with activists and likeminded people.

If you want to avoid the cons, and don't mind dropping the employability aspect ( corporations don't care about what you know, they care about the little slip of paper saying you learned them their way), then just rock up at university organizations without actually attending courses. I did that for a while, got involved with the queer collective at my local uni, made some good friends and had a great time.

1

heckthepolice2 wrote

I'm in the same place rn. Wish I had some advice to offer, but I have no idea how to make that decision.

1

fabianhjr wrote

If you can without going into debt I think you should. (At least most countries have free college ed)

1

existential1 wrote

I'll echo what tequila said. If you have options, particularly apprenticeship options, take those instead. If not, go to uni. My current job really only requires the skillset of a high schooler with public speaking skills and knowledge of how to read/interpret laws/regulations. I got my job because I have those skills and a masters in a non-related subject. Just having a degree makes you more qualified to hiring managers and algorithms. So if you want to work in the world outside of owning your business or doing a trade, you should go to uni. That is, unless you don't mind a "glass ceiling" of retail management or are comfortable trying to make a life at/near minimum wage. Which is ok when you're young, but hard as shit if you have to support others.

I can speak from experience of making minimum wage and being on food stamps to more than double the average median family income with just my own income, not including my spouses....you really don't realize how hard you're grinding when you're poor until you don't have to grind as hard anymore. Honestly, I'm still not psychologically over being poor.

1

ego_mutt wrote

You should if you can. If not consider a trade school. Being able to provide for yourself does not guarantee that you're going to become a gentrifier. It's worth it, especially if uni is free in your country

1

mofongo wrote

If you do, don't feel pressured to start RIGHT FREAKING NOW!!! You could do some projects or learn a skill that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do while in uni. Remember the Uni will remain there.

1

shanc wrote

Maybe leave it for a year until you're sure

1