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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As almost all studies have shown, it is not the school that made the kid successful..it is THE KID...my son is 4.7 W 1520 SAT..and though we can afford any school, it is very difficult to justify paying $83K when 28K to the instate flagship that has a multitude of major options, and very "smart kids"...oh..it would be unpopular with the private HS crowd whose parents parted with 100K to 500K to educate their kid when 92% of the USA pays zero..

I only come to this site for laughs..parents whom are treating where the kids goes to undergraduate school is the most monumental decision of anyone's existence, when in reality is not even in the top ten most important decision that a person will make in their lifetime[/quote]

As a parent who paid 100-500k (actually more because I have several kids at a 50k school from 3yrs to 12th grade) for private education, I can tell you that you missed the boat.  I didn't send my kids there to get into a college. I send them there to get an education. I agree that it's the kid that makes a success not the school.  Very little that is learned in school beyond 7th grade is applicable to what they will be doing to sustain their livelihoods.  I gave them a broad range of activities and experiences, let them learn how to learn, and the rest is up to them.... college or not.

Most of the really successful folks in this world don't have degrees or a piece of paper that tells them what they can do.  They learn what they need along the way. Oprah, Gates, Zuckerberg, Dick Cheney, Steve Jobs, Charles Dickens, countless actors, comedians, and sports stars, the list goes on and on. If they shoot for mediocrity then yes they need the paper - doctor, dentist, scientist.

[b]No way in heck I'm paying for an arts, literature, or philosophy degree..[/b] if they want to do that they can start publishing immediately to get credibility. And BTW we have fully funded 529s and a HHI of 800k. Folks just need to be pragmatic about the world we live in. It's all about return on investment.  My kids learned this lesson young, like 5 years old.[/quote]
I have a liberal arts undergrad degree and ended up in a science field. I understand the push for STEM, but I wish people actually understood the liberal arts fields better and how we need those types of folks as well.  In fact, having a liberal arts background can add and not hinder in developing critical thinking skills/creativity/thinking outside the box/questioning the status quo.  I understand folks with limited means or not as a rich as you steering their kids towards practical degrees.  But you have the means.  You equate success with being rich and prestige. Your kids are more than just an investment.  You call it being pragmatic, I just think it's sad.[/quote]

So you paid for knowledge that is available for free at a public library.  That's sad. It's sadder that you think you needed it.

One only needs the certificate if it is necessary to practice, like medicine or law.  If it's critical thinking that's necessary then become a critical thinker and think of a different solution.  You don't need a piece of paper to say you are a critical thinker.

I think folks here don't really understand the position in the post. I get it they want to continue to do what everyone else does. That's ok, but not the path that will be successful in the future. It will just be average.  [/quote]
For someone blabbering about critical thinking, you are not very good at reading comprehension or making an argument.  I did not say you need a liberal arts to degree to be a critical thinker but liberal arts can actually enrich someone's education/perspective. I think the issue with just focusing on STEM is that it can lead to very black/white thinking.  It's why colleges still require general education classes-because they want (in theory) for graduates to be well rounded. 
By the way, any subject is readily available to the masses to learn, including STEM ones so I am not sure I understand your argument about just going to the library to learn vs. getting a degree?[/quote]

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