Why am I talking about college again?  Remember my Large Families and College post?  The reason I’m bringing this topic up again is because I came across Voddie Baucham’s post Searching for an affordable college alternative.  Please click over and read it carefully.

(Don’t read below until you’ve clicked & read Voddie’s post!!!)

I can’t help but agree with Voddie on all five points he makes:

1. Most BA Degrees Aren’t Worth The Paper They Are Written On
2. Four Years Is Too Much Time to Waste
3. $80,000 (room & board/State School) to &250,000 (room & board/Ivy League) is Too Much Money to Spend
4. College is Not For Everyone
5. Most Universities Are Philosophically Antagonistic to Christianity

I come from a culture that deeply values a college degree.  A mere bachelor’s degree is nothing to boast about because it’s a common understanding that you should at least earn a bachelor’s degree (at a prestigious university, nevertheless).  This, of course, means that one should continue to pursue higher degrees in order to attain desirable initials such as MD, PhD, JD, etc.  I fear that many of my fellow Asian-Americans fall into the deception that earning such degrees is a must without understanding the cost, whether monetary or time-wise.

I am not arguing that one should not pursue a higher degree, as a general rule, but that one should at least think about college carefully in terms of cost of tuition and living, college debt, and potential earnings.  The five points Voddie points out can be hard to swallow and may be shocking to hear, but if you are considering college, or even (especially) expensive and/or lengthy graduate school degree(s), think long and hard about his points and evaulate them against your own experience or perception.

One final point: learning is something I’m continually impressing upon my children as a lifelong pursuit, whether they attend college or not.  One should not equate college with learning (and far too often, those two experiences fail to intersect!).