I know this is an old thread, but I found it and wanted to say I agree with you in large part.
I didn't have to take out much in student loans because my employer paid for nearly all my college education. Which of course is great. But I gave up
five years of my life working full time and going to school full time, I missed a lot of time to be with my then young child.
Why did I do it? Because I was living on welfare, in poverty once I had my child (the father was an alcoholic and somewhat abusive -- we broke up for
good after a few years). I had to support myself and my child and get out of the unsafe, scary neighborhood I was renting in -- where people were
constantly breaking in and I feared for our lives. I worked hard, many many long hours, missing much of my kid's childhood moments. Slowly, promoted,
slowly applied for higher level roles in the company. Slowly received raises.
My kids are grown now, and I look back at my life and it was all struggle. I am grateful in some ways for the opportunities I had and the education --
but I am not "smarter" for the college degree - just was "acceptable" for higher paying jobs. I still work at the corporation -- and feel I am a
slave to my mortgage, my car loan (I have a small unassuming car - I'm not buying $30K vehicles). But taxes and the price of everything, especially
insurances, keep going up so much so that my small raises never keep up. I am worse off today than I was back in the mid 1990s it seems in terms of
money to save, the amount of discretionary income I had. And I make a good salary. Doesn't make sense to me.
I would not encourage anyone today to rack up college loan debt. Knowing what I know and feel now, I wish I had never bought a home with a mortgage,
never bought a car with a loan. I wish I had put all that energy that I had put into my college courses, into my climbing the ladder, into making
money for my employer and making my boss look good -- and instead put it into my own life, my own relationships, my own business and multiple streams
of income.
I don't waste money like many I see - I don't get manicures, buy designer clothes, eat out in nice places, buy lots of stuff. I don't have the
latest tech gradgets. I don't find it rewarding, I tend to be more frugal and -- yet -- I still don't have much in the way of money saved. I'll
never be able to retire, but I also know that as I get older, I'll probably lose my job and not find one of equal pay and be flipping burgers where I
started this merry-go-round at 16.
I began to realize that both lower and higher public education are tools of propaganda to train the youth citizens to be obedient to our US
government, and to be productive and healthy consumers.
I agree with this statement wholeheartedly.
While some debate the use of the term "corporate slave" -- that's what I feel I am. Yes, maybe I chose it, but we are certainly groomed for it, and
taught to be good consumers, that getting a mortgage is sound and sitting in traffic is normal, and asking permission to take "time off" for a week
is what adults should be doing. No one ever said -- maybe you could invent something, create something, be entrepreneurial, start a business. No
guidance counselor at school or college, no teacher nor professor, ever encouraged independence.
And you don't hear authority figures, friends, family saying, "don't buy a house or car or anything unless you can pay for it in full." After all,
it's how it's done -- go into debt. It's what everyone does to get their dream of home ownership.
But working so hard in fear of losing one's job and then being unable to pay for one's mortgage and debt, let alone food, means you end of tired,
sick, fatigued mentally and physically. Beaten. And there's little energy left for creative outlets, volunteerism, taking care of oneself through
exercise, rest and meditation, getting educated by reading, thinking, traveling, participating....and certainly no time to quesion or protest.
Thank you for your post.