daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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As opposed to, say, joining the Marines of course
A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
Higher education is often described as an investment. But itās still unclear if it pays off in happiness.
Imagine a young man, a senior in high school. His academic performance has never been over the top, but heās done well enough. Among his classmates, the assumption is that all of them will go to college. However, just as his parents are about to send the deposit check to a college where he has been accepted, the young man admits to himself and his parents that he doesnāt want to goānot now, maybe never. To him, college sounds like drudgery. He wants to work, to earn a living, to be out on his own.
What should he do? What should his parents do?
At this point, word about our son started getting around among people we knew who had children his age. Some of their sons and daughters were starting to struggle in college with grades, drinking, and loneliness. At gatherings, other fathers would sometimes sidle up to me and ask, āJust out of curiosity, how did your boy find that job out in Idaho?ā
After his second harvest, with money in the bank, our son joined the Marine Corps, a dream he had had for several years. He finished boot camp and is now at infantry school in North Carolina. He wakes up at 4 a.m., is tired all the timeāand is happy. He is, as a translation of the second-century Saint Irenaeus puts it, āa man fully alive.ā
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/07/will-going-college-make-you-happier/613729/
A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
Higher education is often described as an investment. But itās still unclear if it pays off in happiness.
Imagine a young man, a senior in high school. His academic performance has never been over the top, but heās done well enough. Among his classmates, the assumption is that all of them will go to college. However, just as his parents are about to send the deposit check to a college where he has been accepted, the young man admits to himself and his parents that he doesnāt want to goānot now, maybe never. To him, college sounds like drudgery. He wants to work, to earn a living, to be out on his own.
What should he do? What should his parents do?
At this point, word about our son started getting around among people we knew who had children his age. Some of their sons and daughters were starting to struggle in college with grades, drinking, and loneliness. At gatherings, other fathers would sometimes sidle up to me and ask, āJust out of curiosity, how did your boy find that job out in Idaho?ā
After his second harvest, with money in the bank, our son joined the Marine Corps, a dream he had had for several years. He finished boot camp and is now at infantry school in North Carolina. He wakes up at 4 a.m., is tired all the timeāand is happy. He is, as a translation of the second-century Saint Irenaeus puts it, āa man fully alive.ā
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/07/will-going-college-make-you-happier/613729/