Is College Worth It?

Student loans! The freshman 15! Moving back in with your parents!
    These are the things that students nowadays might think of when they think of college. With my parents it isn't even of question of whether or not I'm going to college but where. I tried to explain to my mother the point I am about to try and make in this post and she got this horrified look on her face and I couldn't even explain myself because for her there is nothing to explain.
   College is expensive and it used to be that you only went to get high paying or skilled jobs like being an account or a doctor. Nowadays however, unemployment is still an issue and you could go to Harvard and end up working in a Starbucks simply because in this job market, you're degree in philosophy means nothing.
    So what is college for then? That's what I'm wondering as I try and rack my brains to think of where I want to waste my parents money for 4 years.

NRA: National Rifle Anxiety

          
           I am worried about a lot of things: college, homework, actual work, but most of all how this world is going to end up.
           I found this article on the majestical Internet today (as always linked below) that mentions a shooting at a Nevada school that occurred this very day. Gun violence seems to be an almost standard news story today and I worry about whether this is the future.
         The article stated that an unidentified student opened fire in an assembly and killed a beloved teacher as well as wounding two other students.
        This isn't the first time shootings like this have happened. 2013 seemed to be the year of ruining people's lives be it another war, bombing the Boston marathon, Sandy Hook, and now this.
         I wasn't alive in many decades before this, sop I don;t know if sometimes there are just periods where violence just escalates. I don;t know if this is just a phase or if this violence and this mental; instability is the way our future is going. I'm scared. I'm scared of all the wars and all the nukes and all the people hating each other. I hate it.
       I don't know everything and I can't fix everything, but I'm just wondering: Is this the way our future is going? Is this what America and the rest of the world has to look forward to? And are all of you as worried as I am?

The article: http://news.yahoo.com/student-kills-teacher-hurts-2-boys-nev-school-213556027.html

You is Smart

      There is no homework in Finland. It sounds to good to be true but, just this week, Finland made the Wall Street 24/7 list of the Top 10 Most Educated Countries.

        But, how does one measure education? According to the article which I will link below, the WS 24/7 "Reviewed the 10 countries with the highest proportions of residents aged 25 to 64 with a tertiary education in 2011. ". The list goes as follows:
10. Australia (they got shmancy new programs for international students)
9. Finland (I wish I spoke Finnish)
8. New Zealand (fun fact: sheep outnumber people 4 to 1)
7. United Kingdom (popular with international students and girls who love British accents)
6. S. Korea(because K-POP isn't everything)
5. 'Murica! (yet, ironically, our 16-24 year old display some of the lowest mathematical proficiency)
4. Israel (like Korea, they have mandatory military service so many college kids are older)
3. Japan(they have it all: thinnest developed country, double the U.S. literacy and highest grad. rates)
2. Canada (I believe we should all try and be like Canada cause they're cool)
1. Russia (they have always been big on education, especially since Communism rejects religion, but now there are rumors of corruption. I still love Putin's pop song though.)
         So that's the list. I have to say, I'm not surprised by how our results came out. The reading and literacy issue I know must be true because a few years ago I babysat this little 4 year old boy and not once did I see him touch a book. All he wanted to do was watch TV on his computer and play on his little kid iPad. 

Here's the article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/most-educated-countries-world-102232490.html

In the Middle of Nowhere

       

        Ohio. I had never been there up until last weekend when my mom (being my mom) decided that we should start looking at colleges. But that's not the point I'm, trying to get to.
        So, after we had driven up along the interstate to Oberlin we had to get down to a little town called "Mount Vernon". We used the ever so handy GPS to guide us there and we basically took a 3-hour trip through rural Ohio. I just kept staring because growing up in the high income area that I do, I was fascinated by the run-down houses, expansive farms, and various signs that said stuff like "Wood $10" or "Carpentry Services" set up outside people's homes. I had not seen a single Walgreens and I kept on wondering where everyone went to school or got their burgers because I had seen nothing resembling shops or grocery stores. It's just weird I think, for me, addicted to Amazon as I am, to think that people might just be living a lot more simply than I was and were perfectly indifferent about it.
       The one thing that was constant in all these little "towns"-if you could even call them that- was a church. There was always some kind of skinny white church with a sign that read something like "Blah Blah Presbyterian  Church: do you know Jesus?". I was just so fascinated by everything and I think it's because I'm so used to living in a town that's pretty close to just about everything- stores, hospital, restaurants, schools- and I sometimes forget that the "water" in which I swim is not the only kind that makes up the ocean of people that is America. (BTW I'm very proud of that metaphor)

The End of 'Murica?

      So, I don't know if you've heard, but the government has shut down. All across the land of rich white men there is silence. A small child might ask "Oh wise one, what is this all about?" and I might say "Well little Jimmy, it's about Obamacare." but if little Jimmy asks "What's Obamacare?" I will shrink into the darkness from whence I came because all I know is that it lets me take my meds for only 5 bucks.

      Honestly, I think it's stuff like this that make me realize how little I know about politics. I saw an article in the Onion(which I will link down below) titled: "Man Who Understands 8% Of Obamacare Vigorously Defends It From Man Who Understands 5%". Gotta love The Onion.

      Sometimes, I wish I knew more. I am always thinking that the world would be a lot better if we just understood each other but it's hard when we don't all have time to watch MSNBC and instead have stuff to do like homework. I think that this article, like much of lives, is painfully real, and I'm telling myself that after this I'll go see the news, but in reality I'm going to go eat dinner and watch Netflix before typing up a 45-minute conversation(school project, don't ask) because I'm not gonna lie and say I know everything about my country's government because I don't. That article really reminded me of uninformed and oblivious we can be but also, on the positive side, that we have the ability to make fun of ourselves. Unlike Cuba. Lighten up, Cuba.