Since these kids were literally wearing diapers, every single authority in their lives has told them: Go to college. Go to college and you will get a good job. Go to college and you will have made it. Go to college and you won't flip burgers. Go to college and you are a success.

"In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education." - Barack Obama, State of the Union 2010

"Does The College Major Matter? Not Really" - New York Times editorial (http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/does-the-colle...)

"Your College Major Is a Minor Issue, Employers Say" - Wall Street Journal Careers (http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/04/10/your-college-major-is...)

(etc, etc, etc, you can go on forever)

It is the height of audacity to lie to a child, literally every day, for literally twenty years, and then blame them for not being cynical enough to realize it.

If you believe everything you're being told without thinking about it and/or making some research of your own then it's, again, your own fault.

I mean, I agree that a Sociology degree isn't known for 6 figures, but before things went tits up, it would've likely gotten you a decent office job somewhere -- certainly you're capable of more than bagging groceries and stocking shelves. A Master's used to convey a certain amount of willingness to work, learn, and accomplish something. It was a certain amount of mold-able competency that transformed depending on what position you were given.

Now it suddenly isn't worth as much. It would've been another thing entirely if this was a slow shift, which would give society, businesses, and students time to adjust. Now that general usefulness is trash and you're better off partying to network.

The next generation will be able to research what happened, and they'll get more cautious advice, but that wisdom came at a pretty high price.

I'm 26 now, when I entered high school 10 years ago the whole sociology/political science/economy etc. boom started (at least in the part of Europe I was living in). Call me special but the fact that it was too popular made me think twice before entering a high school class profiled for that kind of studies (yes, we have profiles in HS in my country).

Also the fact that more and more people got accepted to universities made me realise that I either have to go to a lousy uni and work really hard on my own to be able to land a decent job or go to a top uni in the country (after entering one I realised that even with such a degree I need to find something I'm good at and do something in that direction, no one else will help me and only the degree won't mean that much).

Yes the system isn't without blame for talking crap, but let's be honest. The people in charge always were full of BS and that won't change.

Ah also, again, I didn't notice which unis those people graduated from. I'm pretty sure that a sociology degree from a top uni still holds some value.

This is what confuses me about the American system. Unlike say the system in India, you lot have an option to choose a different major. I can understand a high schooler who has no exposure to the world making a stupid mistake. I did, doing a degree in something I had no interest in. However, I pivoted fairly early doing enough projects and whatever to show that I had an avid interest/inclination in what I wanted to get into. As a person going to school in America, there is an incredibly rich set of options to you. Hell, you can, if you work hard enough, have your cake (take as many liberal arts courses as can satisfy your soul) and still eat too (take hard science courses).

> I mean, I agree that a Sociology degree isn't known for 6 figures, but before things went tits up, it would've likely gotten you a decent office job somewhere -- certainly you're capable of more than bagging groceries and stocking shelves. A Master's used to convey a certain amount of willingness to work, learn, and accomplish something. It was a certain amount of mold-able competency that transformed depending on what position you were given.

LOL. Seriously, this is a case of closing your eyes to how the world works. If you can't be arsed to do your research and figure out the dollar value of getting a degree, talk to people who have got the degree like a year before you (instead of some old people who think that being personable and having useless bullshit like "mold-able competency" actually means anything), you have proven yourself incompetent to get any sort of a job.

I find the comments here pretty amusing.

Also before it is implied that I am more sympathetic to stupid people in say India or China; I am not. I know enough people there who believe in the group think idea that you can magically turn off your brain, cram and get an education and then get a fucking good job. Those people are stupid. These people are stupid. Stupid people deserve what they get, mediocrity.

Don't get me wrong: I fit in the autodidact category and everything I've achieved has been through not brainlessly following the rules, being curious, eager to learn, and slightly subversive. And sometimes I find myself thinking in a way similar to you. Often, I get frustrated when I see people around my blindly doing what is 'normal', living by default, and missing out on the tons of opportunities that are out there. It's their own fault, right?

And yet, over time, I've come to understand that my lack of 'stupidity' and my lack of 'mediocrity' are, to a large degree, not a result of my own awesomeness and my own awesome choices. They're to a large degree a result of my personality, my intelligence, the unusual way that I've grown up and that I've been raised, a bit of luck, and good timing. These are things I didn't work for.

I'm not saying it all just happened and I did nothing for it; I'm proud of the work I did to get here. I'm just saying that it's too easy to call everyone else stupid because they haven't enjoyed the unique concoction of nature and nurture that contributed significantly to what i am.

Plus, if anything, these stupid, mediocre people need sympathy and help from those like us, rather than arrogance and high-horse bullshit, don't they?

Nope. I merely pointed out that thoughtlessness exists everywhere. Never said that means that the majority was thoughtless; I have no evidence to prove that one way or the other, do I?

As far as the rest of your post, unless you have well defined connections like a rich uncle who got you educated or that cool dad with a bunch of connections who got you your first big break, you are either underselling yourself or you are casting a lot to fate than really is true.

Oh, also to clarify a point on "stupidity" and "intelligence". I will be the first one to be clear that a load of the people who make these thoughtless mistakes are smarter than me by other metrics, either they are better educated or they are just faster at math/whatever you may have it. All I have done is work harder and kept a nose in the wind for change, that is not that hard to do. There are people out there who spend more time deciding what icecream they want for dessert than they do about where their life is going. And really, I am supposed to go around clutching their hand and telling them what they don't want to hear? Who is on their high horse now?

My last degree I decided to err on the side of "practical" and got a degree in higher ed counseling - a broad and growing field with tons of opportunity. It was the closest thing to my interests that had practical application. I had some misgivings, but didn't see any other "practical" alternative. So instead of going the sociology-type princess route, I went where the jobs were.

During my internship I hated the job so much I began getting insomnia and a variety of other persistent ailments. After graduating I was so burned out I could barely do anything for 3 months. Now I work as a barista making the same exact money I made prior to starting college 7 years ago.

Sometimes the choice is between something that makes you sick and something that has no "practical" application. Sometimes what you are most passionate about is not what is valued by your culture.

I'd think about that next time I judged someone who decided not to follow the crowd towards a lucrative or middle-class values type of job.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to live in a world where everyone could do what they truly love but taking into account human nature I highly doubt such an utopia is possible.

Kind of ironical that you are inherently judging those who hold lucrative jobs as crowd followers or inherently having "middle-class values". One could argue that following the crowd can also be defined as being a poorly paid barista who is doing "art" on the side. There is nothing inherently different from say programming as a day job or working as a barista as a day job and spending your nights doing something creative. Not all who go into this shit are following the crowd or have "middle class" values.

Besides housing and stuff like restaurants in that small area, cost of living in Amsterdam is about the same as anywhere else in NL. Plus lots of students == lots of cheap options.

Amsterdam is not London.