can I ask for directions?

Where is the roadmap to life? I mean i guess there's the unspoken roadmap
Go to school => go to college => get a job and be successful.
Damn that doesn't work for everybody!
I'm starting to think college is the next step in economic development. It's really quite genius.
Do you know that billions of dollars are spent every year trying to get companies advertisements to influence the young mind of children and adolescents so they make their parents buy them things. Everybody knows beer and sex are what it takes to sell to men, it's even the new diet craze. http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/diet.fitness/01/30/diet.nutrisystem.ap/index.html

Anyway, so on top of children demanding their parents spend, they also grow up with these fond associations for McDonald's and The Gap. Now, this isn't revolutionary at all, anyone who has taken a child psychology course knows that's how much companies are spending to get to kids. But think about this... a bunch of CEOs conspiring in an underground cave around a well-lit round table tossing out ideas of "How can we get these dependent kids to make their parents spend MORE money?"

Quiet sinister looking guy in the back
"How about we depend they extend their dependence. We'll make high school go looooooooooooooonger. Charge exorbinant amounts of money, tell them they are bettering themselves!"

That's it! It's over! NO, higher education isn't new in anyway shape or form, BUT to convince so many that it is so necessary to make money. I mean students are throwing themselves into tens of thousands of dollars in debt without really thinking it through. Their parents encourage them to go to college because in their time, college was rare, people actually had to think to get through college. Nowadays you are screwed if you don't get a college degree ( i know from experience) but those that do have college degrees are also finding that their degree is becoming more and more meaningless. So, what do you have to do?? Grad school! 4 more years! 4 more years! Grad school is setup to help the students become more independent from their parents, but still getting that money. So I'm beginning to think that the only thing keeping us away from another black tuesday is college education. Keeps the financial juices flowing

Now, you may look at this as a bitter drop out just shaking his fist at the institution, but I'm not really so mad at the colleges. go capitalism! I'm more angry at myself for letting myself believe I was ready for college out of high school. FOr not being aware enough to fully realize what college was all about. I fully intend on getting my degree, it's just going to be on my own schedule, and when I know what I am doing.

College isn't a bad thing, it's actually helping us move towards a more enlightened america! I can not wait for the up and coming generation to sift into politics and high ranking business positions because I think that this awareness will help start a revolution against all the corruption and special interests that have taken control of the U.S.

So, i think we need to take a harder look at who we are sending to college and help better prepare students for the financial realities of life after college!

***Random side note***
It is unfortunate that this best selling author lied about the events in his book, and it's unfortunate that Oprah had to go through that ordeal, but let's be honest, fact or fiction, 2 million readers means it's a damn good book! So instead of a memoir it's a good fiction story loosely based on the author's experiences. Get over it! People have told worse lies!