Not everyone should go to a traditional college

To be fair I am all for making quality education accessible to those who truly wish to go to university and take as much from the experience as possible. Yet some individuals only go to college because that’s what is expected of them and not because they truly want to be there. There are other alternatives to a traditional college that should be discussed as options for youth and adults.

1. Apprenticeships 2. Trade schools/career training
3. Community colleges 4. Online college and distance learning at universities
5. Work study colleges 6. Entrepreneurship and starting a business, etc.

Some might also say armed forces but I don’t think going into the armed forces is a good idea.

Any more ideas I failed to mention?

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

Continuous learning. Most of us require education throughout our lives in different formats according to our circumstances at the time. No one should be excluded from any route they may find useful just because of decisions they made earlier in their life. I think traditional universities/colleges should remain at the heart of everything to maintain standards and academic rigour, but beyond that the delivery of education should be shaped by demand.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SunshineGirl Continuous learning.....

In my late-40s I think it was, I entered new employment as a laboratory assistant, and with a view to bettering myself in that I took GCSE Maths and Physics as an evening-class student, complete with taking the national exams at the end of the course.

I went on to try GCE Advanced Levels in both subjects but dropped the Physics as it became too much for me, and totally flunked the Maths exam, gaining "U" (for "Ungraded")!

I did not try again, but I do have some pretty certificates that say I "Successfully completed", work-related courses ranging from operating over-head cranes to learning Microsoft "Office" applications, first-aid to manual-handling. They don't say I have a "qualification" in them, only that I was successfully there!

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@ArishMell Combining academic study with employment is never easy at the best of times. I know there are now gentler ways of getting the learning you need than attempting two really difficult A-level subjects.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SunshineGirl I had bitten off more than I can chew, there!

I discovered with the Maths that the fairly smooth progression from GCE Ordinary to Advanced Level had been lost, with the newer GSCE syllabus considerably stripped down in contents and severity, so making the A-level material new and considerably harder to learn than it should have been .

The GCSE course also included items like reading utility-meters (this was some years before "smart" meters") - we handled harder household-finance topics in junior school, like Compound Arithmetic!

I had chosen Maths and Physics because they were directly related to my work as a lab-assistant; but I learnt that work's principles and the fairly simple calculations I needed know there, not in college.