[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Feb 11, 2008 11:04 AM, Tom Tobin <korpios at korpios.com> wrote:
> On 2/11/08, Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Feb 11, 2008 12:46 AM, Amara Graps <amara at amara.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Do you know that this makes me feel kind of sick? Not you directly, but
> > > at a culture where these kinds of expectations are part of mainstream
> > > thinking. It is a philosophical issue on the other side of the Atlantic.
> > > I think few people in Europe would understand why a 'civilized', western
> > > society would want to burden a young person, who is just starting their
> > > independent lives, with a thousands or tens of thousands of euros debt.
> > >
> > ### But, you know, a bit of debt works wonders to focus your mind on
> > doing something useful to the rest of us, and therefore capable of
> > commanding a price. Otherwise, the young person could decide to
> > squander other people's money on the pursuit of trivial or useless
> > credentials, wouldn't you think?
>
> A "bit" of debt?
>
> I'm in the hole to the tune of over $70,000 USD, and I didn't even
> finish my graduate-level education.  This is from a *state* school
> (State University of New York / SUNY), funded completely by a
> combination of grants and loans on my head (not my parents — I was
> already into my mid 20s when I went back to school).  If I were to
> make the choice over again, I *never* would have gone back to school;
> a degree is worthless in my current field, anyway (web development /
> programming), and I'm making more than I would have had I finished
> graduate school and worked in the field (library science).

### But this Damocles' sword does focus your mind on the future
usefulness of your education, doesn't it? Yeah, I know it's not fun to
be in debt but I am trying to look at things in perspective: Going to
work every day for 4 or 5 months of the year before ever earning
enough to pay your taxes for that year, that's no fun either. I prefer
to have to get loans as a young person, if this is what's needed to
make a good salary later, rather than have "free" school and then end
up languishing in servitude to the taxman for the rest of my life.

Rafal