But lets not get tied up on education. It is also important to make decisions and CHANGE your mind when new information dictates that you’ve made a bad decision. To be a man you need to lead, follow, or get out of the way of those of us who are trying to do just that. Don’t let excuses prevent you from achieving something. Do or do not do, but don’t “try”. Make up your mind and get going.

It depends on the school and your view of education. About the manliest thing a man can do is to wrestle with the great thinkers of the ages. Education is about learning to think and discovering the truth. If one succeeds, then that man with stand on the shoulder of giants and become a true asset to the populace. Now, you are correct in saying one does not need to attend a school of higher learning. In fact, many of such schools are anything but. Their focus is teaching you a skill and filling you with PC, society owes you this, and anti-religious garbage. However, there are some great schools out there and one or two great professors can really opens your mind to reality in a deeper way. Look for a great books program. A man armed with the knowledge they will learn for m the great western thinkers and the critical thinking skills that come from the intellectual labor will enable him think for himself and do for himself. If he desires, he will also make more money, but by then he will realize that this is not the greatest of goals.

I used to drive a fork lift and read all the time for fun… Now I am a physicist, and still I love to learn… Though sometimes I miss driving a forklift… At the end of the day you always had something you could point to as an accomplishment, while these days projects I am on take months or even years to bear fruit…

I laud your desire to go back to school, don’t fear student loans, do whatever it takes, and you will come out of it enriched in so many ways, mere money is just one of them, and as always not even guaranteed.

B…

Hi Matt, I disagree. I graduated with my BS in Physics at the age of 39. I am now a Navy Physicist working in Advanced Concepts trying to solve the problems the Navy (and through extension) the world have. I do not ever have to ‘lick the boots’ of any boss, regardless of their sexuality.

I am in debt, but I don’t care! I make a good income, live in a nice place, and feel that I am contributing to making the world a better place. My Student loan payments have been 200/month for the last 9 years, next year they go up to 400/month, for 15 more years, so what? I make no where near minimum wage, work 40/week, get a month of paid vacation a year.

Sure, had I gone to plumbing school, joined the right union/trade organization I could now be making 2 – 3 times what I am making now, I grant you that, but money is not everything. I value my time off, I value working in an organization where we are valued.

On the subject of ‘political correctness’, well, I hate that stuff… but on the other hand, I believe a persons value to society is not based on their religion/color/ethnicity/sex/sexual preference, so given that, maybe I am better suited for work in government than some. I have worked with many different people of all different sexualities and really could care less about those details, if they are professionals then sexuality is not a topic for work anyway (at least in Physics, maybe if you are a sex worker it may be!)

So, please tone down the vitriol a little and remember that you may have had a bad experience, but that does not mean that everyone will. I enjoyed going back to school, though I do have to say I was not the model student!

B…

Speaking as a 29 year old man who never made it through his freshman year of college, I will tell you that a degree isn’t worthless. It’s clear as day that men of my age with one of these worthless degrees you speak of make more money than me. This is my reason for going back to school. Not some lesbian boss or women with lack of respect for me. If you want others to respect you, respect yourself, work harder and earn the money you deserve.

What you SHOULD DO is learn a trade, and start your own business in that trade. Those are the men who are successful, do what they enjoy, and don’t have to waste years of their life in some glorified whorehouse regurgitating political correctness and fighting hangovers. The tradesman is a real man – don’t let the media shame you into getting some worthless degree.

A 20-40 year old man today is apt to take the fact that women are earning more than him, that women are bossing him around, that women don’t respect him, and that women don’t need him, as personal failures and become depressed. Men should not blame themselves but realize that of course wages are depressed – women and immigrants are taking all the jobs that would have been his. The older men and their “trust baby” boys are enjoying the benefits of the cheap labour pool and the consolidation of corporatism that is enriching them, while simultaneously destroying the male sole proprietors that were once the driving force for creating a strong middle class.

The solution? Well, in the days of Robin Hood the manly man became the enemy of the state and found himself fighting with the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for a stake to live on. Be brave, men. Be heroes. Don’t give up just because the times are tough and you’ve been given playstation heroin to keep you addled and compliant.

Andrew