We should discourage college right after high school, and sometimes at all

Ok. I didn’t want to get this personal but whatever.

I didn’t go to college until I was 24. My parents wouldn’t help me and I had to wait until I was old enough to get loans on my own. I lived in a van that I bought for $350 from a junk yard and had to mechanic to make it driveable. I worked several jobs to get an associates degree. I then worked full time as an IT hardware guy and went on to get my bachelors degree. I converted that into a software engineering job and raised my daughter solo the entire time I did it. I now have 4 kids, a stupid house in the suburbs, two dogs, 3 cats, and a firey red headed wife that keeps my on my toes.

She also had a late to the game college experience. We both came from poverty. Me from the foothills of Appalachia. Her from the inner city.

We now make close to 7 figures between us. Our kids probably won’t know the struggle unless we force it upon them. And it’s too bad really. Because it was one of the hardest, most rewarding things I’ve ever accomplished. And I did it alone. I wouldn’t change it.

So this idea that for some reason, a person can’t start late… a person can’t struggle or flounder because they’ll succumb to the defeat…. That they need to be just like the rest of the sheep around them. Well frankly, it’s bullshit.

/r/unpopularopinion Thread Parent