5 Feet of Fury

College is a waste of time and money. Drop out.

I have no sympathy for these morons.

Here’s why.

Thirty years ago it occurred to me that getting a university degree was a waste of time and money, for various reasons, some of which seem stupid in retrospect.

Thank God for “stupid” reasons…

Mostly it was just intuition. I could not shake the gut feeling that I was right, and my teachers and friends and “society” were wrong.

I went to a two-year community college. It cost me a few thousand bucks, including grants and loans.

When I graduated, interest rates were something like 17%. After struggling to keep up with minimum payments, my grandmother, the retired cleaning lady, gave me the balance, in cash, from her savings and I walked into the bank and paid it off.

The recession was on. I had some money saved myself, because I’d worked part-time through high school. I told a Toronto media company I’d work for free for a few months to learn the business. Impressed, they paid me anyhow.

As far as I know, I am the only one of my old high school friends who is doing what they said they were going to do.

Millions of people fantasize about being a professional writer. I am one.

Why should I bail out conformist mediocrities whose stated goal in life — as lawyers, do-gooders, “journalists” and bureaucrats — is to ruin mine?