LPNs Often Fare Better Than Some Degree Earners - Page 2

I love this article!!!thanks for posting it..I went to college after high school and did not do well because I had no idea what I wanted to do. It wasn't until my mother encouraged me to apply to an LPN program that I actually made good grades because I felt I was pursuing something that I knew would get me a job after graduation.

"Anecdote" is not the singular of "data." Sometimes ... like in the long run ... they seriously don't. More education is never wasted-- ask the person who has some.

"Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend; abroad, an introduction; in solitude, a solace; and in society, an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage."
-- Joseph Addison

Well getting an education is a waste if you don't actually get any and instead get a piece of paper saying your educated and a bill.

I have to say that when I was in school to become an LPN our clinical and lecture instructors, most of whom were at one time LPNs' in there lives and have now moved on to become successful RNs or NPs always gave us students the utmost respect for choosing to become a LPN. Many of them also stated that at times we may be looked at as the "lowly nurse", but you should never be ashamed of how you started because most of us are better and well versed than some of the those RNs, especially LPNs who were also CNAs or Medical Assistants prior to becoming a LPN. I can proudly say that I am grateful and excited to be where I am at as a LPN!!! I will continue to pursue my career as an RN but I'm so so glad I choose this route instead

There are a good number of people who are quite accomplished in other fields and decide to fulfill a nursing dream they had, perhaps with kids grown up or enough money in the bank to return to school, there are a couple of writers and researchers on health/nursing issues that got their LVN/LPN to provide a realistic context - a fantastic idea imo because most health writers obviously have no clue and parrot the couple of "experts" in their cyber-rolodex.

Cheers to this! I'm graduated from an ABSN program in 2010 six years after earning my BA in urban studies. I originally intended to become an architect but soured on that...between the cost and time investment of schooling, the terrible job market and the fact that working in architecture is about 90% business/sales/marketing and only 10% design, architecture was not for me. I LOVE being a nurse. But I do NOT love my loans, and I envy my colleagues who are LPNs or LPN-to-RNs, because they do pretty much all the same stuff that I do, have pretty much the same knowledge base, earn nearly the same amount of money, and almost all of them pay all their schooling down without debt (the ones who are in RN programs, that is). I 100% agree that pushing skill-set and trade knowledge to the side in favor of everyone getting a BA or BS is completely contrary to how we should be structuring our country's education system. Trades are vital to our system, and the LPN is specifically vital to healthcare...and should be celebrated as such!

Education simply for education's sake is a pretty thought, but not a very practical one. Maybe if I had a six figure trust fund or something I could afford to major in Russian literature (something I'd actually love). But, at present, my economic situation is such that it would be a waste of money. Look at all the grad students in their 30s who work at starbucks and then tell with a straight face that higher education is "never" wasted.

Also, let's not assume that just because someone has little or no higher education they are uninformed or lack culture. My two highest educational achievements are my PN certificate and my high school diploma. Still, I am a very articulate and well read person. Just because I promote vocational/technical training doesn't mean I don't appreciate learning. I just think our kids would get much more value out of an education that prepared them for an actual job with marketable skills. I read philosophy and history in my spare time. When I PAY for an education, I expect it to translate directly into $$ and jobs.

please weigh in....I am dying to hear your enlightened viewpoint....

If you so wish, I would only agree with the poster because she mentions useless degrees like 4 year psych degrees that lead to no jobs. However, the implications of many of the responses have been directed at the BSN program, which leads to the LPN double standard of talking up the LPN's accomplishments, and talking down the acheivement of the BSN.