The Value(or lack of value) College Holds

I keep hearing people say that we need college graduates now more than ever. The statement is vague. Who do we need? English majors? Biology? Architecture? I find it hard to believe that we needed the 365,000 business majors of the 1.7 million total grads of 2011. Are all of them working in their intended field? Statistics would say most of them are working jobs they are overqualified for i.e. Got a BA in Business but working at McDonald’s flipping a burger.

Furthermore, I find it pointless to have so many graduates when some are attending school just ‘because’. A lot of students go to college to get in, get out, and make more money. They go to get the education out of the way but education is not a final destination. It is not about regurgitating lessons to pass a test only to forget it the next day. Education is not about partying. It is not about taking what comes easy. Education is also not about high school or college. Education occurs everywhere.

“Education is not something you do for twelve years so you can get into a university, and then something you do for four more years so you can get a job sitting at a desk forty hours per week. Learning is a lifelong process. It happens all the time. It starts before we are born and continues until the day we die.” Dale Stephens

If your goal is to go to college to get a degree to work for someone else, you’re doing it wrong. Seriously. What is the point of higher education if your aspirations don’t motivate you to be your own boss? I don’t think the value of a degree is to help someone else build their dreams on your watch.

You could do everything listed above without a degree. You can push paper and obey orders from someone else without a $40,000 framed piece of paper that you may one day use as a coaster.

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste. The best education in life is falling on the ground and getting a few scrapes. You don’t get that by putting in face time on the ‘quad.’ You get it by learning the value of money, and occasionally having it robbed from you. Just don’t get robbed for four straight years.” James Altucher

I am not shaming higher education. I believe in the raw power that is being educated. I don’t believe in the standards we hold on students. Most of my intelligent conversations come from how I educate myself. I research a lot in my free time and often put off school work to learn about things that interest me more than worksheets. I love education but I hate school.

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