Does College Guarantee You Success in Life and Business?
The internet is your best friend now.
To clarify, this isn’t going to be one of those corny articles where I cite examples of all the people who’ve dropped out and become billionaires. I’m not in favor of being ignorant and overconfident regarding your skills and competencies. I study Economics and Management at the University of Melbourne, I’m aware that an excellent college education is not completely worthless.
Attending college has become a socially acceptable path and achieving a degree has become a sign of achievement. The only problem with the ‘college = success’ equation is that an academic education is not the answer for everyone. It seems like, for many of us, we were told from the day that we were born that we had to “go to college to succeed.” In high school, it’s no longer good enough to consider trade school or even enroll in community college; a four-year college degree is the only option “worth it.”
Competition for scholarships and enrollment rates are at a near all-time high, and it’s easy to see why. On average, a typical college student will get higher wages and will see lower unemployment rates than a high school graduate.
At face value, college is a wise investment that can help bolster your chances of staying in the middle class and help you attain a higher status among your peers. There are certain facts that bolster the argument of going to college:
· Bachelor’s degree holders earn an average of 66 percent more than high school graduates.
· People with a bachelor’s degree will add $1 million to their total lifetime earnings compared to someone without a degree.
· High school graduates experience an unemployment rate 8 percent higher than college grads.
But over the years the value of having a degree has decreased. There was a time when graduating from college was an impressive feat that ensured access to abundant entry-level positions. Times have changed.
Is it something everyone needs to have?
Yes, if you are an aspiring doctor, lawyer, or architect.
But not all jobs require you to show a piece of paper that you are competent in your skills. I believe that experience and skills hold more weight than a piece of paper saying that you studied theories about how things work. How many times have we heard of people attending their first day at a new job only to be told immediately, “Forget everything you’ve learned; we will show you how to do the job.” You must be teachable and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.
Here are 4 reasons I feel college doesn’t guarantee success.
1. College Doesn’t Teach You HOW to Think
Hundreds of students reading the same book and being taught the same information by a lecturer who probably never worked in the industry. That is the average scenario in a college.
A classroom full of students who are guided to regurgitate information back to the professor. Colleges can be theoretical and not in touch with reality. In a world that is in constant changing, colleges are not changing fast enough. For many decades, too many people across the world have bought into the idea that every person needs to get at least a bachelor’s degree. What matters more is having the skills to do the job, not a certificate that shows you’ve spent 4 years studying a topic. Any topic, finance, or computer science will evolve over time so you must keep on learning about the field you are working in and constantly challenge your existing knowledge by learning more difficult material.
Lifelong learners constantly improve themselves — that’s what’s going to determine success.
2. Student Debt Can Crush Your Dreams
Student loan statistics are grim with over 44.2 million Americans saddled with student loan debt. According to research from Student Loan Hero, the delinquency rate is 11.2% and the average monthly student loan payment for borrowers 20 to 30 years old is $351.
Think about what would happen if you didn’t have that loan payment. You could invest that $351 into your own business or self-learning and improve your own skills. College degrees are becoming more expensive each year. You must effectively mortgage your life to pay the price of a certificate. The return on investment for these college degrees is often much below the burden of debt acquired.
Sadly, nowadays not everyone can afford to go to college. And those who can afford a bachelor’s degree carry the hopeful ambition that they are going to make a lot of money once they graduate. Some degrees pay for themselves, but most won’t.
No surprise then that Barack Obama hinted that ‘folks can make a lot more by learning a trade than they might with an art history degree. ‘
3. College is not necessary for all positions
Among professions that hire base on a portfolio, having a college degree without a good portfolio is akin to being a doctor who’s never practiced on a patient. In theory, both parties know how to do their job — however, there is no actual proof of that. Photographers don’t need to study the history of how the camera was made to become the world’s best photographer, they need to study the rituals, habits, and works of the great photographers and put much more emphasis on clicking pictures rather than writing essays about the best ways to click pictures. The artistic skills require nothing but hours and hours of practice for excellence.
In a more technical field, as Johnny writes on Medium, a new field emerged on the internet called cryptocurrencies, the new technology you probably didn’t know existed three years ago, and crypto experts are in high demand. To deeply understand cryptocurrencies requires proficiency in at least three fields: economics, cryptography, and computer science. I know of no college that teaches a four-year course just for cryptocurrencies. You can find jobs that don’t require a college degree by simply conducting a Google search. Consider applying to an entry-level position to get your foot in the door. You will be able to gain more experience and show the company the value you are able to provide.
Attend seminars or meet-ups. Surround yourself with the people you want to be like as much as possible.
4. Education has become inexpensive
But costly at the same time, if you are gutsy enough to replace the generic undergraduate path, you need a lot of time, drive, persistence, and dedication. It is not easy to teach yourself things from scratch and it takes time, more time than you can anticipate. The best part is you don’t have any excuses, our parents had the excuse of not having the internet or not having enough opportunities but our generation, on the other hand, has everything we will ever need to be successful-a laptop and an internet connection. You can take a course about almost anything for under $100, design your own daily schedule and not be location bound. You can start any entry-level job, or a blog in Vietnam (as one of my favorite writers does) or test your new business idea.
The window of opportunities is always open with online education.
Cheers
