It is no secret that college degrees are a requirement for most careers in this world. It is no secret that college education is something in which one should be proud. It is also no secret that individuals have attained worldly success and recognition without the degree or education.
Ivy league schools in the US
Med students in a learning environment
Higher education is virtually viewed as the thirteenth grade, specifically in the United States. It is simply “something you do” after high school. Why though? Yes, many careers require specialized training that you simply cannot receive in a high school setting. My question is not why so many people attend college and seek to get a college degree. But instead my question is why are those who do not deemed unsuccessful, unambitious, and simply not achievement oriented?
I know that parents and teachers often talk about college as not an option, but as a ‘next step, in a kid’s life and learning to become an adult’, but it never used to be like that. People who went to trade school, for example, probably were never viewed in recent history as smarter or more intelligent than those at Harvard, but I feel like that path is even more looked down upon in this day and age. Maybe that’s just me.
I read an article a few months back, “10 Smart Things I’ve Learned from People Who Never Went to College,” and it struck me that someone had written about people not based on their educational background, but on their wisdom and their intelligence. To me, making a difference in another’s life is important, and it is something I want to do as a professional and as just a person. As a professional in the field of nursing, I literally need a college degree in order to be able to practice, but as a person, I do not. No one needs a degree to be a good person, or to be a picture of success.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of facebook, has a net worth of $74 billion
Success is a subjective thing of course, but in this example I think we can agree that success equals financial and social well-being. Going to college does not automatically mean you will earn more money than someone who did not. Of course this all depends on who you compare yourself to. Compare yourself to someone in the same field with no degree, and you will probably earn (on average) $17,500 more in salary than them, according to the Pew Research Center. But did you know that Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are not the anomaly in a world of billionaires? That actually 30% of the world’s billionaires have obtained no degree of higher education (according to the research firm, Wealth X)? Interestingly enough, one article attaches the word anomaly to Gates and Zuckerberg, and argues that kids really should not look to them as inspiration for their own life plans.
All the numbers and data the article points out are completely valid, and I agree with most of what it illustrates. But to blatantly discount any person who believes in their abilities and talents without a degree? That I can’t agree with. Remember that three in every ten billionaires never got a college degree. Someone’s gotta be in that thirty percent, right?
Sussex County Vo-Tech School in New Jersey
The kind of thinking that dissuades students from taking an alternate path that eliminates college, begins early on in my opinion, but really takes effect in high school. Vo-tech schools are often something that students pursue in addition to high school courses, but the perception of vo-tech students is not always a positive one. The point of vocational schools is to train a person with specific skills so they can be proficient in a particular trade or field. These kids know what they want to do as a career, and are getting a “head-start” even, but are not given virtually any credit by the academic world as a whole. Vocational schools today are not just the stereotype of a wood shop or auto shop anymore either. As outline by this article, they also focus on academics, and prepare students for four year colleges and for the workforce simultaneously.
The number of college students is not a bad thing- it is actually pretty amazing that so many people value education enough to inevitably fall into serious debt. But the perception that college is the only way to safeguard your future is what rubs me the wrong way.
I’ve thought about this kind of thing a lot because of one of my younger brothers, Sean. He is seventeen and a junior in high school. Right now his career ambitions of being in the Army and being a policeman pale under the shadow of his real goal- to play baseball professionally. Yeah he needs a backup plan, and he has one. But because of his Plan A, his view of college at this point is that it is merely a stepping stone to getting drafted. My mom nags him to find a college that has a good ROTC program, or a good criminal justice program, but he has said countless times that he’s going to go to whatever college offers him “the most baseball.” The most scholarship money, the most playing time, the most exposure that he can get. I gotta say, the kid’s got confidence.
The point is, college is not for everyone. And not in the way that not every person is good enough for college, but in that college is not good enough for every person.
I am not sure how much I agree with the Billionaire example as they took their own path to get there. Like mark zuckerberg went to harvard for college and realized his business of facebook was a better Pursuit than college and thus decided to drop out. I personally feel like college is a way of structuring you to figure out your life plan. As for your brother he Already has his life plan figured out and thus it would be a waste to go to a great college that is horrible for his life plan. He is doing everything in his power to achieve his goal. For some people college is very much required as for the example of being a doctor or nurse. If I was in need of medical care I would hope for the most qualified person to be taking care of me, and thus the person who has studied as much as they can to train for this position. I personally feel that it shows their dedication to the job based on how much studying and practice they put into their field.
I wholeheartedly agree. My cousin Luke didn’t go to a traditional four-year university, and instead went to a trade school where he learned to construct prosthetics. His skills have the ability to help numerous people who have undergone extreme suffering in their lives, and his intelligence and sense of self-worth should not be discounted purely because he did not get a four-year degree. I will say, however, that the billionaire statistic you used is a bit misleading. It is truthful that 30% of billionaires do not have a college degree; however, the average age of a billionaire is 63, and college admissions rates have been steadily increasing every year for a long time. When these billionaires would have gone to college, a degree was a far less expected and necessary pursuit than it is considered today; thus, i don’t think that statistic can really be used as an argument for the idea that college degrees are not as necessary as people claim. However, despite that statistic, i found this article very intriguing and compelling, and agreed with nearly all of your points. Great work here!
i really enjoyed your concluding sentence. i think it was a perfect way to sum up the amazing opportunities a college degree will bring, while also maintaining the idea that it just that: an opportunity, not a necessity. Yes, some people should proceed with their education in a 4-year educational institution because it may be required for their desired career or it will give people a good avenue to figuring out just exactly what they want to do with their lives. I remember for my paradigm shift i explored this very same topic: when did a college degree become so essential and valuable, or when did we as a nation begin to think that not going to college was illogical. I 100% agree with you that college is not for everyone, especially considering the steep prices. for some people, they simply attend college because of the pressure and stigma present in society even though trade school or just following their dreams (with a specific idea in mind) will allow them to be more successful. i also think that your discussion of success is extremely important. today, society has been consumed with the idea that success is only measured with the amount of zeros on a paycheck, but when did we forget that our level of happiness determines our success. i think once we begin to realize that not everything has to be a competition, especially materialistically, college will again be viewed as a choice and opportunity.