Mis-Education and The American System

As human beings, every day we should learn something new about ourselves. Not just that we should learn something new about the world and life in general. The truth is Learning is not an option it is a requirement to be human. So why do we put a value on different forms of education over others? Don’t get me wrong I am all for higher education, but if it was truly for the betterment of society then shouldn’t it be free? As a civilized culture, we allow our citizens to pay for higher education so that they can get better jobs and contribute to the betterment of our society. The question I pose is does this make the college graduate better equipped to lead? Does it make the college graduate more successful in team building, business management? I think not, it just says that they can learn a subject to the satisfaction of the standards of that organization. Our society has made the business of school the pre-requisite for success. Look at any job board and you will see the upper echelon jobs require a college degree. However, there are people in the world far more qualified to do those positions who do not have that piece of paper. Does that make them any less reliable, successful or does that diminish their potential because they did not acquire a degree? We have only to look at our history and learn from it. Bill Gates, Ralph Lauren, Henry Ford, Andrew Jackson, John D Rockefeller, none of them had a college degree; yet they were some of the most successful people in our country. In my opinion school has become a full-time business for the betterment of people’s pockets rather than the betterment of society. If you want to make the world a better place, offer higher level education for free. Hire the person who is the best fit for the job based on their ability not their formal education level.