Do you need a college degree to become successful in life? Does Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg even completed their college education to be successful?
I'm from India, where education had always triumphed over the personal hobby. Your mastery of music, art, dance, writing, sports, acting, singing had taken backstage.
To be successful, you require good Education - is the notion of the society. It's not just in India but across the world, in every country.
But, do we want the college education to become a successful person? Does a college degree prepare us ready for the real life challenge?
Of course, you can beg to differ, but I can tell you what college education can't teach you.
1. Self-application will always beat Education
We love to believe, Education = success. But, that's certainly not the case.
College wouldn't teach you to be successful. The education system is built in such a way, that students were told to go to college.
- No need of Leadership
- No need of maturity
- No need for people skill
- No need for honoring passing and drive
- No need to learn negotiation
- No need to learn personal application
Just follow the defined system, and you would get there. Wrong. Success has nothing to do with Education.
Success doesn't mean the same thing to each person. It can be,
- personal development
- Self-control
- Integrity
- Communication skill
- relationship
- travel the world
How can we achieve all aspect of life in just a degree?
And most importantly successful know we learn by doing not learning to do
2. Student load and opportunity cost
Average student load statistics.
An average American student has $25,000 or more student load when they graduate. By the time you earn your degree, you will have the enormous amount of debt to pay, a lifelong burden to clear of off your shoulder.
The time you spend in college, say four-year degree, you can invest in traveling, enrolling into the internship, making a business plan or the dream company you ever wanted to start up.
You can do what you aim to do at this early age to invest money and time to get real life experience. An opportunity to invest in yourself and make you ready for real life.
3. Today's managers hire of off three variables
Picture this- two identical candidates walk into your office for a job interview. The only difference between a resume with four years of experience and four years of college which person do you hire?
They will look for
- Experience
- portfolio
- personal
Would you do some internship, get some real-world experience, build some portfolio and develop your personality?
OR
Would you spend four years in college to get a degree?
Pay for your information for learning which you can get it free from the internet. Your call
4. Entrepreneurship is becoming a real solution
To become an entrepreneur you need real life experience, not just a degree. You need to face the world with critical thinking and decision-making steps. You need a skill to interact and coordinate with fellow teams to build your relationship and business.
I hardly believe, a college education will get you there. But, that's just my thoughts.
I like to hear from you. Keep your comments showering. What do you think?
School in the US system was made to babysit kids during the industrial revolution. It was also used to churn out factory workers that did what they were told.
College these days are pushed on to kids with disregard to the debt that will eventually burden them for most of their lives. While it is pushed as a panacea, it isn't the real problem with economy these days. College is being used as a substitute for real world training. Companies are too cheap to train new employees, preferring to poach from other companies or from top schools. They're afraid to spend on training because it is expensive and people are changing jobs at a faster pace. This is especially true in larger cities, where it is acceptable for skilled worker to change companies every 2-3 years. Note that, on average, a new employee is not productive for an employer until after their first year.