I have a lot of thoughts regarding whether or not college is really necessary. In the 10 years I've been out of college I haven't really found my degree to be necessary. I'm glad I went....but only for the experience of it. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. I'd be $40K+ richer. You might argue that I'd be less educated and education itself makes us rich in a different sense.....I don't disagree with that as I love learning...BUT, I cannot tell you a single thing I learned in most of my classes. It definitely was not worth the money I spent...my own fault though.....
Something I believe so strongly in is that we should not be sending fresh high school graduates to college. I mean, how many 18 year olds REALLY know what they want to do for the rest of their lives??? I didn't. In fact, I had no idea what was really available in this world for jobs. I took the required Careers class my sophomore year of high school and the tests I took all said I should be a social worker (as did a career test I took in college). Nothing in that field was overly exciting to me at the time and I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so I decided to play the "safe" route and get a business degree. I saw a business degree as something that could be very multi-functional and help me get a job in lots of different areas.
The problem with the business degree and why I don't remember anything I learned is that I had zero interest in the business world and found the classes to be terribly boring and uninteresting. A person (at least me) just can't truly learn and contain information about a subject they don't find interesting. Luckily I can store information in my brain long enough to take a test! I still to this day cannot think of anything I dislike more than business. Bleh. Everything about it makes my skin crawl....everyone is all about the mighty dollar and will turn into monsters trying to earn it and/or keep their jobs. Just thinking about this....now I get why I was supposed to be a social worker....work for people not money :) Although I do have to say that I am very impressed by entrepreneurs who grow a business from an idea. I love Shark Tank and have even bought some things I've seen on the show.
That brings me to another point. There have been some very highly educated individuals on Shark Tank with extremely impressive "resumes", who end up not getting any love from the Sharks because they just really aren't that great. I have seen this a lot in my former jobs and I have to say that some of the hardest working, best employees I had the pleasure of working with at all of my jobs, did NOT have college degrees. If I had to pick a team of people to work on a project with, I can list 3 right off the top of my head and only 1 of them has a degree. Ironically they are all female too...best co-workers/employees I've ever seen.
As a recruiter at a couple different jobs, I saw some very impressive resumes....only to find out during the interview (or sometimes shortly after hire) that they lacked in so many areas that don't show up on a piece of paper. When someone tells me that "so and so" has their masters, or that somebody went to (insert top university here), I'm like...."yeah, and??" I can think of a couple of people from my high school who have their masters, but they were terrible students in high school, so it's just not impressive to me. I've also heard (though I'm sure that this isn't true of all areas of study), that masters programs can sometimes be easier classes than undergraduate ones.
All of this being said, we do have college savings accounts set up for our kids and are actively contributing to them. If our kids want to go to college, great. If they don't have a strong passion for a particular career, we will probably encourage them try a community college first, or if they really want to go to a university, I will encourage them to choose an area of study that they find interesting, even if it may not lead to much. In my experience and from talking to many others about this, most jobs don't require a specific degree, just that the person has one (which in itself makes me feel like college truly isn't necessary for those jobs). I would be curious to see how many college grads are working in their field of study and how many even needed their degrees for their job. I realize there are other great things that college does for us....learning to work on projects in groups of people we don't know, learning to give presentations, learning to work with a deadline, etc.
Don't get me wrong...I love to learn and am all for furthering one's education. I'm just saying that I don't think kids should be pressured to go, and especially right out of high school if they have no idea what they want to do for the rest of their lives. It's a lot of money to spend and I would rather see someone go at a later time in their life when they have a genuine interest in learning a specific thing. I would love to go back now and learn something else, but it just doesn't seem practical to me at this point...plus, $40K is enough to spend on college in one lifetime. To those who knew at age 18 what they wanted to do and are still doing it (and enjoying it)...good for you!!..your degree has probably paid off!
You know who I think has it made?...those people who end up working with a company they love, but can only advance if they get their degree....and to do so the company helps them pay for it. Jackpot!!
More important than college, we want our kids to be driven, hard working individuals. We also want them to be honest, caring and genuine. These attributes will take them so much further in life than a piece of paper showing that they attended classes taught by professors (which is basically all I did...except the one class I rarely attended that I still have nightmares about missing). And of course if they do want to go to college....well, there's only one option. Go Cyclones!! <-- P.S. I didn't go there
If you are a Mike Rowe fan, here is an interesting read from him with a similar take on this subject.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/mike-rowe-was-asked-if-a-college-degree-should-be-required-for-elected-office-his-educated-response-is-a-breath-of-fresh-air/
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